East and west: humanistic vs materialistic meaning of life

East and west always have been opposites through out history. East has always been the place of mysticism and closed communities and west the seat of rationality and open societies, at least in the general sense of the spirit. East do have contribution in science but ironically its not very philosophical, it has been more technological and mathematical.

But why we see the west in an existential crisis and why does east keeps an air of ignorance about it?
The forces of materialism caused this philosophical West's society to fragment, the individual got alone.So this individual devoid of humans to give his life meaning moved towards philosophy and materialistic achievements to fill this void of meaning. And so they  excelled in these fields like no other.

But the east still dwells in close knit societies.And an individual is a part of a family, a caste, a tribe and this identity gives his life an inherited meaning.So his mind is not bothered much about the philosophical meanings and materialistic achievements.

Obviously this is an oversimplification of a complex phenomenon.But what I basically mean to say is that human beings are social animals and true peace giving meaning  in their lives comes from the presence and connection with other human beings, otherwise the reality starts to break and loose meaning.

This realization stems from my personal experience when I woke up one night in a state of panic, derealization and a deep feeling of meaninglessness and as I saw a friend sitting on the other bed, this feeling started to dissolve with the shear force of his presence.

Understanding Power through Cricket

Come on life ! Let me hit a six!

Let me at least once feel that I can hit at will, when and where I want.
Let me feel my emotions directly altering the course of reality merely with the force of their existence, making every resistance burn away with their fire.

Like Mcculum axing the South Africa like a wood cutter in the semifinals.Making a world class bowling look like a fool
Like Einstein focused on a problem not leaving unless he compels  the nature to reveal its beauty.
Like a revolutionary jumping into the sea of improbabilities ,swimming against the tide, convincing the tide to change its direction.

"The high was not the fear. The high was that I can hit people at will. I can get people out at will. I can fool around with them at will."

- Shoaib Akhtar

Power is very attractive and the basis of every yearning. The power to win the heart of a woman, the power to pass the hurdles that come in wining the pleasure of God, the power to master an area of knowledge, the power to write so to change the hearts of people, the power to defeat disease. The power to control nature.


"Speaking more generally, one may say that some kind of power forms the normal and legitimate aim of every person whose natural desires are not atrophied. The kind of power that a man desires depends upon his predominant passions; one man desires power over the actions of men, another desires power over their thoughts, a third power over their emotions. One man desires to change the material environment, another desires the sense of power that comes from intellectual mastery. Every kind of public work involves desire for some kind of power, unless it is undertaken solely with a view to the wealth obtainable by corruption. The man who is actuated by purely altruistic suffering caused by the spectacle of human misery will, if his suffering is genuine, desire power to alleviate misery"

Bertrand Russel ---A conquest of happiness

"I want to look you in the eyes, come running fast, burning with focus and conviction,  throw a reverse swinging yorker at your feet , turnig in air and landing determined to make you fall without giving you even as much as a chance to block, causing all the stumps of your heart to fly , making you feel  the intensity of life inside me and  the intensity of my want."

Assessment of character

Among the best and easy measures of character of a person is his/her attitude towards a person or a group who can offer him nothing in return. It shows true empathy. When someones pain makes you transcend every difference, ideology, and not just makes you feel but actually moves you to help.

The second one is the length of relationships. A person maintaining long relationships shows reliability.

A person whose motivations are sympathetic rather than judgmental and condescending.

hot-cold empathy gap

Your "cold" contained self can't fully recall the feelings of your "hot" emotional self and inaccurately predicts how quickly you'll cave to temptation

Obaidullah Aleem -The spring that I pined for

Telling you the truth: It was not only love for which I threw away my life.There were some compulsions, some needs, you were also a kind of necessity.

What a lively, independent spirit I used to be. I exuded life and beauty and charm, I lived in a world that was built around my dreams, my own aspirations. It was an expression of my own identity

But I threw away  that life for the promise of a spring that never came, I gave away every aspiration and dream that a normal person has for life. But it never came. It was a false promise, a false hope, a mirage.

You see me happy and well settled but that's only a pretense.It is an instinct, I smile no matter what whenever  somebody looks. I have nothing to do with this happy go lucky person

 I wish you could see the injured self beneath all this felicity.

Extraordinary Times

 I had one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.It made me realize to what lengths have I allowed my self to fall.But I knew it all the way back and felt myself so helpless in the situation .I knew I have to do more and knew that I can do more but i was simply unable to pull my self up and together to work for the goal I want to achieve.But certain moments have what even long stretches of time cannot provide us
It was the dark era of "Laila Tul Qadar" that led to Quran being sent down from the heavens to herald the dawn of a new era in the history man kind which would take humans to such spiritual heights as never witnessed before.
Religious persecution, the perpetrators don't understand blow such a spirit in the life of a community who suffers that even a century of struggle cannot create.The mind becomes clear , the path of achieving a goal is selected with ease and the community comes together to strive in such a way that is other wise impossible.
During exams students come to have such studying capacity and focus of mind that easily lets them cover in days what normally would  take months.
I am talking about a similar extraordinary moment , a moment that unleashes powers that earlier were present but remained hidden in an unusable manner.Our God calls Himself "RAAB" the one who nourishes from a simple and unsignifcant small stages to higher complex and useful states.
I believe that moments of hardships in this world are to take us out of our lower states to higher ones.Its for us to choose that we act proactively and let that moment be our prize or don't give any heed and bring about destruction on ourselves.
For me Hell would be a similar place,the people who didn't utilize the opportunities of self development in this world would be forced through hardships to come out of those pit holes and build themselves for those favors that their creator wants them to have,a place called AL-Jannah where their efforts will flow like rivulets  unhindered and give them a  potential of limitless growth similar to a lush green garden with springs flowing underneath and a place whose prizes would never fade.
A day before I felt so powerless over my condition  that I wanted to quit and now I vow to fight and not let myself be steered away mindlessly in the abysses of self pity.My perspective on life has refreshened and I feel much more clear and controlled and determined.I don't know weather I would achieve what I want to but now I will try with a new vigour.I know one single moment is never enough ,I need a fuel for a life time ,this is one of the main differences between reality and fiction.There one scene changes into another without the uncertainty that the life disposes us to and here we have to live through each single moment.

Fate ,free will,Quran and Freud

I share it as Food for thought: I don't necessarily agree with all of the excerpt. 

Perspectives on history-

Will Durant-Goood is what survives
''Does history support a belief in God? If by God we mean not the creative vitality of nature but a supreme being intelligent and benevolent,the answer must be a reluctant negative.Like other departments of biology, history remains at bottom a natural selection of the fittest individuals and groups in a struggle wherein goodness receives no favors, misfortunes abound, and the final test is the ability to survive.Add to the crimes, wars, and cruelties of man the earthquakes,
storms, tornadoes, pestilences, tidal waves, and other "acts of God" that periodically desolate human and animal life, and the total evidence suggests either a blind or an impartial fatality, with incidental
and apparently haphazard scenes to which we subjectively ascribe order, splendor, beauty, or sublimity. If history supports any theology this would be a dualism like the Zoroastrian or Manichaean: a good spirit and an evil spirit battling for control of the universe  and men's souls.These faiths and Christianity (which is essentially Manichaean) assured their followers that the good spirit would win in the end; but of this consummation history offers no guarantee. Nature and history do not agree with our conceptions of good and bad; they define good as that which survives, and bad as that which goes under; and the universe has no prejudice in favor of Christ as against GenghisKhan.''(Durant.W; The lessons of history)

  Quran-Good is what benefits makind, so it survives:
"He sends down water from the sky, so that valleys flow according to their measure, and the flood bears on its surface swelling foam. And from that which they heat in the fire, seeking to make ornaments or utensils, comes out a foam similar to it. Thus does Allah illustrate truth and falsehood. Now, as to the foam, it goes away as rubbish, but as to that which benefits people, it stays on the earth. Thus does Allah set forth parables."(13:18 Quran)

Their support

They support the most medieval amongst us,suppress the progressive forces,create an oppressive enviornment.Then they use them as a pretext to demonize us,to prove that we are a threat,that civilizations are clashing.To put an end to which they must fight together.

Do not be hasty in rejecting as false

Nay, but they have rejected that the knowledge of which they did not encompass nor has the true significance thereof yet come to them. In like manner did those before them reject the truth. But see what was the end of those who did wrong!(chapter:10/39)


O ye learned people ...... Do not be hasty in rejecting as false. There are many profound secrets which man cannot comprehend in a hurry, all at once. You should not be ready to reject a thing the moment you hear it, for this is not the way of the righteous(..)

"No sexual ethic can be either justified or condemned on solid grounds until it has been examined from all the points of view above enumerated. Reformers and reactionaries alike are in the habit of considering one or at most two of the aspects of the problem. It is especially rare to find any combination of the private and the political points of view, and yet it is quite impossible to say that either of these is more important than the other, and we can have no assurance a priori that a system which is good from a private point of view would also be good from a political point of view, or vice versa."(russel:marraige and morals)

People think about things more abstractly when they perceive that they're further away in time or space (e.g. see earlier). In terms of negotiations, thinking more abstractly is beneficial because it encourages negotiators to reflect on and express their underlying motives and priorities.(...)

Our blind spots! lets help each other

I need you to point out my mistake because no matter how much I look with skepticism or doubt I cannot see my mistakes,especially the ones I am standing on.This is why it is advised to the doctors to get  treatment from another doctor.Although we know ourselves more than the other person but we don't get the full picture,we are too focused on small things and cannot see what we look in a bigger picture.And in science its the bigger picture or as they say effective theory that matters.You cannot do justice to a phenomenon  by  just looking at the molecular level and not including the macro level.

So, I will keep my heart open, it is difficult for me see every detail, you can help  me see things by enlarging them in way that impacts my emotions.

Because when we are attached to a certain belief or we put a label on ourselves we start creating  a new version of ourselves and assimilating information according that new identity. We ignore information that does not match with our core beliefs.

You would be saying that this a disadvantage of being religious or sticking with beliefs, than I ask who isn't having beliefs.Belief of having doubt in every thing ,belief that religion is a dangerous and a mess-creating-thing.

A person believing that religion is really destructive will have a fully charged version of accusatory rhetoric, while completely ignoring the things supporting the religion or even if not ignoring, rationalizing to bypass it.
Political desonance: this article cites empirical evidence with a crisp interpretation.

P.s: this idea was simmering in my mind when I hit upon this article,assimilated the best to make up my story

Illusion of security

Every thing seems good until the earth starts moving beneath your feet and than you realize how powerless you are and how weak are the foundations you are standing on!
Systems work when the resources are abundant but when the resources becomes scarce even the best of systems will crumble even the best marvels of engineering will fall.Even the biggest boats will sink.

A solution for Peace

How can I love some body who has ideals and goals of life so different for me.Either I can love that person or achieve my goal.I cannot have the cake and eat it too. Love for all is not a workable solution.
But compassion for all is a workable one.Karenarm strong illustrates wonderfully in a Ted talk.

''But I'd just like to quote, finish at the end with a reference to a British author, an Oxford author whom I don't quote very often, C.S. Lewis. But he wrote one thing that stuck in my mind ever since I read it when I was a schoolgirl. It's in his book The Four Loves. He said that, he distinguished between erotic love, when two people gaze, spellbound, into each other's eyes. And then he compared that to friendship. When two people stand side by side, as it were, shoulder to shoulder, with their eyes fixed on a common goal.

We don't have to fall in love with each other, but we can become friends. And I am convinced. I felt it very strongly during our little deliberations at Vevey, that when people of all different persuasions come together, working side by side for a common goal, differences melt away. And we learn amity. And we learn to live together and to get to know one another.''

Can a healer kill a Hitler

situation:
A mass murderer that plans to kill further comes to a doctor.(house season 6;the tyrant)
a)should the doctor treat him?
b)The doctor concedes to treat but plans to kill the patient by intentionally committing the mistake: is this right?

The person on getting healthier is going to kill a big number of people and inflicting a great pain on humanity.Although it might be against the law or risk the doctors life.
The other opinion is this that doctor should do his job and leave the job of dealing with murderer to the people it belongs to.
My opinion is that the doctor should refuse to take this case outright and if he concedes to treat, he should treat honestly. Although it would be best to kill the psychopath but its not the duty of a doctor.

Time's healing power

Some times things become so locked and intricate that no solution seems possible.This thing is especially true in terms of personal relations.But as the time moves on these seemingly impossible knots soothe out automatically.And what was a big problem seems insignificant

Demonizing the Enemy

One way to maintain strong cohesion within a group is to portray anyone outside the group as evil. Hoffer argued in The True Believer (1951) that radical movements are energized by hatred for their enemies.

What did Eric Hoffer say about belief in "devils" outside the group?

Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil. Usually the strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil.

Like an ideal deity, an ideal devil is omnipotent and omnipresent. When Hitler was asked whether he was not attributing rather too much importance to the Jews, he exclaimed: "No, no, no!...It is impossible to exaggerate the formidable quality of the Jew as an enemy." Every difficulty and failure within the movement is the work of the devil, and every success is a triumph over his evil plotting

   

(source)

Free media vs government funded media

Participated in a debate on free media.Following are the arguments

The proponents said:

1) Private media competes for viewer ship .Viewers are looking for truth and so the competition promotes search for truth.

2) Private media is free from the pressure of government and has greater funding than the government run media.

3) Government funded media cannot speak against it and is less likely to speak the truth when it comes to revealing inequities of the government . It is more likely to promote government’s propaganda and facts that go against it.

My arguments for the sake of opposition

1)Although public is in search for truth but it likes drama because it intrigues them. So private T.V channel have sensationalizing and dramatization as their priority. So instead of truth they compete for breaking sensational news, certification is not in their priority. They forget the issue after it has cashed the money and start looking for more entertaining news.Take for example the issue of floods.

Truth needs time and commitment to search which only a fund stable media can afford. BBC is a perfect example. It is funded by government and is considered as a foremost authority in broadcasting.

2) Private media is more profit oriented so although it can say anything but governments can bribe them and also they cannot propagate an agenda that goes against its stakeholders and sponsors. The funding it gets has ropes tied with to it leaving the greater amount with no advantage

3) This argument seems valid if you talk about a country like Pakistan. But in country which is democratic and institutions of the state are firmly established and media is just funded rather than being operated by the state, these things are less likely to happen.

But the truth is:

Freedom is a thing that has no parallel. Truth is always relative to the observer. Killing the private media will kill the diversity and many facets of the truth will remain out of the sight of people. We will have an unchallengeable version of truth. Private media breaks this monopoly. If government is able to terrorize or bribe a few journalists there will be many who will say what they see and feel and will take stand on it.

No matter how just a government is or how powerful the institutions may become, state run media always has potential of being exploited. BBC might be the foremost authority but I have never heard it saying anything against the royal family or actively campaigning against the British government. But this deficiency is fulfilled by the private media of Britain. And its also true that BBC presents one of the best education and research programs.

Both private and government funded media are complementary to each other and fulfil the deficiencies left by each other. It also illustrates the philosophical stance that there is no black and white forms of morality.

 On various occasions examples of responsibilities of Pakistani media were quoted by opposition which I think are inappropriate in th  Pakistan highly normal things have tendencies to go awry.

 Our media has got freedom for which it wasn’t prepared. It is just a reflection of our society, which also couldn’t learn to use the freedom it got in a productive manner.

Psychology from the week

*''One of the things you do find cross-culturally is that children are particularly affected by and easily influenced by the threat of punishment from supernatural agents. This is a behavior regulation device, a control mechanism to prevent children from doing things we don't want them to do when they think we're not watching.

It's an additional mechanism on top of self-control that would prevent them from doing things that would ultimately cause them problems or their parents problems........''

**You might have thought it before doing a thing you considered wrong;'' well after all who can understand better than God''.The writer is explaining some helpful evolutionary inconsistencies in committing a sin 

''When people are basically convinced that God is on their side and God understands why they're doing what they're doing, there are lots of loopholes psychologically that also work alongside reproductive interests.''

(Times)

***I  found these lines from a book of psychology

''Children tend to go to their mothers for emotional comfort and to their fathers for playing''

MY inference:

This fact how some how define roles of parents.A father helps increase the creativity and IQ of the child while EQ of the child is determined by the mother.The stronger the bond is with the mother ,more stable is child emotionally. 

Gifted childern

 By far the majority of studies of the gifted and talented have found them to be emotionally stronger than others, with higher productivity, higher motivation and drive, and lower levels of anxiety. Indeed, high level creativity, in particular, requires real strength of character to overcome the forces of conventionality and the sneers of those who do not understand.

How to spot a clever toddler
Here are the important things an adult can do for a bright child. The old physical milestones of when a child first sits up, crawls, stands up, or walks, are no longer seen as firm pointers to future intellectual  potential, but they are excellent indicators. Gifted children are just as different from one another as any other group of children - some may be lively, into everything and very friendly, while others can be shy and prefer to keep to themselves. Here are four strong clues.
Lively minds:
The most noticeable feature of gifted children is the liveliness of their minds. This
comes across in many ways, especially in their delight with words. Even as toddlers
they’re usually very quick to spot tiny differences and catch on to unusual
associations between ideas.

Awareness:
Gifted little ones use their radar brains to seek and absorb information, sometimes
catching your meaning before you’ve reached the end of your sentence. They copy
other people’s behaviour and learn fast from the experience. Sometimes they seem
quite grown-up, but genuine maturity will come later.
Ability to learn:
A keen appetite for learning marks out the gifted, so that when they’re given the
chance they grab it. As they get older, their knowledge often becomes wider and
deeper than that of other children of the same age so they seem to be even more
intelligent. Parents wonder where clever children get all their knowledge from; they
seem to absorb it from everywhere - television, people’s conversations – the air!
Independence:
The clever toddler takes pride in what they can do. Even in their first few days at
proper school, they’re usually outstandingly independent and competent, though some
get a shock when they find all the others working at a very much lower level. Some
develop special interests even at nursery school, though these might change. By the
time they reach primary school, they may be really beginning to know their way
around a subject.
(excerpts from articles of joan freeman ,a psychologist researching on gifted childern)