All children are heavenly. I was a child once, before I became this monstrous self. I was heavenly too. I am sure every criminal, and every judge ever lived, once cried for a drop of milk from their mother. And it is not a secret, not something to be ashamed of. But even I have hard time understanding children are heavenly before they are shaped by adults around them. Children of Heaven 2006 I just remembered I watched this documentary type drama film called children of heaven. It had been there in the back of my memory Until I reminded it again. It was about a little brother and a sister. How their poverty could not milk away their heavenly nature. It was about a pair of shoes, and the struggle of a little brother to bring back, a new pair of shoes to replace the ones he lost, which belonged to his little sister. The most iconic scene is where he tries to win the third place in a race, so he could get a pair of shoes as a price but failing as he accidentally won the race. Isn't it amazing, when their value system is not greedy as adults, but only represent their nature? I am not saying every kid would behave same. But exceptions are minority when children are concerned. It will second only to Shindler's list, if we consider the pure nature of the act of kindness. Shoes: https://unsplash.com/@grailify Children of heaven If acts of kindness are the hallmark of being heavenly, I would say there are few in the world. And when I look at them It makes me feel like a mouse. What am I even doing here? I should quit and try to become one of them. Those heavenly men and women directly descended from God. And it reminded me of Bob Dylan and his famous song Blowing in the wind. I read it as a teenager, it was just a poem. Until I heard the master himself singing the song. As he explains, he himself in an interview he doesn't know how creations come into the world. It is just magical. It is like he is a messenger to a heavenly song that generations loved to hear. How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? How many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? How many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died. The answer, my friend, is blowing' in the wind The answer is blowing' in the wind Answers are blowing in the wind: https://unsplash.com/@saadchdhry Living a life of kindness I am sure he would not feel sad on his deathbed. As he appears a messenger of truth. Yet I know if you ask him, he will not agree. At least the words speak the truth, and that is why he has got the Nobel prize for literature in 2016. But the question is how many times that we have to listen to the song before we understand the message in it? I am sure there are plenty of men who die without seeing the sky, or hearing people cry. Until they can't help themselves. I am sure, the message is not to look at the sky and say "Wow" and donate some coins to charity. It is about looking at ourselves, to see that what life really needs to sustain itself through time. To understand that sometimes it needs only to feel the wet sand through your toes in your feet, and a little bit of sea wind. Instead to choose kindness, over greediness, generosity over cruelty and peace over happiness . And live like innocent children singing a song in the porch all afternoon, all our lives without ever becoming adults. Is it even possible? I am sure, a little song about truth or a blog post would not make the cruelty disappear, yet it will resonate in some heavenly minds.

Truth - Definition Truth or verity is the property of being in accord with fact or reality. In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, propositions, and declarative sentences. - from Wiki Let's talk about truth - like idiots. Well- who cares for definitions. We can talk about truth while chewing a gum on a Friday afternoon watching a football match with my buddy. I think that is the best place to talk about truth. Where are you now? Don't you think it is the best time to talk about truth, now? I am not sure anyone talks about truth nowadays as the world is becoming more and more bizarre place, watching shorts of AI generated cute rabbits all the afternoon. How about the fact instead of two Genders now we have an alphabet of it? Even The God will get confused if he is to re-create the Garden of Eaden. Maybe instead of a single apple tree he could make a myriad of hybrid fruit trees, so everyone can get one according to their own taste. Oh, not at all this is an attack on genders. I just chose the fact from the tip of my truth-seeking nose to show that truth is not straight forward like Trump administration assumes. There are lot of grey areas, just when you decide to take a step further on any truth. From mathematics to geology, I have given numerous examples. But this article will look at holistically and ask the question why? rainbow: https://unsplash.com/@steve_j Truth is hidden like a coronavirus. When we were taught about viruses in Collage, we really learned about coronavirus. It was a half a page in a 3000-page book. And we did not even concentrate on it, maybe just had a glance when we turn the pages for fun. Nobody did emphasize it could Kill! not one or two people. But during pandemic, few years back, it halted even the great heavenly nations form functioning. Nobody had answers. Everyone was perplexed not knowing what to do. People did die inside their homes without any care. And truth of coronavirus was hard learned. How many truths are out there hidden in our plain sight like coronavirus. Waiting to strike? Look at the following list. And think what is common to all these names? David Bowie Whitney Houston Prince Robbin Williams Pablo Picasso Gabriel García Márquez Stephen Hawking Nelson Mandela Mohammad Ali Apart from they are very famous and influential and inspirational people. I collect the fact that they are all dead. And the list of dead famous people is endless. We even do not feel that they are dead only because we still see them alive in our smartphones. Just the other day I saw Pablo Picasso drawing a face, on a canvass, and in the afternoon, I was able to watch all the 15 rounds of the fight of the century 1971 between Muhammod Ali and Joe Frazier. Just forgetting the fact that both of these who were entertaining crowds that day are now victims of the demon of death. Ali and Fraizer Image: Wiki Common Truth -Let's search for it like wise men I can live my whole life forgetting the fact, that I would be dead. But it doesn't happen that way, as I can see while the stupid hang on some belief, wise people would search for the truth until they are sure there is no truth to be found. Where can you find a truth about life? I can list you some places, you can join me with your list. Truth can be found in a rock in your garden A drifting jelly fish Some clouds in the sky A tree King fisher In waves In a courtroom In golden globe awards in water Laptop There is no end to it. As when the mind is really shined with mindfulness, everything you see and hear will start to speak the language of truth. But you may think that is the "real truth" and some will stop searching when they find the meaning of life in a teacup. which is far from what really happens. It just awakens the mind that it guides itself to come out of eternal darkness that we are in due to lack of wisdom. So, the wise would never stop the search, simply they cannot as they know, it is not what they just found out the true truth! Always something else. PS: Wise people always find a counter argument for the truth, so they keep searching. While idiots who listen to them and satisfy with whatever they understood without thinking.

Newtonian Physics. We can get back to Newtonian physics for the first part of this. But for a broder meaning of momentum and inertia we will next look at a child. A mass is motion, and has momentum. Which can be represented by the equation, momentum = mass × velocity. In simple terms higher the velocity more momentum it has. Do you know, in contact sports like rugby, the ones who are successful, should either have bigger mass or ability to gain faster speed. Having both would be a great advantage over opponents. To change the momentum you need an external force. And in this case a tackle by the opposing team. Bigger the momentum a player has, the less likely he will be stopped. And bigger the mass inertia is high. Inertia is the resistance an object has to change its motion. Rugby: https://unsplash.com/@craigboudreaux Examples of Momentum in Life. There are many simple examples. Faster a bullet will travel longer. Bigger airplanes will need a longer runway. Bigger the ship, slower the speed it travels. I can go on talking about momentum and inertia in physics. But this would be a replication of a wiki article if I do that. Which serves no purpose. I am sure you would check that page if you are aiming to solve a physics problem. But this exercise is about solving problems in life . Think about doing something. When we have already started doing something, the momentum which we gained in the beginning will help us to finish effortlessly. And you may find it hard to stop. Isn't it another kind of momentum? It seems "the flow" state explained by mihaly csikszentmihalyi is none other than this kind of momentum. There is no place to be distracted by other things as at greater speeds there is no lateral thinking. But all these are ways to explain momentum as a phenomena of nature. But there is another way to understand momentum. Which is the mindfulness way. This happened to me the other day. Heavy ship with inertia : https://unsplash.com/@thanasis_p What is momentum? Mindfulness on Momentum My daughter was running inside the house and she crashed on the couch. And she said, "Father look, I cannot stop, when I am running, why?" And I said, "ah that's because of your momentum". I could not explain further than that. I didn't even try. I am sure if I took time I could have taught about mass and velocity products. Was I lazy? I think now. Instead we can notice even without not knowing about mass, velocity and momentum itself how can someone know momentum. Why? Why can someone know momentum without even knowing the words? That is because momentum is not a thing we see in things. It is a thing we feel. This is mindfulness when applied to momentum. Someone running can feel momentum in their body as a feeling. And this feeling is more important than actual knowledge. If we are unable to detect this, I am sure every 100 meters Olympic dash would end up in players crashing on the arena against the wall. Even you would bump into every door everyday. And human race would not survive if it wasn't for the ability to recognise momentum. Labelling it only came after newton. But even monkeys know the momentum. Would you not agree? Once we have the feeling of momentum and label it as such, we can observe this in external objects. We can look at a slowly speeding jumbo jet on Heathrow runaway and say "that jet is slow to take up speed, it has more inertia than a smaller plane" I am sure you can never know the real "momentum" in it unless you become the jumbo jet. But that is what we do when we say the above. We become the jet in our own minds. And this is just a relative assumption. Have you ever thought about this? The remarkable ability of the mind to externalise things which are otherwise originated from within? So next time, when someone talks about momentum, of objects. Make it a habit to look inside and see the momentum within yourself, and recognise it is not in the car that you are trying to push. It is the feeling of resistance that you feel now, when you are pushing it. " Who looks ouside dreams , who look inside awakens" Carl Jung

I have met him. Mark Twain. I know you would doubt that. It's true. Just like you have met me through this blog post, I have met Mark Twain through Huckelberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer. A long long time ago. As he is considered a greatest storyteller of his era, as well as all in American literature, I am sure most of you would have. So, the moment I read his quote I could not wonder into the past when I wrote the poem on Tidal Locking . So, it seems Mark Twain may have known the moon faces earth all the time (tidal Locking), and its dark side is never seen by earthers. Meaning no human has seen it naked eye. So, see what he compares this with. The full quote is as follows. “Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” — Mark Twain https://unsplash.com/@gferla Why would this fun-loving cheering man (Its only my personal opinion) write something like that? I wondered. Somehow it seemed true. There is deep meaning to the quote than it implies by the words. And it is a good exercise for me to steer my brain over this, in this lovely evening. Hence, here we go. If you are the moon, always facing the world, with your outer 'face' there is a chance, a good chance that you have another 'face' you are hiding from others. It may be a sad face, it may be an angry face, it may be a jealous face. Hence it may not be the sweet face you are showing the world. And we all do that from time to time. It may be like the picture of Dorien hidden in the attic , trying to make you rotten and disgusting. However, this is inevitable consequence of when you identify yourself. Because a self is made of just potential. A potential to be both good and bad. Just like fire, which can cook a meal for you, it can burn your hand Just like water, which can quench your thirst, it can drown you dead Just like air, which can fill your lungs, it can poison your brain Life is potential neither good nor bad, and simultaneously both. I think it is a good way to look at, after all you will have to live with yourself. Forgiving yourself for having a dark face is something, you should often do. And sometimes I notice, acknowledging this without fighting over it, will make it disappear. As there is good in the world, only because there is bad, as there is peace in the world only because there is war . As there is happiness in the world only there is sadness, it is not you at fault, but the faulty is the mind, which believes that there is. Deep dive into philosophy of the moon. Now, let's imagine understanding what the effect of our mind is. Imagine the moon, this time without the sun, to light it up, like it does, and the earthers to see as it is. Imagine the moon in a faraway isolated corner in the Milkey way, without a star nearby, nearest is some light years away. Such a moon would have no color, and the moon would not have a bright face and a dark face. Inherently moon is colorless, just like valuelessness of a thought. It is the interaction of the natural light of the sun with our observation which created a lightness and darkness of the moon, which is inherently neutral otherwise. To understand the analogy better, consider the sunlight as your judgements, or measurements on things you observe, this includes even you. Without judgments, nothing would have inherent good or badness to this. And without the observer there would be nothing existing as well. Hence, it seems what we observe is not what it is but who we are , and moment we pass judgment over the inherent valuelessness, the chaos, will begin. Disturbing the eternal peace that we are looking for. Thank you for reading everyone is a moon -Mark Twain. If you would like to understand the concepts better following articles would help Ripple effects of life Story of shadows Story of reflections How to eat a mango mindfully

Have you ever flown a kite? If you have, you will agree there is something pleasurable about flying a kite. I do not know why, but feeling of the tension on the thread when the kite is blown by the wind creates some happiness, somehow. It is really not the visual of seeing the kite in the sky, because it is not the same feeling to watch someone flying it and to hold one in your own hand. If you would be a kite. I would be a thread to let you drift far. far away into the sky And watch you dance until twilight. Not to let you go when the wind. desserts you But to take you home. Few kite stories from past. I can remember when I was very little, I used to watch other children flying kites. Those kites were made of stalks of palm leaves and thin colorful paper. I was always fascinated by them. There was a big rock some 500 meters away from the playground and children used to go there to catch wind. Only around one month per year we had winds good enough to fly a kite. So, everyone was exited. Often, they flew above our playground and kites were directly above us. We had the best view. I used to watch them for hours. Those dancing tails of snakes, and swinging of side to side, like happy elephants. I craved to fly a kite. But I didn't know how to make a one. Kite that couldn't fly Yes, my father made kites for us. He said that he used to fly kites and told stories how he used to catch other kites with his one, as his one's directly flew up. I never doubted him. He said the kite will fly high only if they were bent in the middle. So, he made sure ours were bent. We ran in the playground as fast as we can. But never did they fly high enough to sustain a ride on their own. After a while we were tired and stopped it blaming it is the wind. Not enough wind. I didn't like to fly them when other children were there with their glorious kites. After we shifted our house, we had rooftop. Occasionally a kite landed on it. We couldn't keep them for us as always, the owners came running to fetch it. We had to give them back. One day my father gave me a frame of a nice kite. A proper one, I completed it with paper and flew it. It was a great feeling. Later I knew, maybe he bought it from some village boy who built it. I never knew and I never asked. Maybe he just felt sorry. And I knew the boy who made it watched me flying it. Maybe he enjoyed it in the sky. Later when I was a little older, I made a kite, on my own. I did not have a video to guide me. It was flat, as soon as there was a little wind it took off. I only had white paper, so it wasn't easy to identify. Great feeling but on the first flight it landed on a treetop on a nearby hill. I lost it, but I knew i could make another one. And I did. Several times. I made such good ones sometimes they really flew almost straight up. But I lost the enthusiasm over time. When it is kite season, I still look at the sky and count them kites. Thank you for reading, Story of kite that couldn't fly You may also like to read , Story of a gentle Giant A giant a tree Story of a scarecrow

About Cockroaches Cockroaches are considered one of the most ancient species of insects which survived on the planet earth. They have ideal body size to survive catastrophes the animal kingdom has to face. Not only they survived in the great extinction in Cretaceous period, but they will also definitely hold their poise against the next generation of man-made updates to the Earth 1.2. If you watched the WALLE (the movie) the tiny cockroach is the only one who lived on the earth with WALLE(a robot) when we inhabit the Space while the earth is given time to recover. Even the trees would not survive. About Nietzsche and Ethics. " If you kill a cockroach, you are a hero, if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria ." These words thrown at us by Nietzsche, clearly laugh of our moral standards, plenty of sarcasm for our generations. Yet it is important when someone points out true facts which will change us for the better. Like my friend says, "there is more space for anyone to be more kind." Russel's Viper and Dictators When I was a kid, I had encounters with snakes. One such occasion, in an evening I was going to the living room from the kitchen. I heard a hiss. A clear hiss which gave me goosebumps. I shouted and jumped on to a chair. My father was nearby and came running with a Neighbour. The hiss continued sounded like a man dying with a labored breathing. Most scary thing I have heard. It was a Russel's Viper. A full grown one under the staircase. Luckily, I did not step on the snake in the first place and if I did, I wouldn't have survived. But obviously that was the end of the snake. I don't want to describe the sad story of killing the snake. After half an hour struggle the snake was dead, as it had a remarkable ability to withstand attacks by two strong men. There is a saying "You are a fool if you let a venomous snake live". If we apply Nietzsche's ethics to above scenario, even without his famous quote, everyone will agree we should have let the snake go away. Nowadays there are plenty of people who catch snakes. There was no such help available those days. Yet, it is unethical to kill an animal. Even when it is venomous, even when it is small, even when it is scary like a cockroach. Most of us will agree with me. Now, let's look at dictators in history . Imagine a dictator is like a Russel viper. (I know it is an incomplete comparison, as dictators are far beyond evil than a viper) It has the potential to destroy your life. If you let, he will too. You wouldn't kill him if he was a non-venomous snake. But you will kill him and will be not punished, will be considered as a hero. We know such heroes from our past. Any solider comes home victorious is such a hero. But where is the line which can rationalize any killing is ethical? How can you weight a life of a butterfly from a cockroach? A viper's bite and a dictatorship? That is how Nietzsche knew there is something beyond good and evil. Examples of cockroach ethics from human history. There are enough examples from brutal history of humankind, about cockroaches and butterflies. We do not have to go far. Let's keep a blind eye to the today's world and go back to the era of Nietzsche himself. He lived 1844-1900, in Germany at a time of Slavery still was a thing around the world. I am sure he did notice how so-called Masters, treat their Slaves and cockroaches alike. And few decades later upon his death, ironically the greatest dictator would be born in his own country. And Holocaust is a ghost where walls of Auschwitz still cry with innocent screams of withering lives of cockroaches, in Nazi eyes. We just passed a crazy era, where for the red army, black would be a Russel viper and for the black army, the red would be one. And for any army a one without a gun, would be a cockroach, a thing to be crushed and killed. In modern world, I would say the aesthetic criteria on ethics is not prominent like the past. Yet it prevails and that may be the reason "Black lives matter" Became a slogan, instead of "all lives matter". I could see this in an airport of an affluent country, I am sure, thousands of black and white men did feel like cockroaches there. I am not blaming the security for that matter any governing country. These are universal problems, and Only a Universal ruler can truly put an end to so called cockroach Ethics happening around the world, with truly universal laws. Until then we just have to remind ourselves of these simple truths, whenever we look for equal rights. And earth is not our home . Thank you for reading: Cockroach Ethics and Dictators - Friedrich Nietzsche More philosophical insights. Life in the zoo, animal ethics There are two tragedies in life - George Bernard Shaw. What you see is not what it is but who you are. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens -Carl Jung Have you lost your keys? eternal search for happiness

Thing 1 and thing 2. - The cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss Remember the Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss? I can still remember when I read Dr Seuss, through this wonderful children's story. I enjoyed it as an adult more than a child. I am not sure how he came up with "Thing 1 and thing 2". However, it fascinated me the underlying philosophy of things. Do you know why the story is not comparable to any other, children's story? I believe it is because, he started to address things, in his book at its basic form. Just as "Things" Let's look at the philosophy of "The cat in the Hat" Photo by @WFozStories -X Summary of the plot- The Cat in the Hat. In Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat," two children, Sally and her brother, are stuck inside on a rainy day with nothing to do. Their boredom is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the mischievous Cat in the Hat, who brings chaos and fun to their home. Accompanied by his playful friends, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Cat turns the house upside down with his antics. Despite the mayhem, they manage to clean everything up just in time before their mother returns, leaving the children to ponder whether they should tell her about their wild day. How did Dr Seuss come up with Thing 1 and Thing 2? I wondered how he managed to pull up thing 1 and thing 2 into the story. It is magical when these things cannot be named. Thing 1 can be a kitten, a rabbit or anything. But when he took out the name tag, it is fundamentally a thing. A moving thing, a mischievous thing, which played havoc together with Thing 2, Which is same kind of thing 1. Did Dr Seuss suggest that it is the deed that matters not the name of the thing? I like to wonder, Dr. Seuss himself, on an armchair with his notebook at hand trying to figure out the "Thing" That the Cat in the hat going to pull out from his box. And, his mind went blank, and he could not think farther than "Thing". And smiled to himself, when he knew that is the name he should be giving to the things in the box. It's perfect. Thing 1 and Thing 2. It could be anything, and there is plenty of space for imagination of a child. Image @WFozStories -X Dr Seuss Philosophy of things. When we were kids, we used to be familiar with "Things". Now we do not as the things are shadowed by information we have received. Imagine a child, who see a cat for the first time. He would see only a "Thing". He may even call it "Thing 1". But after learning his parents call this "Thing" a cat, many times, The Thing 1 will be registered in his brain as a cat. Similarly, he would label Thing 2 and Thing 3 in different names. More knowledgeable a person is, he would have more and more Things which are recognized by names. What our brain has essentially done is, developed a layer of information, on top of the fundamental "Things" in the world. I think this is a major difference between us and a child. A child's world is still filled with unknown "Things" which hides mysteries. However, in our world we have, learnt about so many things, we no longer recognize, things as things. Imagine a picture or a video of Chiribiquete Emerald is shown to you. It is a bird which lives in Amazon rainforest. If this is shown to a child who has only seen a Crow once in his entire life, it would be just a "Thing 11" which moves and chirps. However, you would recognize this as a bird, in a flash, without you even realizing it, and you would even be able to guess its weight, if asked. You would see its similarity with a hummingbird. The disadvantage is we would never be able to see the "Thing" in the bird. As our consciousness is always be shadowed by information. https://unsplash.com/@picsbyjameslee Mindfulness, as a tool to recognize things. Mindfulness is a tool, in my opinion the only tool which can recognize things as things. You may ask why should we understand about these fundamental things? What is the point? If you have followed my previous articles, understanding the consciousness , is a possible solution to all our problems, as root cause of all our problems is none other than ourselves. What better way to do it than, understanding "Things" in our world. In a previous article, I have discussed some of the characteristics in these " Things ". Here, in this article, I would not go into details, of these "Things" which are recognized by our mind (more precisely their reflections ). It is just to emphasize and be amazed by the wisdom of Dr. Seuss who was able to recognize this fact, and even introduce some philosophy into a children's book, written Decades ago! Philosophy of things -Thing 1 and thing 2

Why Life is a tragedy when close up but comedy in long shot? This is a famous quote by Charlie Chaplin. Who is the greatest comedian of the era, where the world had been in chaos battered by wars. It is not difficult to understand the thoughts which lead to above conclusion. Which are the tragedies surrounded his life and prevailed during that time. Disease and death were very common. So yes, life is a tragedy in close up. But why comedy in a long shot? What was he trying to say. To understand you must watch a Charlie Chaplin movie. https://unsplash.com/@hulkiokantabak Yes, those Black and white still movies capture the normal life of a commoner. He does find it hilarious to work in an assembly line of a factory . Doing the same task everyday hours and hours. So, he shows what will happen if the production line speeds up. He would struggle to keep up wrenching the nuts 😢 he supposed to do. It's both tragic and hilarious at the same time. To me when i look at his quote with a philosophical eye, I do understand that this is a good way to look at life. Maybe there are more examples to near and far views of life. Let's take another mindful journey. Let's look at a divorce Let's look at a divorce. I am sure if you have lived long enough in the world you may have experienced divorce in a different capacity. You may have divorced yourself. Or one of your friends. Or in a drama, or you are a divorce lawyer. Now that is tragedy, right? Heated arguments mental trauma, separation of kids and financial loses. Anyone would avoid a divorce if they can live happily ever after like a fairy tale. So, life is tragedy for a divorcing couple. But where is the comedy in it? To see that we need to follow the intuition of Charlie Chaplin. You can do it while on your couch and it is similar to a Charlie Chaplin movie. Let's expand the lifeline of a divorcing couple few years either side. In the past they married vowing each other in front of a gathering to be happy forever to forgive each other without any remorse in mistakes. To help and respect and on this day, they did feel that they are the happiest as each of them possessed that one thing that they craved for so long, that is their partner. However , that after years apart we find that this is not true. Things did change and they must be laughing at each other that they were wrong about their partner. And I am sure if we move forward time some years into the future after the divorce. Same thing would happen. They will yet again have another new opinion about their partner without knowing the absurdity of it . Life is a comedy after all in long shot. https://unsplash.com/@aleknewton But what about comedy? There is a hidden message inside of it. Although life is a comedy in a long shot. Isn't it absurd that life is a comedy after all. Isn't it stupid to succumb to cancer, after making trouble to earn a million dollars. The comedy of life is not visible when you are just focused on just a small piece of life. This is the exact point I have illustrated in the previous article about Weak dictators of our century . So, if someone told that he is the most powerful person on earth, I would say, yes, true and not true at the same time. Nothing seems sustainable. Yet it seems so, at this moment. What a better place to start, Life story of Charlie Chaplin himself. For the information of the article, I had to read about the life story of the Charlie Chaplin. And it surprised me, behind that comedian He had not been good at his family life and treating others. Ironically, he had many divorces in his life, one after the other. And after all it is hilarious to think about the same person, who read the above quote seems to be referring to himself. Teenage wives, multiple divorces a sadistic Tyrant? And it seems we are glad to be him being a comedian and not a dictator. https://unsplash.com/@bostonpubliclibrary Let's look back at our lives, when time allows, to make a mindful note of the comedy in it. After all life is a tragedy in close up but a comedy in long shot.

I'm just a floating leaf on river waters. Flowing downstream, washed by the stream. I go with the flow fast and slow. How far I will go, nobody would know. Destiny awaits in the seas. Why does a leaf float on water? Scientific explanations first. Scientific explanation is the material on the leaf is less dense than water. Hence it floats. Generally, it is due to the spaces inside the leaf which captures some gas, in its parenchymal cells. Hence it is less dense than water and have a buoyancy. However, as time goes by more and more air will be lost and the gaps will be filled with water and the leaf will be heavier, until it starts to sink in water. Some plants in water makes oxygen, and air trapped underneath the leaves. And this helps them with floating. Examples for this include water lilies lotus and water shield etc. https://pixabay.com/photos/leaf-vein-pattern-foliage-tree-4139030/ Floating life of a leaf on water. Have you ever taken your time to be by a stream. If you haven't let me remind you what I have seen. I have seen, slow moving water streams. When a leaf falls on the water it floats and gets washed downstream. Does it ever go upstream? no, it doesn't. A leaf always follow the water down the stream. When the stream is narrow, it travels hurried in turbulence. When the stream is wide, it slows down and reduced in speed. Sometimes it goes into a stagnant pool of water and stay afloat there. After hours or days, it gets soaked with water and become heavy, and it slowly sink down to the bottom of the sea, to degenerate there and either become food to some small creatures or become elements and enrich the bottom of the sea. Have you ever thought about this? How similar our lives to a floating leaf in a brook? Let's compare our life with a floating leaf and be amazed of the nature. Similar to a leaf, we are dragged by the powers of the nature. When I was a student, I had hard time controlling my feelings. And someone wise said to me "control yourself". The exact words still ruminate in my mind, because I wrote about it. I wrote, "control yourself is the best advice I've got" which was not true. I knew it was not true. But now I know why. If thoughts of my mind is like a floating leaf, it is bound to flow with the current. There is nothing the leaf can do about it. If the leaf thinks the leaf can change the direction, the leaf must be mad. The leaf is powerless, helpless against the nature's forces. If you stop once in a while to look at yourself, you will notice this. From morning till night, the leaf of mind just floats this way and that way, to whatever you hear, to whatever you see, and whatever you feel. The leaf has no choice . Poor, poor leaf. I would feel sorry for every leaf that floats. https://pixabay.com/photos/underwater-photography-pond-plants-1529209/ Similar to a leaf, we cannot go back. We cannot go back to our past and change anything. Leaf can only float downstream. Maybe slow, maybe fast. How far the leaf would travel will be determined by the current. And they travel alone on the river. Although surrounded by some similar leaves, they will separate. They will meet new leaves along the way. But from start to end, only the leaf knows where it has been, what it has seen. So, from the perspective of a leaf, it is a lonely journey. Like a leaf, sometimes we tend to suck in stagnated pools of water. In some places. Nothing seems to be moving. No, interesting sights, no improvement, just floating on the water. Maybe hoping a rain would come and wash away. Often would not. Once you are caught in the stagnated pool, usually a leaf would end at the bottom of the pool. It is all part of the leaf life. We cannot know which leaf is going to end up how. You would say, that is sad and depressing. You should not stagnate. You should push against all the odds and break the barrier and float downstream. I would say to what end my friend to what end? If you look at the analogy you would understand, it doesn't matter how far a leaf would travel, its destiny is at the bottom of the river. It doesn't matter how many flower gardens it had seen, It doesn't matter how many waterfalls it had seen, It doesn't matter how many mountains or trees. If you are a leaf, you end up in the bottom of the stream. Nobody can change it. https://pixabay.com/photos/water-lily-beautiful-nature-blossom-2580950/ So, how are we different from a floating leaf? I would say, not from much, but enough. Imagine being a leaf, knowing what the journey of a leaf is. Imagine the ability to see a leaf from a bridge is given to the leaf. That I would say is the different from a leaf, from many other aspects being similar. We are just leaves with ability to look at ourselves from a bird's eye perspective . But how many of us just float downstream thinking we are boats. Even if you are a boat, bottom of the water is your most likely destination. So, let us take our time to observe more and more leaves in water, so we would not be worried when water is fast and slow and stagnated. Thank you for reading. You may like to read: what is a paradigm shift and how to use it .

"Imagination is more important than Knowledge - Einstein" Imagination more important than Knowledge This quote by Albert Einstein is one of the most misunderstood quotes. Yet a more powerful one. But there is a very simple explanation for this. We really do not have to go through deep theorems and examples to understand this and trust me I am no genius than you. So, let's get on with cracking the code to success. We can start with Einstein's equation for success . Remember, his equation is Success = work+ play+ keeping your mouth shut The same thing can be given as  Success = work + imagination/hypothesize/create + silence/mindfulness Now it makes a lot more sense. And it appears that knowledge is not even there in Einstein's success equation. Why? To understand, we need to look at the blooms taxonomy.  Einstein: https://unsplash.com/@harimedia Bloom's taxonomy Bloom's taxonomy is a hierarchical framework originally developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. Revised in 2001 it gives a framework to categorise complexity of academic activities from least to the most complex ones. There are six tiers. 2001 version of bloom's taxonomy Remember Understand  Apply  Analyse Evaluate Create. If you would like to know more about the application of these previously I have written about how to use this in textbook reading and thinking. However here I just need to emphasise that the knowledge is just knowing the facts, which is only used in the first two low levels in bloom's taxonomy directly (remember and understand). However the imagination, which is involved in the highest form of cognitive complex tasks in evaluation and creation. So, it seems although it was discovered in 1956 and widely unpopular until recently, Einstein himself had an idea about cognitive hierarchy and why imagination is such an important part of success. Hence he included "playing with ideas" as a component which serves the function of "Evaluation and creation" This is also obvious when we look at the older version of the bloom's taxonomy.  Before 2001 version Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation As you can see, knowledge is just the first step. And synthesis which needs imagination is at the top. But the most important thing to remember is when we try to start to learn at the higher order level, the low level tasks would be easily achieved even effortlessly. A paintbrush Might have more potential than science: https://unsplash.com/@harimedia Example of imagination in action. Consider this article. I have been previously "knowledgeable" about bloom taxonomy and Einstein's quote. However, instead of further reading on these things I started to create my blog post. While doing that I had to go back and read about bloom taxonomy again, where I learned some more things about it. Like 2001 version which replaced older one with actionable "verbs". And nobody even told me to do this and I would not struggle to memorise this information. Simply put I can write an essay on "Cognitive complexity of Adult learning" with examples from Albert Einstein backed up with Bloom's taxonomy. Do you think anyone coming after a one hour lecture on above topics can do that? Not only that, as I was putting my imagination into it I can argue why a manual worker is paid less than a clerk or an engineer. Can you see the link? It depends on the cognitive load of the task. That usage of the imaginative power by adults is so poor that there are only few people actually making use of this. So, do not worry in the next hour when you start to create something, it's not a waste of time. It's far better to imagine than let the mind rot in its own echo chamber . So, how are you going to use this information? I'm curious to know. Do not tell me, I would imagine that!

Watching World at War. So, I started to watch the World at war series on YouTube again. It has been a major source of my WW2 knowledge. I am not sure I particularly enjoy seeing dead humans by the roads while victorious armies casually march down the roads, in black and white reels. Yet, it shows how humans would behave when everyone is in survival mode. Ethics are suppressed by dictators of good and evil. And the modern version of the same human behaviour I have seen on top of Mount Everest when hundreds walk past a dying individual, as nobody dares to gamble with their own lives trying to save another, which is likely to be dead anyway. But that is not the point I am going to make. I am going to show you the less obvious good side of world war 2. To do that I am going to drop down all my prejudices about a war, and look at it as a concept. Do not label me at the end of it, as I am not a supporter of any cruelty or violence to either humans or animals. Let's get to our discussion. WW2: https://unsplash.com/@britishlibrary Benifits of War. The Peace How about the fact that ww2 has halted the progression of population growth. It is likely at least it dragged the population growth a few years back and now we are on a track. We are not talking about direct deaths. Vast majority are indirect due to poverty and famine. Maybe it is not a good argument to start with. As it may be the same reason why we have a surge in population now. The era of peace and prosperity, up until globalisation is another good consequence. To colonial countries, they got the freedom they deserve, while the hard learned lessons of war like bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki reminded us about peace even today. And I can see the true eyewitnesses are perishing one by one, yet due to globalisation I can casually watch ww2 on my smart TV shipped from Korea, with chips from Silicon valley . And I would not trade my comfort with pre pre-smartphone era, no matter what. So how about you? Do you not appreciate that equality, democracy that you experience today is due to international laws put forward during the post ww2 era?  Do you think technology would flourish if we did not have that peaceful gap to think about ourselves critically? As you can see I can write positive aspects of world war. One by one from aviation to development of nuclear energy. And this is not new wisdom either. We take for granted the "world peace". Did you hear the Elon Musk's opinion on this? "Be careful what you wish for" is his advice on this. It's not obvious at first but to have so-called global peace first we might have to campaign to suppress the opposition, dictators and everyone else who do not wish to collaborate. This could mean a ww3. Have we learned anything from the past? So, maybe we might just be ok, trying to keep the current level of peace, and hand over the batton to the future generation to continue this. In Fact the same concept I have discussed over in the article on peace and war , as the peace only prevails due to the war.  Sharks: https://unsplash.com/@bergoglio Reef sharks of great Barrier reef. I am going to stop after giving you one more example from nature to show that war and cruelty, although unacceptable to a moral society, is just a part of nature. And this comes from the great barrier reef. The top predators of this ecosystem are mainly sharks. And due to excessive hunting these reef sharks are now reducing in numbers and this has its own effects in tipping the balance of some parts of coral to extinction. As sharks have been eating larger fish, who in turn eat small grazers. These grazers which remove the parasitic animals in coral are reduced in numbers as shark populations decline. Bottom line is it is complex in nature. Even predators like sharks are necessary, even wars necessary to keep the peace. If we are expecting eternal peace, maybe it will come after an eternal war. So, as we can see, peace is not easy like a great speech by Greta Thumberg. There are things at stake. And these stakes are high.  And I have nothing to do with this as I am just a little grazer in my coral home.

The merchant and the Demon story. Once upon a time there lived a talented merchant. He was literally a jack of all the trades. He knew everything about everything and had travelled from east to west as far as the land extends. And you can consider him the Indiana John of his era. And he knew ancient Mantras to mathematics, and how to combine everything for his advantage. And luck always followed him. He had a beautiful young wife and two kids.  Once he was on a far away land on a mission. He was asked by the local villagers to catch a demon who was troubling them for a long time. He took the challenge as he knew he was the only one who could do it. The demon was a real trickstar. Just like the demon in the Puss in boots he could change its appearance. And the demon disguised itself as a woman. Yet it could not fight with the wise merchant. The merchant knew immediately that this is the demon and with his powerful mantras, made it unconscious. Then he put a chanted nail on the head of the demon trapping it in this female form. Without its powers, the demon became a slave to the merchant. As it was now trapped in the human body, it was harmless like a rabbit. And without any fear the merchant took her to his house. Demon : https://unsplash.com/@rangokonk The demon and Merchant's kind wife Since that day the demon did all the housework. Everything the merchant and his lovely wife asks. Without any delay. And we will skip a few happy years down the line as we are in a hurry to end the story. Even the merchant forgot that it was the scary demon. The killer of a thousand men at his house working day and night. Working like a slave. And one day as he went for a ride to another town for a fortnight, for a business matter. And the demon women took the opportunity. As she was unable to remove the enchanted nail by itself, she took a bath and told the wife of the merchant that she has a headache. And there was a lump on her vertex. And the kind innocent beautiful wife checked her head, and she could feel a lump." Ow. That must be painful. It looks like a nail." And she fell for the trap. The moment she pulled out the nail, the demon sprang into its demonistic form and killed and ate her heart.(I am not sure why demons are fond of eating hearts) He killed two children and ran away. When the merchant came back, his heart sank to the depth of his sea of thoughts. He could not believe what happened. It was his mistake. He shouldn't have trusted the demon. Not for a one minute. He had no choice. He could not bring back the lives of his wife or children. So he started a long journey of hunting down demons, and became a daredevil. Human Form: https://unsplash.com/@kyleclevelandphoto Moral of the story That is the end of the demon story. A folk tale I read a long time ago, from a big book. I could not make anything out of it. It seemed people really read it only for entertainment. But these ancient stories generally give a moral. Maybe it just said "never trust a demon". Or they were meaning bad people when they say demon. But I can give another meaning as this blog is about mindfulness. How about I give my own moral of the story and you give yours? A little bit of lateral thinking will not hurt anyone. I assume the demon to be a human consciousness . With the ability to change the form from a Saint to demon. A powerful energy, with the ability to do harm and good equally. And the merchant can be the wisdom. And the nail can be mindfulness, while merchant's wife represent desire. With powerful wisdom, and mindfulness nail, we can trap a demon of mind and make use of it for the greater good of humans. But we have to be very very careful as at any moment if we let desire to be alone with demon and let our mindfulness guard down, demons can spring back to life and do harm.  So what do you make out of this story?