Is there a net?

You must’ve heard this numerous times – “Take the leap of faith. A net will appear!”

Sometimes, we are plagued by uncertainties in our lives. Questions like – will I get this opportunity, will my project succeed, will I find the right person, will I succeed, will I find happiness…always keep cropping up at several crossroads in our lives. These questions are manifestations of our own fears and insecurities. Every person has some prominent inner need – success, approval of society, fame, money,…  The uncertainties we face and the questions we ask ourselves are manifestations of this inner need.

The problem here is that there is no answer to any of these questions. If you have seen the Harry Potter movies or read the novels, you might be familiar with a character called Boggart. The Boggarts are shape shifters; they take the shape of the object that causes a person most fear. The only way to counter a boggart is to dismiss that fear by a spell that invokes laughter. Similarly, there is absolutely no answer to these uncertainties we find in our lives. The only thing we can do is dismiss them.

In Harry Potter, they had a spell. Unfortunately, the spell for our real life boggart  is much more subtle – Faith. Just know that what you want will happen. Just do what you got to do and take a leap of faith, the net will surely appear.

 

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.

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 -