Kaleidoscope

I went on a very short, one day trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. Just a while before I boarded the flight, one of my best friends told me that she is more keen on visiting rural areas as compared to cities whenever she explores a country and its culture as they(rural areas) are the ones that offer the richness or uniqueness of the culture.

I realized the wisdom behind that statement after I went to the heart of the city in Jakarta. Shining Malls, very huge with almost all popular western brands have become a mandatory requirement that all major asian cities adhere to these days. I found Jakarta to be very similar.

I could also see Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Macdonalds and Burger King  at several places in the city. Not that I don't like these, as I myself went for some innovative donuts and indulged in the sweetness and the different flavors - lychy - peanut & chocolate - caramel glazed....

While it is enjoyable and in a way refreshing to enter these great malls, visit places like Starbucks, Dunkin , it is also true that for a visiting tourist the experience may be monotonous to an extent from a city to another.

There are some cool antique shops that I visited. I bought a small statue ( wooden ) as a memorabilia. That street was so cool with so much of different antiques that one historian would spend time studying for years. 

Finally, I told myself that when I visit Indonesia the next time, I will go to Bali and to some of the rural areas around Jakarta.

I came across a  poem by Tagore on Love. The simplicity of the poem touched me. I admire how Tagore weaved the tendency of human towards outward beauty, ability to puzzle itself with nothing! into this poem. Enjoy!

Love adorns itself;
it seeks to prove inward joy by outward beauty.
Love does not claim possession,
but gives freedom.
Love is an endless mystery,
for it has nothing else to explain it.
Love's gift cannot be given,
it waits to be accepted.

Thanks to www.poetseers.org for the online version of this work.

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up, because by that time I was too famous. -Robert Benchley

Every episode in Star Trek Voyager stimulates my thought process. One of the episodes I recently watched revolves around the crew's visit to a planet in delta quadrant (70,000 light years away from earth). One of the crew members Balenna has a violent thought of hitting a man after he collided on her accidentally. The crew member is arrested for the crime of thinking violent, and she is given a corrective punishment of purging her memory, which can possibly damage all of her memories and her normal brain functions. She is charged with the 'cause' of a murder as her violent thought is believed to have caused a murder of a young woman by a man who is usually a calm fellow. Ballena's protest to this punishment, the investigation of the tactical officer of voyager, Mr.Tunok, on the events that triggered the murder, Captain Janeway's handling the situation with full respect to the customs and laws of the land they visited; yet working to have her crew un-harmed, the shock that the society experiences on witnessing a crime after decades - all makes the episode a 'must return and watch' item.

I was amazed by the creativity of the script writer(s) for voyager truly. This theme also helped me spin a few thoughts.

1. The desire of some people to protect by controlling, more often violates individual rights of others. Say if there a situation arises where everyone can telepathically connect to each other, Will the thoughts of others be considered equivalent to speeches now and people would further stricter actions than now, out of suspicion, in the current society of ours?

2. In the story described - what is the role of free will?

3. Is experiencing negative or violent thoughts needed for one's development/evolution?

4. In a world there is no violent thoughts, how will peace be felt and interpreted?

I am still exploring answers to these questions. I hope this intrigues you too.

A master piece by Rumi, nothing to add from my side. The full poem is at http://www.khamush.com/life&death.htm. Thanks to Rumi and to the website. 

come on sweetheart
let's adore one another
before there is no more
of you and me

a mirror tells the truth
look at your grim face
brighten up and cast away
your bitter smile

once you think of me
dead and gone
you will make up with me
you will miss me
you may even adore me

why be a worshiper of the dead
think of me as a goner
come and make up now

since you will come
and throw kisses
at my tombstone later
why not give them to me now
this is me
that same person

Space

Literally it means nothing, a vacuum between stars and planets. But by the same token it means everything. It's what connects all our worlds--

Captain Janeway continues delivering this monologue to admire and appreciate Space and the contribution of an 'earlier generation explorer' who her crew finds in an anamoly in space.

I love this monolgue ( a short one - but deeply impactful ), in episode 'One Small Step'. Kate Mulgrew does Captain Janeway very well; her's is a truly  fantastic performance. This talk also reminded me of a model on reality presented by scientist and spiritualist Vethathiri Maharishi of India.

According to my interpretation, he described the alimighty or reality to be a scientific, yet sentient phenomenon which holds everything in it. It is the subtlest, not easily un-felt force that holds everything. It is also love.

I started wondering if this would be true. It may be that many people  experience reality truly and describe the way they recognize to others. It may be that, what they felt or perceived is the same, but their interpretation  - the language - words they know and thus use to communicate make the experiences seemingly different!

Thanks to startrek.com for the picture and hats off to the wonderful creators of 'Voyager'

I love the game of cricket. In my childhood days, I was an ardent fan, who would run along with fellow friends to the ground with the ball and the bat even during the 15 minute breaks in a day, leave alone an elaborate 45 minute lunch break.

Whenever I played, I wanted deperately to win. I was a bowler most of the times and I would imagine that I were the fastest bowler in the world. While some of my friends accepted the sheer pace in deliveries, some pointed that I lack "planned" variety of deliveries though my keenness to simply bowl at a maximum pace itself resulted in a variety of deliveries - unplanned varities though - some of them going to the near by ground - several feets away from the target, into no man's land!

Anyways, after this 'Swim' session in my memory land ( or water , perhaps!) , I thought of the term victory and was keen to find out some quotes regarding the same. Here you go!

“The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is of all things most shameful and vile.” - Plato

Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing. - William Shakespeare

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self - Aristotle

Victory becomes, to some degree, a state of mind. Knowing ourselves superior to the anxieties, troubles, and worries which obsess us, we are superior to them.  - Basil King

Thanks to Plato,Shakespeare,Aristotle and Basil King for these wonderful reflections.Thanks to www.thinkexist.com for the first, www.quotations.about.com for the second and www.motivational-inspirational-corner.com for the online version of the rest of the quotes.

Not in a many years, I paid attention how the raw "land" looked like when I was in USA. I did a few times when I was about to leave on account of a job elsewhere.

From then on, I started paying attention to the land wherever I go, that lead me to wonder that the land everywhere else, in its rawness look exactly alike to my eyes as it is in USA.

Today I had such an experience out of a comparison which only brought similiarities more than differences amongst different lands. At the same time, a vivid image of me in a greyhound bus in an interstate highway in USA, watching the wilderness - the fresh trees passing by my window side came across my mind.

What people have contributed to the land, especially the contribution to themselves in making a 'not so disturbing' access to all the nature, thus allowing them to enjoy Nature at its best, in USA enthralls me. Atleast, this is my perception of the situation. I felt a natural freshness when I was driving along the curvy roads to grand canyon, and in phoenix along the mountains.

The self made singapore is similar too. There is a great deal of effort to preserve the green amidst all the modern constructions. India and China may have to work on improving accessibility to their fantastic natural scenic areas; I believe that it will be soon.

I thank Star Trek for the greatest of the inspirations which is "exploration". Since I started watching Star Trek, I have widened my perspective on phenomenon around me and the ones that I observed earlier. The possibility that there could be other worlds, similar in landscape and with people similar to humans, that is described in Star Trek brings my mind close to consider the current differences in various cultures of earth negligible.

I think the moment we, humans come across other similar intelligent life forms ( well, I am making an assumption that they exist now ) in other worlds physically, we may all unite or rather believe and represent ourselves as a single race - 'human' - not anymore - american - british - european - asian. How would that be like?

Thanks to http://www.ga.gov.au/education/facts/images/farm.jpg for the picture of the land ( farms )

Thanks to http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/sbwr/gallery/photos/photo_17.html

for the picture of a main bridge in Sungei Buloh park - Singapore

Thanks to L.Grover-Bullington and http://www.nps.gov/grca/naturescience/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm

for the picture of grand canyon

"Abiogenesis - study of how life on earth might have emerged" - I learnt a new term today when I was browsing Wikipedia for 'origins of life'.

It is believed to have happened 4.4 billion years ago and 2.7 billion years ago from the interaction of 'non-life' minerals.

Looking at our current 'physical' evolution, our own bodies - it is hard to believe that human kind has evolved from some kind of 'soup' of minerals, to begin with. If this is true, have we stopped evolving physically or will we be evolving further in future?. This question comes up in my mind, looking at the historical data of 'human physique' - I think it is the same for several centuries.

If we stopped evolving physically - why? what could be a possible reason?

If we further evolve physically - how and what would trigger that?

Will we be having two wings which also are hands and we all fly at will? :-) Just kidding.

Whatever the facts of the origins of the life, which the scientists were/are ardently trying to ascertain, even the historical data that we have, would let us know about the human evolution, from cave men to now.

Considering this journey, it is of no doubt that human life is very valuable and it is to be made the full use of!

Thanks to Wikipedia for the image and the statistical information on the formation of life.

Today I browsed www.mkgandhi.org. Since my childhood, I have developed a fondness to Gandhi.

This web site is a wonderful remembrance of him. There are volumes of his thoughts and works shared online. One of the works I browsed through today is "The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi" (http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/momindex.htm)

Please find below some of the words of his, that I cherish. You are welcome to visit the website for more. Thanks to his grace through these words and to mkgandhi.org for being a conduit of that grace.

Somehow I am able to draw the noblest in mankind, and that is what enables me to maintain my faith in God and human nature.

Mine is a life full of joy in the midst of incessant work. In not wanting to think of what tomorrow will bring for me, I feel as free as a bird….. The thought that I am ceaselessly and honestly struggling against the requirements of the flesh sustains me.

Work without faith is like an attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit.

I believe in absolute oneness of God and, therefore, also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul. The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source. I cannot, therefore, detach myself from the wickedest soul (nor may I be denied identity with the most virtuous). Whether, therefore, I will or not, I must involve in my experiment the whole of my kind. Nor can I do without experiment. Life is but an endless series of experiments.

I have made the frankest admission of my many sins. But I do not carry their burden on my shoulders. If I am journeying Godward, as I feel I am, it is safe with me. For I feel the warmth of the sunshine of His presence.

Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man, I say to myself so was I once; and in this way, I feel kinship with every one in the world and feel that I cannot be happy without the humblest of us being happy.

Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds?

Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you've never seen the face

After many a number of days, I looked for poetry in internet and came across this beautiful verse by Rumi. Deeply meaningful, this poem is a lovely one that also stimulates thinking. Thanks to www.armory.com for the online version of the poem. You could read this entire poem and many others by Rumi in this site. 

Thinking of the subject to blog today, I typed flowers in google. To my surprise I find an interesting information in www.aboutflowers.com.

In victorian times, people ascribed specific meanings to certain flowers, as the selection was limited and the mode of communication of people  comprised more of symbols and gestures.

                         Apple Blossom promise

                         Daffodil chivalry

                         Daisy innocence

                               Hibiscus delicate beauty

                     Iris inspiration

                                               Ivy fidelity

                               Jasmine grace and elegance

Well, there is one with negative meaning too

                                Lavender distrust

There are several more in http://www.aboutflowers.com/floral_b5.html

Thanks to the below sites for the images of the beautiful flowers

Apple Blossom  - www.50states.com/flower/picts/arkansas.jpg
Daffodils      - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffodil
Daisy   - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellis_perennis
Hibiscus - http://healing.about.com/od/floweressences/ig/Flower-Essence-Gallery/Hibiscus.htm
Iris  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Iris02.jpg
Ivy  - http://www.about-garden.com/e/en/381-english-ivy-hedera-helix
Jasmine  - http://www.fabiovisentin.com/photos/world/9_131/Jasmines-Flowers-Wallpaper-Wide.ashx
Lavender - http://www.flowers.vg/flowers/00flower01.shtml?n0flower460.jpg

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."

 "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

Thanks to Einstein and to stanford.edu for the online version of these quotes that helped my quick reference.

Thanks to http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Albert-Einstein-Quotes.htm for the image of Einstein.

"Maps courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission"

I was simply amazed to learn about the possibility of a universal translator the way it is used in Star Trek. Everyone can speak in their mother tongue and with this amazing technology will hear others in their mother tongue.

Wow! what if that is possible now?

With my mind dwelling on this idea, I sprung to another branch like a monkey - the branch is "how language would have been formed?"

I visited Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_language. My immense thanks to them for such a rich and interesting collection of information on wide variety of subjects. With fullest respect to the effort and the information that they have in wiki for everything, I here by share a very few interesting information that I read from there. I believe that it will motivate you all to read all of it in wikipedia and also spring your imagination, if not like mine, in your own way!

*All humans possess similar linguistic abilities, and no child is born with a biological predisposition favoring any one language or type of language

*Anatomically modern humans first appear in the fossil record 200,000 years ago in Ethiopia.

*There is still some debate as to whether language developed gradually over thousands of years or whether it appeared suddenly.

"Linguistic monogenesis (the "Mother Tongue Theory") is the hypothesis that there was one single protolanguage (the "Proto-World language") from which all other languages spoken by humans descend."

Will stop here... Have a nice day!

Today, a few hours ago, I enjoyed watching 'Death Wish', an episode in Star Trek which featured the characters 'Q' of the continuum, who possess seemingly omnipotent power.

In one of the scenes, a character ( one Q ) pleads for his mortality in a hearing while the other reasons that the requestor be not granted his wish. To justify his stand,he brings three characters from Earth, one of which is Newton. Newton identifies the Q ( the requestor ) as the man who shook the apple tree (yes, the famous apple tree incident) which helped Newton formulate his theory on gravity.

Right after watching this episode,I started thinking about how the universe, especiallt earth is governed. Other than the orderly motion of the earth and the amazingly surprising sustenance of life with all its dependencies with the environment, would there be any forces, who do not wear an uniform and who we do not see, be having any special interest or a duty in assisting nature?

Looking at the orderliness of the universe, earth and the raw human mind with inorderly tendencies, I tend to believe that there must be some forces guiding or helping the human mind to route its creative capacity to evolution. Or Is the mind itself that force?

The funniest and probably a true idea that popped in my mind is that the induction of human beings on earth is what necessitated a 'governing' body other than or derived from Nature.

Intriguing! Especially my questions on this subject yield further questions and keep my mind fresh. This leads to further quest for information.

Thanks to www.spaceandmotion.com for the image. The site is fantastic with interesting material on the subject matter and various others.

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