The Thinking Atom

Just Came across this beautiful poem and thought of keeping it with me for ever and sharing it with all lucky visitors.........


I am a puny part of the great whole.
Yes;but all animals condemned to live,
All sentient things, born by the same stern law,
Suffer like me, and like me also die.
The vulture fastens on his timid prey,
And stabs with bloody beak the quivering limbs;
All's well , it seems, for it. But in a while
An Eagle tears the vulture into shreds;
The eagle is transfixed by the shaft of man;
The man, prone in the dust of battlefields,
Mingling his blood with dying fellow men,
Becomes in turn the food of ravenous birds.
Thus the whole world in every member groans,
All born for torment and for Mutualdeath.
And o'er this ghastly chaos you would say
The ills of each make up the good of all!
What blessedness! and as with quaking voice,
Mortal and pitiful ye cry, "All's well,"
The universe belies you, and your heart
Refutes a hundred times your mind's conceit.......
What is the verdict of the vastest mind?
Silence: the book of fate is closed to us.
Man is a stranger to his own research;
He knows not whence he comes, nor whither goes.
Tormented atoms in a bed of mud,
Devoured by death, a mockery of Fate;
But thinking atoms, whose far-seeing eyes,
Guided by thought, have measured the faint stars.
Our being mingles with the infinite;
Ourselves we never see, or come to know.
This world, this theatre of pride and wrong,
Swarms with sick fools who talk of happiness......

Once did I sing, in less lugubrious tone,
the sunny ways of pleasure's general rule;
The times have changed, and, taught by growing age,
And sharing of frailty of mankind,
Seeking a light amid the deepening gloom,
I can but suffer, and will not repine.

VOLTAIRE..

Fear

Fear is the most tricky of all human emotions. It is the least understood and perhaps the most felt feeling. Yet we know so little about fear. But I guess thats what fear is all about..........being unknown.

Well on closure scrutiny of our little civilisation we will find that how important fear is. Fear is the underlying layer on which our civilisation has been standing and basking in glory. Because without fear there would be no bravery and without bravery their would be no legends, without legends there would be no heroes and without heroes their would be no ideals, and without ideals there would have been no civilasation possible.

See thats how important fear is to us...... yet we somehow haven't seen it.

Being afraid is natural..... in fact it is necessary for survival......... for without fear we would all be reckless species jumping off the cliffs without prior thought. Now that i have spoken of thought....it is merely out of thought process that we find this monster called Fear. Thought leads to calculations....& risk assessments and which finally makes us decide if we are OK in doing a particular thing or not.
So from this logic I can safely say that fear is a direct result of a conscious mind ....... and more capable the mind is the more afraid it shall tend to be.
SO this makes us the most scared species on the face of earth...... doesn't it.
And this is clearly visible in current trends and social behaviour. We are so afraid of what we done to our planet that we are afraid to come to terms with it..... and still arguing over what/who was the cause instead of coming to terms with our mistakes and making amends. This is precisely because we are afraid ....... and we are afraid because we do not know a way out of this mess..... we are uncertain....... and so uncertain that we are hoping that end shall come swiftly.....and it shall be such an end that we are left with nothing but our minds to figure out something for future. This is visible in our modern art..... our movies. Every year at least one movie is being released focusing completely on the upcoming Armageddon....... a complete annhilation of human kind and human ways. But I guess that it is just a wishful thinking. For the end shall not be swift... it shall be slow....... it shall be painful.... and we will have nowhere to go.....but suffer here alone. The question we are facing is not weather earth shall remain hospitable or not......but rather shall we survive such a cleansing process.... for cockroaches shall outlive us for sure...
The makers of Matrix might have imagined this place like a software which can be restarted...... but sadly the architect of this real world hasn't provided restart button...... their is only a shutdown........ and complete darknes.........
Afraid are u?..................... :).......

!!!!!!!!!!!LLL!!!!!!!!!!

At first there was a faint hope,
the hope somehow became a thought,
The thought took over the mind,
It seems as if I was on dope.

The days were long,
Nights too short,
The thought was alive,
Singing beautiful love songs.

It then became a dream,
a dream to which I was a slave,
Always wanting to visit her in my dreams,
Alas, I just could not sleep.

What had gotten over me,
I still do not know,
Feeling miserable by the lonely long days,
all I wanted to see was she,

This misery was gripping,
All senses had gone numb,
NO way out of this Dreamy quick Sand,
my life was slowly slipping.

Then the dream became a voice,
A voice that pierced my heart,
The pain I cud not bear,
But I had no choice..........

Alone I battled for my soul,
In dark dreams I roamed,
Dark delusions had taken over,
Single wish filled my wishbowl.

The faint voice was now a scream,
Scream which no one could hear,
I thought the end was near,
But I had missed the theme.

Pain was not for me to bear,
Scream was not for me to hear,
the voices were only a prayer,
The dreams were for me to tear.

The fight will be long,
And tyring too........
But form it all I shall emerge,
Singing the broken song...............
************************************************************************************
Better never to have met you in my dream than to wake and reach for hands that are not there.
- Otomo No Yakamochi

There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.
-Jean Anouilh

Wherefore do I weep
at loving not living
seeing not touching
breathing not sharing
holding not loving?

All,
because I, The Fool,
am no more?

Wah wah kya poem hai.................

Atheism:- Gud or Bad

With current religious fanatism around the world threatening to wipe out our very existence on earth many rational people with a scientific attitude have started to turn to Atheism.
Atheism means that disproving the existence of a supernatural Alpha being who has made this universe as we know it . The supernatural being in question here is none other than God as proclaimed by the religion. The reason these so called rationalists give to support atheism is that the existence of God cannot be proven and God is in same long list which has the likes of Santa Claus, Neo , terminator, Spider man...... and every thing which we have imagined over the years.
Agreed, that the existence of prime cause for everything cannot be fathomed by our logical minds.. but that doesn't mean that we are to proclaim that God doesn't exist.
It is very easy to disprove existence of something in lack of proper evidence but very difficult to come out with proof that something out there exists.
Atheists seems to simply doing just that.... armed with their science and a " Rationalist " outlook they seem to have made up their mind that God is the root of all evil on this earth and we all will not be happy unless This God is destroyed. So they have made it their mission to kill God by mocking age old religious practices and making fun of religious people. In this Scientific age religion/God bashing is the new in thing and people seem to be doing just that. Armed with their facts and Protected by their science the Atheist are attacking the very foundations of Idea of God.
The Darwin's theory of evolution took away the central spot which religion had given to man in this world, Galileo's discoveries have dome the same for Earth on the astronomical scale, modern medicine has done that to village shaman, and Modern weapons have given us mortals to replicate God's Wrath. So who needs God now....its better to be done with this age old Idea of a supernatural being who is all knowing, all powerful and who wants to control our actions.
And modern religious fanatics seem to be aiding the Atheist movement. Atheism is finding more support in modern middle class society..... because these are the people who simply want to live happily ever after..... just like in a fairy tale and if the news of a God inspired religious fanatic bomber is all that they hear on TV then surely without further investigations they will brand God as the root cause and turn to atheism. But that is totally wrong.
See, actully the problem lies in our minds. The biggest problem that our feeble mind faces is that we need to believe in something..... because that is the only thing that makes us different from the other animals. This is for good or for bad.. I do not know.... what I do know that we need to Believe...... and without belief.... the mind will cease to be mind.
now the question arises what shud we believe in........ and this is the root of all evils.....because when their are 6 billion minds which have an ability to believe... their are 6 billion differnt conflicting beliefs. But the good part is that not all human brains evolve to a point where they can make their own beliefs. So instead for 6 billion differnt beliefs we have some thousands of beliefs... which find their source in some Ideas.
So we can say that this is a world of some thousands of ideas some strong, some weak, some aggresive, some passive...... and we humans are merely the collective some of what we Believe in.
For example.... how would you describe John......
John is a secular, Democratic , Libral Catholic person. These terms are merely the Ideas which make up John...... only physical attributes make John differnt from other humans..... mentally we are all at same level.
So atheism like Theism is just another idea whic prides itself in the fact that it is the most rational of all the ideas available till date because it has Science on its side and people like Darwin, Galilio as its prophets. But what many atheists fail to realize is that science is merely an answer to How not an answer to how. It is merely a tool of logical brain that that we use to describe the environment we live in. It fails to give the answer to ultimate question " Why are we here ?".
This is where religion comes in. In it we find the solace of certainity and purpose. It gives us the moral code. Though it would be wrong in saying that we are moral because of religion.... but religion surely is the binding force of moral society.
And above all the questions lies the question that is God not requiered any more.? Has he/she passed its sell by date. Will the world be a better place if we all turn to Atheism? well the world will surely be better place if we all believe in one thing..... but that would be a communist/Fascist heaven. thie thing is we live in an imperfect multi-polar and multidimensional world where even hoping that any one set of ideas will make it perfect... is rather impossible thing and dangerous too.
So what do we do with this God thing then? We can be certain of one thing though...... if their is a God then it is not in the Temples.. Mosques... or churches. it doesn't want to control our life....it doesn't punish if you eat something .... it is not opposed to Sex.........
God is like the Dark matter of astro physics..... it cannot be detected...... nor can be proved..... it is their because without it 96% of this universe would be unaccounted for.
What I believe is that God is the Idea of Perfection. As long as mankind try to perfect its ways it will be seeking God in one form or the other. So if you want to solve the problems of this world.... don't blame God...... perfect your ways and do away with Fanaticism..... because its not god or God fearing men who cause trouble...... its the fanatics........ and any idea at hands of fanatics is dangerous ....... even Atheism...........
So the follow the way of Budha....the Arya path.......... the Middle way....... and be happy........

District 9

There are very few movies in this world which make peole ask questions. One such movie which I watched recently was D-9. Apart from being a refreshingly different storyline its a visual delight for the viewers. The documentary style story telling and use of hand held camera for shooting should be a welcome change for the viewers.
The story is about an alien ship which has landed on Earth (Rather stuck on earth.... because it remains in Air withoout touching the ground..... now how did they manage to do that..... probably Alien technology :) ).... Ne thts not the point. The point is simply that the Aliens reach earth and are stuck and cannot leave. So the good old human race comes to the rescue of these hapless creatures and gives them shelter and food on our very own earth. Now as so often with human misadventures this help which turns into a curse for the people. The Highly intelligent alien race which has the power to make Spaceships which break the light speed barrier.... is somehow on reaching earth.... dumb..... and aimless....... ( Don't ask me how.... but I know the why...... for the story's sake.). Probably the aliens were infected by some space virus which killed their brains.
Now these aimless and dumb.... yet technologically superior aliens behave like mob and it seems that blowing up trains is their favorite time pass.
So now realizing their mistakes the humans now decide to shift these creatures far away from Human civilization into desert where they will no longer be able to damage the Humans.
This is the point where the story begins. The debutent director Niel Blomkamp does a wonderful job of story telling using his expertise at hand held cameras to the fullest. The unknown starcast was a boon to the movie giving it a more realistic humane touch. The protagonist Wikus Van Der Merwe played by Sharlto Copley does an amazing job of carrying pratically the whole movie on his back. The story is gripping... Special Effects optimal.... and the end leaves you wanting for more.
The social and moral issues highlighted by the movie are the hidden yet the strongest points making this a must watch for all the Movie lovers. By selecting South Africa as the location of all the action in movie... Director is merely reflecting the dogmas that the South African society was suffering from 2 decades ago. The Signs showing Only Humans Allowed... bring back the images of the apartheid regime of South Africa.
The treatment of hapless Aliens ( who are suffering from brain Eating Space virus disease ) at the hands of humans is heartwarming. The way these confused aimless aliens were made to leave their homes shacks rather to far off desert makes us think how the Africans were made to leave their lands at the hands of whites during the imperialistic era.
The biggest question the movie raises is what do we mean by Human Rights. Are these rights reserved for only Humans or they can be extended to human like creatures.? What do we mean by Human like creatures? the ones sharing our gnomes ( Monkeys ).... or the ones who are totally different from us but the only thing connecting both of us is the term 'Civilization'? ........
The list of such questions can go on and on....... its better if you are reading this.......... to go and watch the movie......
Hope you enjoy it........ because I surely did.......

So what do we mean by the word FREEDOM. Philosophically it is the capacity to make choices for oneself.
But the bigger question here is , IS freedom merely a Platonic idea or is it a state of mind in which we try to reach. Why is it that the modern society is so obsessed with the word but yet has never truly defined or experienced it. When I say that we haven't really experienced freedom it is mainly because we do not know what does it mean to be free. Maybe freedom was lost when the brick of the civilization being put on the walls of the society.
It is such an idea which has captivated our minds for generations. It has made us kill in its name... fight wars....and what not.But all this has been to no avail. because we still are not free. Nietziche once said "God is dead therefore Man is free".He then went mad and spent the last days of his life in an asylum.
What then is the use of such a freedom which leads to madness. Freedom has always got two parts... One is From Something...... the other is For something. So Nietziche ws free from god/relgion but he didn't know what to do with such a freedom. So he went mad.
So is it that Freedom and Purpose go hand in hand.... and without purpose their can be no freedom. Does purpose play such an important part in our freedom. Lets just look at some historical examples. People of India wanted freedom for the PURPOSE of self determination, Slaves in the antient world desired freedom for the Purpose of 'SELF DETERMINATION'.....
So is it that the only purpose associated with freedom is self determination. This Self determination Can be in different forms:-
Political -------> Leading to Democracy.
Religion -------> Leading to Secularism.
Social ------> Leading to Libralism.
Economical -----> Leading to Capitalism.
These 4 can be called as the pillars of the modern Society which can all be trace their origins to the Platonic Idea of Freedom ----- Self Determination.
These four pillars hold the roof of our modern Pluralistic 'FREE' society. It is only because of this that anything outside this roof is termed Evil and not worthy of being trusted.
Well this quite narrows down the Concept of free society.. doesn't it...... What happened to Freedom to Trust anyone outside this roof....
This is not the only problem in our Idea of freedom. Because wih every freedom comes the Responsibility.... and with responsibility we have to compromise with our freedom....The saddest part is that we can never be free of responsibilities we have towards our family, our friends, and our society. ( Our responsibilities towards ourselves is SELF DETERMINATION ). These responsibilities tend to overshadow/overpower our responsibilities towards ourselves there by killing our individuality in this 'FREE' Society. Now , its that we are living in a Einstein Modelled Relativistic society where comparisoins are the only way to define oneself ( relativity .... I shall call this Societivity ). So, this dependency on others for their approval, this constant need to become a 'SOMEBODY'.... has in fact pre-determined our fates to a large extant. So this finally means that we should stop calling ourselves the FREE People. It is merely an illusion of freedom that we have created around us in our feeble minds. We are still not free of death. No matter how much we determine our destinies we cannot avert death.
So is it that Freedom itself is not 'FREE'. Is it bound in rules of Death/and our constant need of Air food water.......
If this were to be true than this would be the biggest Irony that.... Freedom ( the Idea ) has never been FREE ( the Experience ).........


PS... I haven't discussed the fact that We are always in need of something or the other.... be it useless materialistic gains aimed at short lived pleasure or the dire need of 'Food' Air or 'Water' for our mere survival. If we are so much dependent on something or the other for the mere Survival ,.... How can we ever call us FREE.....