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The Paradox of Fear and Wisdom

April 2, 2015 Category : , , , , Off

Fear makes you blind.
Fear makes you impulsive.
Fear prevents you from thinking logically (or thinking straight).

Off course fear is also protecting you from potential dangers such as of a lion or snake. But those fears are not uniques to human but rather almost universal in animal kingdom. The unique thing for the human is the reason and if you consider yourself wiser than other animals, you have to give credit to your reasoning power over your fears. Or worse, the same fear, if unfounded, will makes you a pathologic case of phobic disorders, instead of solving your problems. You suffer even more by the fear of the fears (phobophobia)! Fear is the exact antithesis of wisdom but paradoxically fear of god was also prescribed by the original authorities as the real wisdom.

How can that be?

Whenever you see a paradox in a sentence, it usually means the sentence is either censored off the critical part or the sentence is not complete. The paradox no longer exist if you know the bigger picture or context, in other words if you see the full sentence (instead of paradoxic fragments). How can there be a situation, where fear is both antithesis* and yet the path** towards wisdom? What are the missing parts of the sentence? Can you see it?

The mother of all fears is DEATH and your inability to control it. Fear of death make you enjoy the life as much as you can (even at the cost of other people's suffering) because life is short and YOLO. Fear of death makes you to conserve time and become efficient. Fear of death makes you to look for shortcuts and loopholes to bypass the obstacles, instead of dealing with issues sincerely. Fear of death makes you insecure and you seek security by marriage (either for partner's support or for a baby as future generation because you know you will not live or be healthy forever), friendship, or property. Fear (biggest fear of all is death) is driving your life, whether you acknowledge it or not. Unless you recognize this, fear will dominate your life, and you will be far away from wisdom.

When a religious preacher bases his argument by intimidating of, or by invoking death / eternal hell, and consequently, if the listener formulates his worldview based only on the fear of death as a model of achieving "true wisdom", they fail to see the other half of it (where fear is antithesis of wisdom) and missing the full picture. They are missing the equally crucial other half (not to fear in pursuit of the Truth). On the contrary, if you based your theology purely based on reason (before you achieved wisdom), it will take you no where and you will be thrown into a full blown existential/nihilistic crisis from you might never recover!

Half of anything cannot be the whole and fear (or death) based theology is bound to be lame and blind, unless you simultaneously see the reason NOT to be fearful in pursuit of the Truth. Only then, these two will complement each other to make the fragmented part into One complete worldview and the paradox will disappear between reason (based on wisdom) vs. faith (based on fear).

Paradox of Relativism: Is there any solution?

September 12, 2014 Category : , , , , , , , , Off

In theory, there should not be any hierarchical order among human but in practice hierarchy is everywhere. In theory there should not be any caste system but in practice there are. In Hindu culture of India, there are four district classes based on functional role and respectability/nobleness for thousands of years, until relatively recently with the infiltration of India by the East Indian Company. Those caste were the Brahmins [the Elite, High Priest], Kshatriyas [the Kings and warriors], Vaishyas [the merchants, artisans, farmers and the "producers"] and Shurdras [the manual workers]. Similarly, in western world, there are also four distinct castes: the Lower class, the Middle class, the Upper class and the Elite/Business class [1%] based simply on money. This hierarchy model is not only limited to human society. It is also active in our body. Although theoretically all cells of the body have the potential to do any function, especially when they are young [the pluripotent stem cells], in practice, not every cell can produce insulin and not every cell can fire action potentials like neuron. A neuron does not make Keratin like the epidermis and epidermis does not have myelin sheaths. Even within the families of neurons, not everybody are equal in function. Although theoretically any neuron can do the function like other neurons, especially if the situation demands to compensate, but in practice, hippocampal neuron typically behaves dramatically different than spinal cord motor neurons. This pattern can also be found even in different proteins, RNAs and DNAs or other molecules. The whole universe can be seen as a series of hierarchical beings/materials but deep down they are all part of the same universe. But when you claim that everybody is equal [relativism], even though you know that they are not equal in practice because of their own efforts/devotion/sincerity, you are just inviting discontent. In absolute sense, there should not be any relativism and in relative terms, there should not be any absolute moral values. This is the paradox of relativism. The evil is to push one view superior than others and pass on any predefined judgment/legislature, whatsoever. Relativistic views should not be treated absolutely and the absolutes views need not to be treated relatively. It is foolish to try to categorize either relativism or absolutism as Truth. Trying to make relativism as the only truth (quite paradoxically, this relativistic view itself is an absolutism) is the perennial evil of the world. The Truth is bigger than either of those.

In theory, everybody can be anybody but in practice, anybody is only himself. So there is simultaneously a possibilities of relativism and absolutism depending on perspective and depending on the situation, here and now. Relativism only exist in future and future does not exist yet. What exist is only present and this present is not relative. What ever happened, happened and it is no longer relative to you! It is absolute. But was it good or bad? Again this is relative because you have examine it to know [in future] and that examination resides in the future [have not occurred yet], which is again by definition relativistic. It is happening out of a relativistic possibilities but once something happens that is the only thing exist [out of the field of its mutually exclusive competitors], others option were only past probabilities without any reality. If you want to change it, try or do it again and with different choices but do not complain about why others options are still there. They only exist in your/our minds and it is for your future use if your current choice turns out to be not the best one. Relativism is only true and valid for this esoteric reason but if you know that reason, you will immediately drop the relativistic view in favor of a holistic view. Your Relativism is perfectly alright with you but imposing your relativism to others or even imposing any generalized philosophy or ethics of relativism is unjustified. So relativism is and is not valid depending on background of the perspective just like an unopened box of "Schrodinger Cat" is both alive and dead at the same time. Do not try to make relativism generalized like what Einstein did. Quite paradoxically, Einstein's relativism start with an Absolutism-i.e "Speed of Light is Constant". No wonder relativity theory only lead to paradox like grandson killing grandfather and other nonsensical conclusions. For example, if there is any creator, before creating the world he had only 2 options- 1.) Creating the world and 2.) Not creating the world. But today that relativistic perspective at the time of creation is no longer valid. The world already exist and there is no option for it to not exist at the same time. Similarly before doing something, you can have a relativistic perspective for the future but once you have done something, it is no longer relative. You have to take responsibility of the consequences or enjoy the fruitage of your decisions. If you do something but simultaneously think the other way, it generates the conventional "relativism" but in reality it is still in the future and it is not settled yet, so in absolute sense, you do not know if it is relative or absolute. You are just fooling yourself. Simply put, it is an invalid/illegal/unscientific question. In ordinary language, it is simply your hypocrisy for which you are making the relativism argument as scapegoat. Before your action, things were relative but after you have done it, it is no longer relative for you. It is the reality.

For the other people who are not in position of doing something or not to become a victims of other people’s action, are not in position even to ponder the relativistic view point for that particular situation. This is because that you are not the part or center of that relativistic potential field. The person who is in the position of deciding is in the center of that relativistic potential field that will become a concrete non relative reality by his actions or choices. Do not judge him unless his interest is in direct conflict with yours and if it is in direct conflict, do what you think right for you without ever thinking what is right for him. Because if you try to impose your correctness to other people that is the birth of relativistic worldview again but in disguise. Just do what you ought to do. Do not give verdict onto others like theologian, a relativistic ethicist or scientist. Even the verdict that relativism is the truth is an absolute statement! What a paradox it is!! Only the Unknowable can know what is right and what is relative. We know it not. We can decide what is right for us. If we really know ourselves well and when we know what is right for us, we will automatically know and do right things onto others which is beyond both relativistic and absolute world views.

Paradox of Goodness of action and goodness of thought. Why bother?

May 19, 2014 Category : , , , Off

Goodness in thought and goodness in action run side by side. One cannot thrive without the other. It's like chicken and egg. Which one comes first? If I am not good in thought then I cannot do good deeds and if I do not do any good deed then I cannot have good thought. Why? If I do not do good deed, my mind will know it and my mind will always try to escape from it. In doing so, it cannot think or decide unbiasely in future. And these effects are cumulative. That's why good action is a prerequisite for clarity of thought which is in turn a prerequisite for good thoughts. On the other hand, if you do not have the good thoughts or intentions then how can you ever do any good deed to begin with. Again, this is same the problem of chicken and egg. Good thought and good action are circumambulating each other around same cycle and you need a little alchemy to solve the paradox. Just enter the cycle from outside in whatever phase or part (good thought or good action) of the cycle, without thinking too much, such as, in what phase I need to enter, (action or thought), when should I enter, what should be my exact entry point, should I enter barefooted or with shoe, should I do it in the morning or evening and so on, ad infinitum. Just do it, like you go to sleep or walk without thinking too much about detailed of such actions. Just follow the cycle, it will take you to the escalating cycle of goodness of action and goodness of thought, like magic. The intention to be in that perpetual self maintaining circle and the actual action that initiated the start and hence continued circumambulation of the cycle is the secret of that alchemy. In doing so, did you see that you just solved a paradox!!

Now why you need good thought in first place? Your mind will not open completely without good thoughts and actions. You cannot open your mind just by commanding it or ordering it or forcing it. Your mind will only open fully only when you are in the cycle of genuine good thoughts and good action persistently, even in face of self-sacrifice or material/emotional disadvantages. And finally, only when you mind opens fully, it will start to work to fulfill its original purpose, just like a parachute that only works when it is fully open. When your mind opens, it will have diamond sharp edge yet crystal clear clarity. Only with that clear mind, you will begin to see things "As They Are".

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