Tag: behavior

These days when you wake up, unexpectedly, with a mad urge to understand everything about yourself… And then you rummage through files, books, memories, and notes; desperately search for new sources, forcing flashes of insight into what you did not perceive before. During the process, those forgotten certainties resurface in your mind, often as if they were new, though they have already been the subject of reflection. These are good days… But the knowledge one has about oneself, though it may connect and give meaning to the past, though it may guide the future, reaffirm vows, and recall decisions, can do nothing against this gigantic unknown, which leaves one’s entire existence open-ended, to be properly understood only when one no longer exists.

What is truly striking about humble people is this ability, no doubt forged by necessity, to simply live in the present, letting whatever happens, happen. They seem to know that worrying is pointless, and that it is unwise to fret over hypothetical problems, which are sometimes unfounded and sometimes unsolvable. They live in the now, whether enjoying or suffering, but experiencing what actually is. It is somewhat ironic to have to study stacks and stacks of books to arrive at such a natural solution.

The computer was a magnificent invention; the telephone, was not. The latter killed off letters, a far more useful and refined means of communication. Letters required one to reflect on what one was about to communicate to the recipient; the telephone, by making communication instantaneous, also made it thoughtless, and ultimately trivialized relationships completely. As bad an invention as it was, it evolved into an even worse one: the cell phone. Let it be proclaimed here and now that whatever qualities this device may possess are nothing compared to the terrible harm it has caused. We must now establish a new definition for the human being who wastes hours of his day with his face buried in that device, not only wasting time but continuously damaging his brain functions. In the future, there is no doubt that this narcotic will be displayed alongside lobotomy instruments in museums.

Perhaps the greatest benefit civilization has offered man is the ability to plan in a far more comprehensive and precise manner, making it possible not only to guard against adversity but also to project himself into the future with some degree of certainty, calculating the circumstances he will face depending on his actions. To project, to prevent: these verbs have become ingrained in his psyche, taking up much of the space once occupied by others of immediate consequence. One can already see where all this leads. The man of today lives, to a much greater extent, in the future; and lives less in the present, whether due to lesser need or lesser inclination. And here, evidently, lies a problem, which makes it extremely difficult to grasp the meaning of what the Indian sages have been repeating for centuries.