Words, Memory and Thoughts

What thoughts would flood our mind if someone was to tell us that we have been diagnosed with diabetes? Probably we would think about that uncle, that friend, that colleague who doesn't get to eat as he wishes, has become emaciated, have developed eye problems, have had to amputate a foot or something to such effect. Wouldn't the diagnosis worry us? Wouldn't it be enough to cause sleeplessness for at least a few days? It very much might.

And what triggered such train of thoughts? That word 'diabetes'. The memory associated with the word 'diabetes'.

Sounds very simple doesn't it? Sounds logical doesn't it? Now replace that word with any other word or words that bothers us. A friend telling she 'hates' you, the boss telling you are not working as 'expected', the bank sending SMS telling your EMI is 'due', and so on and so forth. If these were apparently negative connotations, the above applies for positive words too. Just think about it.

Our deep conditioning is a reason for great deal of pain and sorrow. Our conditioning as many philosophers would say is not of many years of our lives but of centuries together. That concept is for a different debate, some other time. But conditioning is a truth that chains us. We are chained to the thoughts embedded deep within.

The deep within is the long term memory; unlimited in capacity, storing vast information in packets, interconnected; and able to manifest when a thought draws upon it, from it. In other words our hurts, our notions, our perceptions are all linked to the deep seated memory. An image triggers it, a sound triggers it, a smell triggers it, a touch triggers it, a taste triggers it. Now, we are familiar with our sensory systems.

But what words, a common input for our sensory system can do, more often than not is, it can reach out to the deep seated memory. And then with whatever related thoughts we have, new thoughts are created. So how a good news or a bad news plays with us is by using the words used to generate thoughts.

So far so good, but one might wonder that it is a natural process; what is the big deal about it. The big deal again more often than not is the hurtful, sorrowful, painful thoughts that take space in our minds and makes the living difficult and/or demented. Can this 'natural process' be used to seek peace, seek silence? Yes. Difficult but yes.

The difficulty is in the 'unconditioning' part. If we do not let 'diabetes' conjure the thoughts, many of them half cooked, to build new thoughts that bring about the sleeplessness we can let the word not dictate our thoughts. In other words if the word can be dissociated with thoughts it would fail to impact.

Diabetes is just a word, cancer is just a word, hate is just a word. if we can bring about that desired 'silence' or what has been called as 'no-thought' it can prevent the unwarranted train of thoughts. It doesn't mean fostering ignorance, or denial, or escaping; on the contrary the dissociation between words and thoughts should occur in the background of total awareness, of the situation, of the individuals, of the surrounding, everything.

It is all easier said than done and at the same time not as difficult as it might appear or is made out to be. Tough and challenging times in life are times when such 'philosophies' can be brought into practice. It is when the iron is red hot that the hammer will help shape it. Difficult times and good times both provide that red heat. Question is are you even ready to make an effort to use the hammer?

 

Power of People

This is not about the power of people that we have conventionally known or have been conditioned with. That kind of power of people is associated with democracy, mobocracy, movements, power-of-one and so on. But there is this another soft power, a subtle one, a not-so-obvious one, an under-the-surface one which is equally powerful. Over the past weekend people from a myriad of background, from a variety of age groups, from a wide range of beliefs, from diverse training converged and in a span of three days both received and exuded that power.

As we move ahead in the ladder of life, whose angle with the wall is not a subject of discussion here, one usually becomes an island. Your job, your family, your few friends, your colleagues, your boss, your newspaper-walla, your iron-walla fit in your scheme of things and remain there for long time. Though there are a minority who shake that system off their shoulders and consciously make effort to change (not girlfriend or wife of course). Thus the island becomes comfortable and we get complacent.

Islands come with their inherent problems. In this case under the lens, the problem is with not meeting enough new people if your profession doesn’t entail so. Now prima facie there could be actually no problem with it, for if people are equivalent to problems many a times, new people would mean new problems. Thus the comfort of the cocoon. But for horizons to widen, for perspectives to be understood, for relations to be forged, for associations to be made, one has to meaningfully connect to people.

Yes there will be those egoists whom you will despise, yes there will be many with whom you will never agree, yes there will be few whom you will not be able to stand, but then there will be those wonderful people who will fill you with joy, then there will be those who will add meaning to your context, then there will be few with whom you will forge a forever bond. Disembarking a journey for the fear of the former doesn’t do justice to the fruitfulness of the latter. And in the process people get empowered.

There is positivity in everyone. Sometimes negativity masks it but essentially there is positivity. It is on that goodness that despite growing mistrust, growing hate, growing dislike, bonds between people survive test of time. Draw on that goodness of people. Believe in the goodness. In that goodness is power. For if one seeks to learn something from another based on materialistic needs, such opportunism will be replete with negativity and will not take someone further. Soft power is in the former, in the goodness.

Our deep conditioning prevents us from trusting people. We label them few seconds into seeing them for the first time. The baggage we carry are huge. It is important to get rid of them to be without conflict. Large source of our conflicts are not materialistic goods but people, and the very people we like, we love. To be not judgmental when meeting new people is important. If one can achieve that then you will see wonderful people adding meaning to your life, for the power of people and power in people is enormous.