The Magic of Art

I have started painting. I painted a lot when I was a kid and as I became an adult, my preoccupation with unnecessary worries and constant chasing of an invisible perception meant that my painting time was compromised. It happened with several of my deepest loved desires like writing, poetry, photography and stage acting. I just did not have time either  because I thought I did not or because my energies were scattered on multiple things that were not even close to what I loved doing.

Now, as I am starting to consiciously live, I have automatically went back to the so many wonderful things I have always loved as a child and I realized that my love for them has not decreased even an iota. One thing I have been doing for the past couple of months is to paint. First, when I started painting, it was random garbage. I could not paint anything that was not abstract. The reason was that I had stopped observing things and took them for granted. For instance, when I tried to paint a flower, I realized that I was painting from an image of a flower in my mind that was abstract. I knew the structure of a flower but nothing more about it. I had never taken the time to observe the lighting, shadow, the texture, the pattern, …

There is a story that comes to mind – Apparently, there was a great painter in China long time ago. He was an amazing painter as his paintings would be bubbling with life. If he wanted to paint a tree, he would go and sit before the tree. He would sit for hours, days or years until he felt he became the tree. That is when he would start painting.

These last two months, I have noticed my painting skills improving a lot because I just started observing and enjoying the life around me more than I ever did.

I will upload  my artwork sometime in future. In the meantime, check Daniel Edlen’s Vinyl paintings. He is an amazing guy and I get awestuck everytime I see one of his rock stars! :0)

Newton’s 3rd Law

Newton’s 3rd law (”Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”)  teaches much more than physics.

When a thought/craving comes to your mind, say you try to shun it away; you suppress it. The thought becomes stronger next time it surfaces. For instance, you are dieting and you want icecream. You suppress the craving to have an icecream with a resolute determination. The next time it surfaces, you need more determination to suppress it because the force is much more. The next time, it is even more, and so forth.

Every action you take with your free will has an opposite reaction (from nature or mind, however you want to see it). When you suppress a thought with a force (which is generated through your will), the push back from the other side will be equally large. Hence, it is a constant battle and a matter of time that you give in to the unending force of nature.

I am not saying that do whatever comes to your mind and run free. That is certainly not the way to live. But, instead of acting from your will, act from your consciousness. Acknowledge the thought in your mind and never try to suppress it. But, don’t act on it. There is a big difference between suppressing something and not acting on something. Understanding this difference would aid your struggles with your own self.

A misfit? Really??

Have you ever been called a misfit, meaning you don’t belong somewhere like your workplace, church, community, etc. Is that because you are different from others?

Not fitting is actually very good. I just came across these amazing people who are changing how music is played. Computer programming combined with live music – check it out. Another classic example of carving a niche for yourself. The world needs your talent.

Seeing beyond

I was talking to my father-in-law the other day, and he asked me a question – what color is the rose? I naturally said – red. He told me that the color of the rose is everything except red. Red is the only color it does not have because it reflects it. It absorbs everything else. This struck me with a great force and I have been thinking about this simple and deep understanding of life.

Almost everytime, what we seem to perceive is an illusion. There is something beyond what we actually see. Knowledge exists if we are able to look beyond. This reminds me a great scene from the movie Patch Adams. Courtesy youtube, here is the video -

Desire for success

Sometimes I feel that the desire to succeed is the beginning of my downfall. I am not saying that success is bad. I am also not saying that is good. When I desire to succeed, I feel that I am concentrating on the wrong thing. It is true that a goal (which is my desire, in most of the cases) will help you focus better. But, in this case, aren’t we focusing on a moving target? What happens when we get near this goal? Doesn’t it move further? That is the true nature of desire. Desire is always moving. It never stays put at one place. If the happiness or satisfaction we derive out of our work is tied to a moving body like desire, our happiness also moves out of our reach. Hence, I believe that my desire to succeed can bring my downfall. Then what should I do? Not desiring success does not mean that my work will be shoddy. Actually, it won’t be. Think about it. Success is usually associated with how others perceive us. Whatever your definition of success might be, it will still involve society in some form factor. When we work to achieve this so-called “success”, we are working for somebody else. That is never liberating. Instead, when we do work for our own selves, when we don’t care about getting attention from society, we create masterpieces.
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Acting to your reaction

Most of the times, our problems stem from acting upon our reactions to everyday situations. Reacting to an event or situation is common instinct, animals do that always. Aren’t we more capable than animals because of our ability to think? When we react to something, the natural progression is to transform into our reactions. For instance, when we hear that our kids do not listen to us or somebody hurt us, our reaction might be to get angry. Unfortunately, it does not stop there. This unmonitored reaction which may be originating from our free will transforms us into anger. We are anger now. Similarly, we become jealously, love, hate, pleasure, etc. Everything originates from the basic animal instinct of reacting to something and stops by taking us over completely. People seek counseling, therapies, anger management classes, etc for help.

I don’t believe these things to help permanently. They are temporarily solution that will keep appearing until the roots are present in the mind. The way forward in these situations is to not act upon your reactions. Just observe them, but do not act. When you act, do so consciously. Let us consider a simple taken-for-granted activity in our daily lives – breathing. How often in a day do you observe your breath or even realize that you are breathing. Breathing becomes a sub-conscious activity for most of us. Think about it, you will be surprised. Similarly your transformations into your reactions becomes sub-conscious when you don’t observe them. Next time you feel happy, angry, afraid, hungry…, take a moment and observe that thought before naturally acting. That moment you take to delay the natural action of your reaction will reveal to you about yourself more than any therapy or self-help course does.

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Change the world?

This seems to be the most overloaded and overused term in the entrepreneurship circles. I am guilty of it on several occassions. So, the other day, I was thinking about what it really means to change the world and what is the first step to doing it?

What is changing the world? for whom? You want to change the world because you don’t like something. You want a better world, and hence you go about creating it for you. The more I think about this, this term or a notion of changing the world seems to be loaded with selfishness and ignorance. Sorry for being harsh. But, isn’t it true? We say we want to eliminate poverty and help people and therby change the world for good. But, aren’t we doing this because this gives us pleasure and a sense of importance? I am not talking about this being a good or bad thing. I am just trying to underline the root cause of doing something like this. Everything we want to do seems to be driven by a need for pleasure (intellectual or otherwise) and gratification. There is a famous quote by Mahatama Gandhi – “You be the change that you want to see in the world”. Several thousands of interpretations of this quote have been inspirational and motivational. However, I believe there is a much deeper philosophical meaning to this quote. Changing the world first comes from changing ourselves, our mindsets, our attitudes towards others, our perceptions and projections, our knowledge, our desires, etc. It is true that every one of us has infinite potential to do whatever we desire. However, to conquer this so called world, you must first conquer yourself. That is the change you need to be in order to change the world.

These days, this term has become a fashion. There are some selfless individuals who have dedicated their life’s journey to humanity and service. They serve for humanity sake and not for feeling powerful. I am not talking about those people here. Others, my god, it gets really amusing sometimes. Look at a flower or a cloud or the wind. They radiate happiness and life to anyone who takes a moment to observe them. They are changing the world by spreading beauty and joy. They seldom claim that they are changing the world, but they are.  Changing the world is easy and simple and can be done everyday with simple tasks. Our mindset, attitudes and thoughts can stop even a greatest disaster like war. It is just that most of the time, our priorities and understanding of how the world operates is very shallow. It is very important to first observe oneself and change as you desire the outside world to be.

attitude

Don’t walk as if you rule the world but walk as if you don’t care who rules it…That is attitude.

I read it through one of my best friend’s email forwards. I believe that whoever wrote this basically nailed it. When you think you rule the world, it is arrogance. When you don’t care who rules it and do your stuff, it is attitude. Ruling here is used in a very generic sense. Ruling might mean – running your organization, running the government, chairing some committee, etc..It can be anything like this.

One problem that seems to tag along with several people is that they either believe that they are powerless and are intimidated by some pseudo, self-proclaimed higher power in the society, or they believe that they can do anything they want because they proclaim themselves as very powerful. There is very thin line to walk there. One person might exhibit both tendencies at different point in time. For instance, at his work place, he might be intimidated by his boss and not have the courage to express his heart’s will. When the same person returns home, he might be showing off his “power” to his family, friends and neighbors. These people are neither here nor there.

Attitude is not exhibiting either of these qualities but staying right on the middle. It is the ability to brush away both forms of fear – receiving and imposing.

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Changethis Manifesto

Hey all, I had submitted a proposal some time back for a manifesto on changethis.com. Please vote for it if you find the topic interesting. With more votes, I may get a chance to write this through changethis.com.

http://changethis.com/proposals/1610

Clarity

Clarity of self is when
the subject becomes the object, and
Mind is fully aware of its other manifestations,
but tolerant to their aspirations,
Clarity is when you observe yourself objectively,
and learn to love and live with your own self.
Clarity is simple and yet profound,
like a rain drop that contains rivers and oceans
but still remains a simple drop of water.
It is that clarity we should seek,
for that is when we see the Universe as it is,
and its connection to our self.

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