Overconfidence

One of the biggest mistakes we make is to think that we know ourselves well enough to be able to predict all our responses in all given situations.

Change

Wanton nonconformism is not innovation. True innovators understand the wisdom inherent in the pre-existent. They challenge it only when they find a flaw or a margin for improvement.

Indian Independence

Did the British transfer power to their nonviolent adversaries (Muslim League and INC)?

OR

Did the British transfer power to their least dissenting allies (Muslim League and INC)?

Being Proven Wrong can Feel Right

Suprise is the most spontaneous self-admission of inadequate ability to anticipate and estimate, basically, of "being wrong".

And ironically, surprises can be liked. :)

Eternity

Time is timeless.

Contentment, Happiness and Ecstasy

A fulfilling moment is one, upon the elapse of which one does not wish it should have happened some other way. That is contentment. Contentment requires a trigger, which could be immediate or remote in time.

A happy moment is one, of which one seeks repetition. Repetition can, but may not occur because of the original trigger of happiness. That trigger occurs immediately before, and usually is an accomplishment. Repetition may also occur with replaying the memory of the trigger and the ensuing happy moments.

Happy moments may leave either contentment or sadness in aftermath. Sadness occurs when one assumes happiness to be the minimum acceptable standard for living, and lack of happiness is seen as a trough, or a deficit. Contentment occurs with the awareness that happiness is not a given, but is earned along with existence of appropriate conditions (e.g., absence of overwhelming pain).

Ecstatic is a moment, the intensity of which consciousness cannot fully capture, and memory cannot retain. Ecstasy^* being a novel and/or rare occurrence, may leave happiness in its wake. Ecstasy overwhelms the consciousness, and consciousness can never be prepared enough for ecstasy. The loss of control felt can be discomforting. Hence, I do not seek ecstasy repeatedly.

^*I was not talking of the substance! ;)

Learning to Forgive the Self

Perfection is just one of the multitudes of states that are possible. But it is the most stunning of them all.

I like getting stunned by perfection.

Stunning others is pointless. I do not mind if I do not stun myself.

Freezing v/s Diffusion

To love others and to want them to love back - are both signs of insufficiency of the self.

Beyond a point, self-sufficiency is boring, monotonous, and offers no incentive to continue to live for the next moment.

Both self-sufficiency and dependence lie on the opposite ends of the same scale.

Life is best enjoyed by allowing the self to be liberated of stipulations and proscriptions - allowing the self to slide either ways along the scale, pushed by nothing, but the momentum of impulses.

There are no 'points of no return' on either sides. Whatever such points we perceive are merely our own self-impositions.

Continual Self-reminder

I have got so used to myself, sometimes I forget I am weird.^TM

Courage, Cowardice and a Choice

To live requires the courage to live one more moment, one more day. To die requires the courage to stop living forever, provided a choice is offered.

As far as the fate of the Universe is concerned, both courage and cowardice are overrated.

Partly inspired by ideas put forth by Sigmund Freud - eros and thanatos

Ideological Vanity

An ideal that does not serve another higher purpose is a cosmetic moral accessory. Its donning reeks of vanity and speaks of a paucity of purpose.

The highest possible tangible purpose is human happiness - an end in itself.