The Elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Sky

Hindu philosophy defines all matter to be made of 5 elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and the sky. With modern advances in chemistry we have discovered 112 elements (and counting?), where deciphering properties of elements like Silicon brought about the semi-conductor revolution and Uranium and Plutonium’s were exploited to make the A-bomb, a source of a many political heartaches today and having far-reaching consequences. The elegance of the Hindu philosophy’s definition lies in its simplicity. While it was primitive and crude in nature, it brought a harmonious vision of nature. Matter was used in the currently easily available form; ores weren’t mined nor were chemicals extracted/produced by performing chemical reactions under artificially attained high or low temperatures or pressures. For those more interested in walking a spiritual path, such a definition sufficed, the intricacies of matter didn’t really matter.

The elements of nature may at times show off its brute force on us lesser mortals. When earth moves we experience landslides and earthquakes, or simply bends and rips and we have volcanoes erupting. When water in clouds precipitates, rains can turn to storms, possibly with hail or ice falling. Incessant rains cause floods while lack of it causes drought. Earth movement under the ocean causes tidal waves (tsunamis) that ripple through can hit coastlines and water can rise many floors high and wash everything 100s of meters inland. Wind, or air in motion, can blow at raging speeds resulting in hurricanes or tornadoes. Fires spread faster than rumors (or so the saying implies) and burn everything on their way to ashes, even acres of forestland. The sky hasn’t fallen down yet, but I have the impression it has something up its sleeve, too.

When the elements attack, they sometimes come with an element of surprise, but even if we are aware of the impending disaster, its magnitude surely evokes shock and awe. They can be unforgiving even apocalyptic. Many, going about innocently engrossed in their own daily lives, are suddenly caught in a struggle of life and death and before they realize it, it’s over. Death must be extremely painful, but surviving hurts no less. Those who survive have to get up, gather the pieces together and start life again. There is injury and death, destruction and ruins all around. The wails and cries are heart-wrenching. Most of the loss is irrecoverable, a child losing a parent, a parent losing a child, a person losing his/her sibling or spouse; it all creates a void in life that can hardly be filled. The trauma carries over long after the initial concerns of food, water and sanitation, medical supplies, temporary shelters and maybe primary education for children and continuing agriculture in the areas hit are dealt with. The helplessness and hopelessness is inexplicable.

If the disaster receives decent media coverage, relief and aid organizations, NGOs, charities, governments, the Red Cross and UN agencies usually respond fast. They coordinate relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. At times, disasters tear down the communication and transportation infrastructure of the areas hit. Workers enter ground zero ready and willing to face hellish conditions. Thanks to global media, we can see images, hear and read the stories real time. Good Samaritans usually respond by wiring in their monetary contribution or digging in their houses for old clothes, blankets, tents, medicines, non-perishable food, any basic supplies they can get their hands on. This usually reduces the guilt of living luxuriously while others suffer. Something tells us we were just fortunate it wasn’t us. It’s also time for insurance companies to pay up. After all, it’s for this day that their customers bought insurance in the first place. But high order disasters scare them and their machinery of lawyers and MBAs frantically find ways to minimize their losses. Finally, scientists and researchers work on improving their predictive technologies, whether geological or atmospheric, to better pin-point the timeframe and magnitude of such disasters. Logistics institutions use the feedback they get to better coordinate disaster management efforts in the future. Yet, somehow I feel nature will continue to find ways to catch us unprepared.

In hindsight, we find a large population callous to the crisis prevention measures. Builders and contractors conveniently overlook guidelines to earthquake resistant or flood and landslide tolerant construction. Occupants don’t follow fire precautions, i.e. don’t use smoke alarms, keep extinguishers accessible or make fire exits easily reachable. Some don’t even pay heed to the alerts issued by the, say, meteorological department or coast guards. They are blinded in their run to make a quick buck, crack a good deal or simply put food on their table. Somehow, they get used to dangers and risk and safety comes last for them. Another set of revelations that brings bad taste to an already ugly episode is when we learn of those who thrive on others misery. Recent tragedies have been followed by bogus charities asking for donations. Donations are reduced by the time they reach the intended recipients, maybe because the channels were expensive or plain corrupt. Some people, close to the site, run down to steal from the dead or loot the deserted and damaged establishments. Such stories undermine the efforts of the benevolent volunteers making their contributions to a greater cause.

I experience a short-lived renunciation when I see and hear of such natural disasters. It could’ve been me in it. What’s the use of worrying about my trivial problems if life itself is so fragile? We are so meager in front of the elements. With one blow we disintegrate back to the five elements that constitute us. But, the feeling is temporary. The media moves on to the next sensation. The market and society quickly adjust to the sudden change and re-align accordingly. I only hope it isn’t me, because I certainly cannot live off the pittance I donate to relief efforts. Otherwise the tragedy soon loses its importance and reduced to a topic of dinner conversation while we verbally sympathize with the poor victims.

We are bound by the laws of karma. If I happily live through the good times, all good things come to an end. While I revel in my own small world, I realize it could’ve been my bad time. Where is the justice, the fairness, the goodness or the mercy in these acts of nature or maybe the Almighty? Is God so cruel? If a tragedy shatters my life, I will probably find no logic or good intent behind the act of nature. But, if God creates, He destroys. We are subject to His whims. We grow too attached to the world we find ourselves in. We create a family, a home, and find belongingness in a workplace, community, and society. God simply smokes us out of our hives, no use asking why. Faith begins where reasoning ends. And I do believe that karma runs full circle and the higher powers administer justice equally and fairly.

Some of us complain and whine about the elements. We feel our utter helplessness against the forces of nature. But we remain passive and take things as they come. Some of us actively strive for better solutions to deal with tragedies prior and post its occurrence. Yet some others, as the Urdu poet Ghalib wrote, are born in the world, but do not long for anything in life. While they walk through the marketplace that’s life, they aren’t involved in any of the proceedings in the market, they aren’t customers, they simply walk by.

Literacy, Training and Education

When words are more than black spots on white paper, the ability to read and write in a language, opens an infinite number of doors. The collective wisdom of millions of people over hundreds of years is ours to devour. Literacy is most powerful tool we can possess in our life. Literacy empowers. With our inherent curiosity, our insatiable appetite for knowledge, we scout for information, our awareness of the world around us increases unconsciously. The world makes more and more sense to us because we get answers to why things are and how things happen. The need for hygiene and sanitation become obvious. We realize the importance of nutrition and knowledge of cause, prevention and cure of diseases. We begin to understand our rights and figure our interests. We can assess our true market worth, manage our finances and determine ways to appreciate our value. We get a bigger picture of life and a global view of the world.

Literacy empowers people. Literacy helps us understand the puzzle and figure how we fit in it. That’s empowerment, when we can independently manage our lives and in the process contribute to the society. Our lives don’t need to be managed. We think for ourselves. Empowerment follows independence. When we care for ourselves, we continuously search for new ways to improve our life and its quality. Empowerment means to think, based on a choice of accessible knowledge resources, to express our augmented knowledge base and to willfully act upon it. Empowerment brings self respect, self confidence and courage. That motivates us to stand up and fight or take risks and experiment. Ordinary citizens become VIPs.

Many people in power resist empowerment. They see it as a threat to their supremacy. They create the framework for citizens to think. They limit access to information and project their restricted world view. They want citizens to subscribe to it. They want to keep the remote control on their citizens’ lives. They don’t want citizens thinking independently outside the small box they give. They want to create an army of followers not detractors. They sincerely feel their interest to remain secure in power is in the greater interest of the citizens. They feel they are divinely empowered to decide what’s best for the citizens and not leave them with these tough decisions. Educated people don’t want every one to become literate, because of the fear that it may imbalance the society. Who will do the dirty and hard grunt labor that needs to be done for the smooth functioning of the society? While they believe their arguments are with the greater good of the society in mind, they feel to realize it would have been drastically opposite had they traded places with those whose life and destinies are determined by others. What remains questionable is whether empowering the labor class will help them find better and easier ways to perform their tasks and uplift their community or just give them ideas to graduate to cleaner and easier jobs. Citizen’s empowerment isn’t just in the interest of the citizen; it’s in the interest of the society as a whole. In a large society with a few thinkers and doers, most doers are responsible for monitoring, restricting, policing, and repressing others. On the other hand, in a large society where almost everyone is a thinker and a doer, a lot more is thought and gets done, and proportionately a lot less man-hours are spent controlling others. Those who do decide others lives may, but they need to earn the respect of a teacher, a leader, a guide, a judge but not police us, doctor us, or even manage us to follow suit.

This explains the importance of the internet and search engines. The internet has opened access to the largest information base ever accessible to the common man. With such huge information base and our limited time and ability to grasp and extract information, search engines play a huge role in displaying information closest to what we want. They crawl the web, index the information and pick and display what they figure we want to know. While what we choose to know is our personal decision what we get to know is dictated by others. Certain mediums that have built trust and popularity over the years get to decide what our world view will be like. The only solution we have to create a correct and accurate world view is to saturate our time and ability to ingest knowledge.

Societies that shifted from the agrarian to industrial phase needed skilled labor to work in their factories and mills. Industrial training was imparted to laborers so they can perform specific functions in the industry setting. This training is supposed to be to seek employment in the industry. These jobs typically rake in sustainable wages. The functions are low end on the chain and the labor easily replaceable, so the jobs never paid more than sustenance. With industrial training people could at least get their foot into a setting that provided livelihood. But the question is, “Can these skills carry over to other functions in other employments or are they just the need of the day in a specific location?” Industrial training should teach not only the job function and its requirements, but also about the nature of the apparatus and material involved and how to be safe and secure on the job. Over time, industries have seen a lot of machination and automation, so people with more sophisticated skills have been needed to operate more complex tools. This resulted in fewer openings in the industry and that too limited to higher skill sets. Thus though industrial training got us a job to pay the rent and bring food to the table, it never guaranteed we’ll get a job security or a function of our choice, but it kept us from homelessness or hunger.

While literacy is a tool to read and learn about the universe, education puts the tool to use. Education is imparting knowledge in a formally structured curriculum. By education I think of attending school and college. The higher we go in our quest for knowledge the more we focus on learning what interests us. Education is the fast track to the knowing the current big picture of the world we live in. Pink Floyd suggests in his rock number “The brick in the wall” that education is used to create conformist citizens who fit in the workforce. Whether the school results in thought control that squishes the imagination and the possibility of creating a beautiful world around us is debatable, but I certainly feel education we get in schools is to find a fit in the society, advance on a career path and become model citizens. As far as suppressing creativity is concerned, I realize our minds are fertile grounds, which, if higher education results in harvesting the same crops everywhere, then absence of such a program may result either in harvesting rare succulent exotic fruits or becoming a jungle of inedible wild berries, which way it goes, your guess is as good as mine. Education also serves the purpose of separating the sharp and bright minds from the slow and passive ones. The elite class is looking for likeminded sharp and bright minds to fill their shoes. Grades and ranks in schools determine the new elite class. But what about those left behind, are they less important human beings? Should they be left to live a life of struggle because they couldn’t face the competition out there? In the real world, we continuously need to prove ourselves; does that justify the competition in schools? I attended college and graduate school to find a high paying glamorous white collar job. My degrees were passports to venture beyond the front desk of a company and into the office of my potential boss. Education certainly was a gift I am thankful for. It freed me from being forced into the low waged, physical labor workforce that work hard in tough conditions, yet command little respect, power or perks. My education has made me snobbish and arrogant, upward looking, desiring to mix with the elite and powerful. I reduced my education as a means to find employment and pay my bills. I haven’t used it to grow, mentally or spiritually, to realize my identity, my role in this big universe and to see the big picture. Education only creates ideal citizens, ideal workers. It should be the liberator. It should help us make more informed decisions in life and in the process empower us to change the course of the society for the better. It should assist us in finding answers to the important questions in life: Why are we here? Where are we from? Where are we going?

Money, the Economy and My Money

Disclaimer: I wrote this before I understood the macroeconomic variables: C (consumption), I(investment), G(Govt spending), NX(net exports); the IS*LM curve; relationships between interest rate, inflation, exchange rates, unemployment, etc; trade (subsidies, tariffs); poverty; agri-industry-services mix; FDI/FII; etc. Not that I am an expert in any of the aforementioned, but what follows was written when I no knowledge whatsoever of economics:

For many years now, I did not understand phrases like "the economy is picking up" or "the economy is slowing down", etc. and how "the economy" relates to our lives. After awhile, I began realizing that an "improving economy" means jobs for the unemployed, greater choice of higher paying jobs for the already employed, time to move money from savings accounts into investments in the market, and time to spend. But what makes an economy strong or what makes it improve?

The value of money lies in its flow. If the rate of flow is increasing, the economy is improving. It's all about the volume of currency changing hands in unit intervals of time. If money has ceased to flow, the economy is sluggish, i.e. if money isn't changing hands, we won't get any, nor will we spend any. A caveat is that governments should be able to monitor this flow, i.e. they should receive taxes for every transaction, depending on what form of exchange the money aided: income, excise, sales, etc. If this doesn't happen, there might be parallel economies emerging without being regulated by policy makers/enforcers.

How do we know if the economy is strong? The more people are employed, the more human resource is in use, the stronger the economy. As more and more people change from (1) tribes in forests who make their own tools and hunt for food, to (2) rurally settled who cultivate plant and raise livestock, to (3) urban settled who work in mills and factories in industrial processes towards infrastructure development, and to (4) metropolitan/cosmopolitan settled who work in discovering, creating, processing, applying and disseminating knowledge; the stronger the economy. The higher the GDP or the higher the per capita income times the population, the stronger the economy. But the last definition depends on the value of the currency, which depends on how strong the economy is. The stronger the economy, the less it's affected by short upward or downward trends.

How strong a currency is relative to how the weak currencies of other nations are. Consider a graph where each nation is a vertex. A directed edge runs from a one vertex to another, if the former nation exports goods/services to the latter. The edge is annotated with the values of goods/services traded. The higher the exports to another nation compared to the imports from it, the higher the ratio of the currencies. There are multiple paths from one nation to another along the edges of this graph. The ratio of currencies somehow stablize so going along any cycle of vertices connected by directed edges, and converting currency at each nation won't lead to much profit or loss in the end. If a cycle is unbalanced, people can make money without providing any good/service in return.

Science and technology fuels the economy. Automation reduces the requirement of manual labor in both agriculture and industry and frees human resources to be used for knowledge enhancement. Advancements in transportation and communication have made locating and acquiring resources easier, cheaper and faster. Improvements in medicine and biotechnology have resulted in longer and healthier human lives and increased yields in crop and livestock leading to higher productivity per person. With advancements in computing, we are embedding intelligence, coded in software, in devices around us; thus, offloading our responsibilities of data processing and decision making and making us available to do more. The population that consumes these developments in science and technology moves to newer forms of civilization, reflecting a stronger economy.

Back to money. I see money shares some properties of water, i.e. it flows. Continuously flowing water is purest, similarly, continuously flowing money has the most value. Like stagnant water, money piled and unused becomes pale and loses value. It's not just inflation, the currency is affected by political/social/economic changes. Piled and stored money may even slip away in mischeivious manners without our knowledge of it. We might stow away our money in banks, but banks prevent it from piling up and being unused by loaning it to those who have use of it.

The value of money changes with time and circumstance. Money enjoys more worth when used by the poor than the rich. Money is more important in catastrophes, disasters and accidents than safe, secure and predictible environments. Insurance transfers money from environments where it's worth is low to where it's worth is high. Money's value depends on when and where it comes in life, so given a choice, I'd choose to take a million at the age of 20 rather than 100 million at 60. Money is valuable only as long as it's current possessor has a desire to use it.

Money takes the form of how it's acquired and used. Money used for bare essentials by the needy is money that enjoys dignity because it knows it's served a purpose. Money used for extravagance by the affluent is money that was disrespected as its potential wasn't realized and it gets squandered for trivial purposes. Money that's stolen, whether by exploiting basic human needs or by sparking fear of death or injury, it may bring hurt in the form of ill will or revenge, since it was forcefully separated from it's rightful owner without any compensation.

Since I've begun earning money, my life and world have changed. Back in school, I used to respect the little pocket money I got, since it was my father's hard earned money. He's maintained an expense budget all his life. My parents lived thriftily so we had a better future. I got what I needed without asking for it, but I kept my extravagant wishlist to myself. The money I got wasn't 'my' money, it was 'our' money. So I wouldn't register its use as long it was for 'our' collective well being, where 'our' even extended to relatives and close friends. Now, the money I earn is 'my' money. As long as it's used to serve my whims and pleasures it's ok, but I quickly register it's use, however meager, for any other cause or any other's benefit. Today, I am a slave to the conveniences and comforts I can afford. I have my own agenda to systematically indulge my wealth in my pleasure. Luxury and entertainment have become habit and no longer excite me as they used to. I've also begun to attach a cash value to everything. So, my health is worth as much as medical treatment will cost me to keep me fit. My education is worth as much as the salary I make from the job I got because of it. My friends are worth as much as they are helpful, resourceful and entertaining. Money should be a means to live, but I've made it the goal of life.

The fact that I am making good money is my good fortune. I've been assigned a fixed count of breathes this life. Similarly, how much money I'm supposed to receive and when is partially pre-assigned. I'm simply supposed to be caretaker for the money for the time period I've been assigned its possession. Who I take money from or who I give it to is perhaps predestined. Money is a gift. I shouldn't flaunt it, I shouldn't exploit it, I shouldn't become too attached to it, but I should use it properly and responsibly.

U.S. Hegemony and Religious Extremism

US and allied forces are fighting the "War on Terror" now. It's been over 3 years since Afghanistan was bombarded to eliminate the Taliban. It's been over 2 years since they descended on Iraq. Iraq wasn't just about oil. The U.S. government insists on using language like "liberating" Iraq and securing democracy in Iraq. The U.S. Congress debates on each dollar spent on the Iraq "war" while no one kept count of the Iraqi civilians killed in U.S. fire or Iraqi guerilla warfare, so U.S. currency is worth more than life of Iraqi citizens. Yet the U.S. Govt. speaks about its vision to create a "democratic, secure and prosperous Iraq"? Funny isn't it?

OK, so Saddam Hussain was sitting tightly on Iraq's oil reserves. The U.S. oil companies were unable to pump cheap oil fast from there. Saddam may have twisted the oil company's arms harder than they could his. So the oil companies lobbied the U.S. Govt. for military action in Iraq for many years now. U.S. Govt. insists it was misleaded by its own intelligence to believe Iraq possessed WMD: chemical, biological, nuclear weapons and warhead delivery systems. That formed the basis of invasion. Now there is the terrorist infrastructure that probably hadn't existed prior, but now is ever-growing, and it's elimination is priority for U.S. forces stationed there, so they can't withdraw.

Might is right. If a nation doesn't voluntarily bow to U.S. demands, inspired by U.S. interests, it is forced to do so. The U.S. has created an empire larger than Great Britain once occupied. Through the W.B. and the I.M.F. it gave huge loans towards infrastructure development (usually toward extracting natural resources sold off to fuel the local economy) or for national security (to resist communism or pose a threat to an imposing neighbor and fuel political unrest) to 3rd world nations. The same money was funnelled back to the U.S., either to engineering/construction or to defense companies both of whom enjoy global monopoly and hence whimsically charge for their products/services. Now, not only are these 3rd world nations in huge debt, they are losing their natural resources to the consumer markets in the west at dirt cheap rates, or are under the constant threat of war with their neighbors both sides possessing similar military technology long time discarded by developed nations. Unable to repay debt and not comprehending the consequences many 3rd world nation govts agree to various U.S. demands including access to land, air and water for U.S. military bases setup and operations. The CIA spy agency steps in to over throw or replace 3rd world nation govts, that don't submit to every U.S. demand, with puppet leadership. Only if the CIA can't penetrate and perform, the military steps in. It's a dangerous last resort, the U.S. media counts U.S. casualities and the U.S. Govt faces the music.

The U.S. insists it isn't about oil. I agree. Oil can't justify the tens of thousands of killings of Iraqi soldiers, police and civilians, U.S. and allied forces men and women, and the media persons, military contractors, and relief workers from all over the globe. The U.S. and allied forces men and women killed on the line should be dying with knowledge that their death is for a cause higher than something so trivial as oil. The U.S. knows it's atrocities and forced occupancy is fueling terrorism in the middle east. Are they so short-sighted, they can't see the implications of this? They now insist the war is to bring Iraq on the course of democracy and progress. All of a sudden this war for the selfish reasons of WMD eradication, anti-terrorism or oil has been converted to one being fought for charitable reasons.

The U.S. Govt. and media is slowly accepting that the "War on Terror" is actually a war against Islamic extremists. Islamic extremists believe that while they lived religiously with self-restraint, the western society pursued material and sensual pleasures, partly at their expense. They didn't really use they're own oil, instead they were used for money laundering and drugs and arms trafficking. The workforce in these Islamic extremist organizations are uneducated and unemployed youth who realize their life won't be happy given their current circumstances, and are promised a life in heaven if they die eliminating the non-followers. The leaders are fanatics who inadvertantly misinterpret the scriptures to suit their mission. Instead of promoting hard work and perseverence for a happier material existence, they who claim they preach the word of God, ask the vulnerable population to sacrifice their petty existence for a higher cause.

The current U.S. Govt. is backed by conservative Christians. The Govt's insists that it's military action was purely philanthropic, to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq and bring it on the road to development. In a way this is Christian extremism. The leadership believes it is carrying out the will of God, by doing the dirty work of forcefully bringing these nations inhabited by lesser mortals to civilizations the developed nations lived decades ago. Acquiring control on Oil reserves, occupying a strategic presence in the middle east, keeping Russia and China at bay, cracking down on terrorist infrastructure, testing the latest in military technology and bagging multi million dollar contracts to reconstruct infrastructure and maintain it are all by-products of the process the U.S. enjoys. The core basis of war is that they are self-righteous and believe they are all-good and simply carrying out the will of God.

Hindu extremism has a similar face in India. Religious extremism flourishes because of lack of tolerance towards people of other faiths and the need to police them. Hindu extremists downplay Valentine's Day, vandalize McDonalds, and somehow relate history or current tragic events to Muslims and Pakistan to incite Hindus to violence. Once passion reaches the streets and riots erupt, the extremists walk away, job well done. As long as vote bank politics push general category Hindus, because they don't vote in herds, to the fringes of influence and importance in mainstream politics of their own land, Hindu extremists will have a secure job.

Religious extremist leaders need some lessons in the basics of religion and spirituality. All religions teach tolerance, humility, and universal brotherhood. A religion is a medium to spiritual realization to answer the questions of life, not a tool to be exploited to further one's perverted political motives.

Childhood and Adolescence

My days of childhood and adolescence weren't easy. It's the time when I was still realizing and adjusting to the resources I was given in this life. I was realizing that with my physical fitness, I was unable to compete with my peers in routines requiring athletic abilities; that with my academic bent, my peers had no choice but to classify me as a nerd; that I was so reserved, shy and quiet, that I could be conveniently ignored by my peers; and that being born to highly educated parents in a middle class home, I couldn't afford to buy my peers' respect. Ah, the pressures from peers. Luckily, boys and girls didn't pair up in my schools during my time, that saved me a lot of headaches and heartaches.

We are born with lots of desires. We can't wait to grow up to realize our full potential and fulfill our desires. By then we accept our limitations and deficiencies, our body has reached it's full capacity, and we've learnt most of the arts/skills/techniques/skills we will in life. We can't wait to exploit the resources we have.

Childhood and early adolescence is marked by innocence. Now when I see kids I realize how vulnerable I was when I was young. I didn't quite understand my interests. I could easily be persuaded or coerced to perform against my better instincts. I am glad I grew up essentially in the company of my well-wishers.

The struggle during youth is to find your place in the society. I was adjusting my desires to the resources I had available then. I was searching for a career, set of hobbies and company of people where I could make the best of my resources and hopefully realize pleasures of public attention, fortune and influence.

Some guardians feel that the only way to give their kids a privileged childhood is to buy them everything money can get. They feel they should buy their kids the latest in educational electronic games, take them to the latest animation movies and theme parks, feed them the latest in healthy diets, bring them the latest in celebrated children's literature, let them choose from the latest in fashion in clothes stores and buy them all the sport's gear in the market. Where is the human element in all this? Without quality human interaction, how do kids learn their culture, tradition, values and religion? How do they learn how to borrow favors and ask for help if they can buy everything? Then how do they learn how to share their possessions? Will they form bonds with their peers with casual 'hi's and 'hello's, and learning the etiquettes and protocols for social gatherings?

Seeing children live deprived childhoods is truly heart wrenching, yet struggle brings out the best of human qualities. Children adjust quickly to limited resources and make the best with what they have. They appreciate the importance of the resources they get. They learn early about co-existence, sharing, and co-operation. Some understand and assume their responsibilities towards their family and community early in childhood.

The greatest gift my parents gave me was themselves. And trust me, they had a lot to offer. For this I am truly grateful. And though I didn't get everything money could buy, I feel I had a very privileged childhood.

Adolescence was a very sensitive time in my life. My body was undergoing many changes. I was full of energy and passion. It's the age when you register yourself in all rebellious, revolutionary, and extremist causes without second considerations. I didn't find one to. It's also the time when you realize and identify when attraction is sexual in nature. It's the time when you're so curious, you venture to explore the forbidden. If I had channelized my energy and passion then towards more creative, productive and useful activities, it would have added to significant accomplishments by now. But what's more important, is this realization, so the residual energy can still be used properly.

After becoming an adult, and after I started acting like one, I've been having recollections from my days of childhood, memories I would've never been able to remember intentionally. Childhood memories are about cuteness, innocence, curiosity, being cared for and loved. They are sweeter than sugar. Before my great grandmother passed away, she was in a semi conscious state, unaware of her surroundings, she randomly blurted names of her siblings, cousins and friends, people she hung out with 80 years ago. No matter what we do, where we go, what we acheive, what happiness we find, in the end the sweetest moments of life are those from when we started life with a clean slate.

Capitalism and the Government

Capitalism is here to stay. The new world has won. The whole world is moving towards the same model. The 3rd world realizes that the transition is necessary for survival. But is capitalism actually a perfect solution?

Capitalism is based on selfishness. It's closest to human nature. Capitalism aligns perfectly with the law: Survival of the fittest. So the strong, intelligent, beautiful, wealthy will do well. For the rest, there is social security.

The problem arises when greed runs unchecked. If a person is in a position to procure the resources he needs to survive, does he cease procurement when he accumulates enough to satisfy his own needs and those for whom he is responsible for? No. He continues his acquisition of resources until he is unable to. So the check isn't contentment, it's the inability to further acquire, it's the presence of "fitter" forces in the market, it's losing to competition.

Capitalism celebrates the young, smart, successful, rich and beautiful. They have the highest market worth. They are among the fittest in the society. The world is their playgroud. The market adjusts to best serve their fancies.

What about the dumb, handicapped, ugly, sick, and elderly? That's why IRA (retirement accounts), health and disability insurance, plastic surgery, fitness centers, and viagra are becoming increasing popular. No one wants to be thrown into the "unfit" lot. These are ways so people who have worked hard to marginally keep in the "fit" section of the society, may remain so till they die. Hence, the old, infirm and critically ill, who are no longer useful to the society, are thrown into oldage homes and hospitals, waiting for their death.

Capitalist government celebrates good citizenship just like the market does high worth. A good citizen is one who never treads the wrong side of the law, pays a lot of taxes, consumes heavily, produces employment, pushes the economy, and reproduces good citizens. The government driven education system and media programs him to serve the interests of the government and the market while he lives. So a dying man is happy with the idea that he has been a good citizen throughout his life. But he was never encouraged to ask the important questions about life and death, to seek the truth, to pursue spirituality or to understand religion. Given the cycle of birth and death, my true well being is in understanding how karma functions, investing towards future lives more conducive to spiritual realization, and endeavoring to some day break the cycle.

If I am of ambitious and aggressiveness nature, it will probably place me in good stand in the capitalist world. But I need to look out for my own interests. That doesn't mean investing for retirement or purchasing the necessary insurances, it means making the best of this short life, making sure I progress spiritually. I'd hate to die ignorant, who knows next time I might not even be as "fit" a player in the society as I am this time.

Palmistry and Karma

I've known the names of the major lines on the palm for 15 years now. 12 years ago I read my classmates palms and told them some general stuff about their personality, past and future. I had enough of a palmist vocabulary that students from all corners of the class came to me when no teacher was around and stuck their palm under my nose to hear the soothsayer speak. My reading wasn't specific enough to justify a charge, though. Come to think of it, it was 5-10 sentences of generic crap. But, my point is, my interest in the subject dates way back. I've read most of the free tutorials on the web, followed discussion forums and joined online communities dedicated solely to the subject, and picked up all the tit-bits I could whenever my uncle or his friends spoke about it. I did everything short of reading an authorative text cover to cover. I just don't have absolute faith in the accuracy of a reading or the surety that the prediction will actually become truth.

Inspite of my lack of faith, I still lookup my palm to learn what it has in store, if it actually does, for my future. I glance at my palm, every so often, to make sure my fate line, my faint apollo line and the markings on the mount of Jupiter, I like to call a star, are still there. If I sense a degradation in color, depth or length, I reorient my palm in space to make for light and shadow adjustments. But if that doesn't work, it calls for some desperate measures. I lick parts of my palm so its moist again and the lines seem pronounced, and if that doesn't work, I need to fold the portions of my palm to lengthen and deepen the lines that caused the emergency in the first place.

Will I actually acheive what I think my hand says? I wonder. My reading of my becoming a visionary leader (that might be a slight exaggeration, but I like to flatter myself) might be totally out of line, but a bigger question here is, is my future already laid out? In other words, does my current thought and action decide my future, or is future already determined? Is it somewhere in between, i.e. are the major events laid out, and the day to day details left for us?

To some extent the future has been predetermined for each one of us and no amount of efforts can change it. I didn't have any say in quantity or quality of the I.Q., physical fitness, external appearance I was bestowed with, nor could I choose my race, caste, parents, or gender. I won't expect a child born to a poor family in the 3rd world during a famine to play the Wimbledon, but I won't be surprised if he struggles for livelyhood while he grows up. On the contrary, I won't be surprised if a child born to athletic and wealthy parents in a developed nation plays good tennis in elementary school and someday does reach the Wimbledon. We don't start with the same set of resources in the first place.

The causality principle (i.e. every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause) must hold without exception. It must because I know our creator has a reputation of being just. Now, I see a man, in his early forties, go around, shake hands, make speeches scripted by professional writers and become the president of the most powerful nation. I see another man in his early forties who goes around, greets people, gives speeches he wrote on his own, and he also employs his whole mind and body for social reform of his backward community, still all he gets is rebukes and threats from the local authority. So the same actions lead to different results, is that possible? Did a different set of actions than what we saw, of shaking hands and making speeches, cause the results? Are we possibly mismatching causes and effects?

Karma explains the rest. All actions will be rewarded sooner or later, with interest. If I squish an insect to death, I shouldn't be surprised if I die a violent death in some future lifeform. There is an orthogonal component I should have included in the above analysis, desire or intention. The two persons had completely different goals in mind. We all move towards what we desire deep inside. If we don't attain it this lifetime, we'll be born in the future in a situation more suitable to fulfill our desires. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, founder of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, once mentioned to one of his disciples on his early morning walk alongside Venice beach, California, when he saw surfers riding the waves in the cold water, that the surfers will become dolphins and sharks in their next life because of their passion and obsession with the ocean. I absolutely trust him. Like I trust PhDs in computer science when it comes to research at my workplace, I trust saints in the affairs of life and death. Certainly, we each have our own destiny.

What about freewill? This is how I understand it: our destiny presents us with tendencies, resources and opportunities, but our freewill selects the actions to perform from the theoretically infinite possibilities. That should explain the variety in lifestyle, culture, and beliefs across mankind. We began the cycle of life and death with different desires and through the process of living we exercised our freewill in different ways. That's why life today is so diverse.

Back to my palm. I still need to find someone who knows palmistry well and is willing to be straightforward and forthcoming in his reading. Meanwhile, I am in wait and watch mode. You might call it blind faith in destiny or just inertia, but I can justify my procrastination. I want to be an entrepreneur, but I guess the time hasn't come. When and if the time comes, I'll know, the drive will be deep or the opportunity too good and obvious to miss. In the meantime, I should carefully control my desires and cautiously perform each act I do, however trivial, because I will be held accountable and might have to pay dearly in the future.