Actual Tsunamis.
Following is a paragraph from the book What is time, which needs more explanation.
-------------------------------------
Boxing day tsunami - on massive waves and natural disasters.
In 2004 boxing day I woke up early morning and came to know there had been a major flood in coastal regions of our country. Later that day we saw videos from coastal cities, innocent people washed away by massive waves back and forth until they were washed back to the sea. We had never seen those stories for ages, except there was one story from the ancient times when the queen of an ancient king sacrificed herself and was sent to the sea to stop floods, and somehow it stopped after the sacrifice and she landed safely at another coast. Now we know the true nature of tsunami. It's been almost two decades, still people are living by the coast, with memories of missing loved ones washed away by the sea. Sea is not rough, like it's December 26 of that year. Yet waves crash, and they retreat, over and over again. Occasionally a big wave reaches more than others and wash away some more into the land and retract back to the sea. Even the tsunami retreated back to the sea.
I suggest you be the visitor of your own beach of mind, until you notice the endless process of thoughts crashing on the beach. To retract back. Occasionally big waves. And massive tsunamis will happen one day. And when it does, it is time to exercise your practice. It is the best prediction about the future we can make. And like some wise man once said ‘The best thing I have learned about my life is not to trust each and every thought ‘.
---------------------------------------
This is not a time or the place to describe the mechanisms behind, Tsunamis. After Boxing Day Tsunami, most of our generation came to know of the knowledge that this natural disaster is never a never event as 300000 people perished that day. I have written a previous article on waves of the sea and waves of life. Hence briefly mentioned about Tsunamis. Something about these waves fascinates me somehow. When I see a video of a Japanese Tsunami, 12 meters high waves rushing towards coastal towns and totally destroying, I see no discrimination there. Wealthy and poor alike run away from their homes. I can the horror they see their massive mansions destroyed, or tiny huts destroyed, is equal. And they remain naked in front of the natures, teasing. Aftermath is similarly uniting them. Neighbours who were divided by their, status, not come to realization that they are equal, for a brief time period before they build up those tiny houses back again, associated their names.
Microscopic tsunamis
If I say tsunami, teaches us principles of life, you will not agree, Hence I will give you more and more examples. This time from your own Physiology, chemicals in your body, and how they react. Imagine someone having a severe injury to their body. A mangled limb, or crushed Torso, from fully functional at time 0, they go to severe, injured dead cells at time 1second. Apart from this physical injury, it leads to severe, inflammatory response in your body which is called, Systemic inflammatory response or SIRS. Imagine this is like a Tsunami inside your body, thousands of chemicals released will activate massive reaction in the body. Now, It has shown, that the SIRS is followed by an anti-inflammatory response (Compensatory anti-inflammatory response) following days to weeks. Just like aftermath of the Tsunami. Bigger the injury (Earthquake) Bigger the SIRS(Tsunami) and Bigger the CARS(aftermath of Tsunami). for an individual, if it is big enough, it could lead to death.
Social Tsunamis - Have you been to a party?
Have you ever been to a party? In that case even a wedding. I call them Social Tsunamis. Because as you can see, they really do destroy the peace and the serenity. Of course, I have been to party, a summer concert. When we ride the wave, we do feel the adrenalin rush. Just like a real Tsunami. It may bring happiness, but the bigger the wave bigger the aftermath. Either good memories or chaotic ones. Time would only tell. Imagine the staff, or the house owner, or the state which tries to clean up the mess. Sometimes I wonder is it really necessary the chaos we create. Of course this is an introvert's point of view.
Mental Tsunamis.
Remember the principle. Bigger the wave, bigger the aftermath. Bigger the greed, bigger the loss. Bigger the gap between expectations and achievement, bigger the happiness. There are mental Tsunami's which will happen from time to time. Loss of a loved one, Loss of a limb, diagnosis of a cancer, or rejection from the co-operation. If your mental attachment to the mental objects is too heavy, it will destroy everything. The more the sea is retracting, expect a bigger wave. So, how you can survive a Tsunami?
How to survive a tsunami - natural
This is easy, if you built a house, in the cost you are prone to face a Tsunami. It might not be today; your children of children might go washed away to the sea. If you visit the cost a Tsunami is unavoidable, and if you see the sea retracting, just do not try to go and investigate. As you have the information now, now we know what to do. Not to go and see the poor fish who tries to swim back as we ourselves are in imminent danger, we should walk, towards higher grounds. There is just enough time to reach the hill and avoid the full blow of the massive wave, where we would not survive.
Even in Medicine, when there is initial injury which is now creating a SIRS, physicians will try to minimize the SIRS which will reduce The CARS, and the patient will recover well. They anticipate and take action. The question is do we follow same rules in mental Tsunamis? Or can we?
How to survive a Tsunami - of life.
So, how to survive a tsunami of life? Try to look at yourself and try and find out where your house is built? Is it in a tsunami prone costal region, not on a higher ground, take action today. Start living mindfully and weaken your attachments to mental objects. It will weaken the waves and one day, you would be able to enjoy the beach without any fear. Because you can walk to your safe house when the sea starts retracting.
Comments