Inspiration comes when you
are lest expecting it. There are so many exposures you come across in life. I
use the word exposures, as learning comes from exposures. Exposures can be in
the form of an article, a book, a statement, an experience, a talk, an
observation anything. Exposures can change us in ways that we don’t think was
possible. Exposures help us understand life and gain from perspectives. The
internet for sure has helped us expose ourselves much more. But in many way’s
it’s like a TV. You can choose what you want to be exposed to. Simply having
the internet on does not in any ways mean that you are going to get smarter. Infact
if I see the internet these days and see my Facebook feed then it’s pretty much
a shit fest where you simply are trying to get to an opinion that you already
have and then trying your best to get data that proves it, in whichever way. I
think seeing the FB feed these days is the worst thing ever. It’s like the days
when TV burst open in India. From two state run channels we moved to a 24X7
format and the world was being beamed into our homes every day. All the
channels came in and we saw discovery and national geographic channels coming
in and like all good meaning people, we thought that these are the channels
that we will end up watching and educating ourselves. And like all god-fearing people
(forgive the ridiculous use of an irrelevant adjective) we would watch
everything else but these channels. After all how many times can you watch the leopard
devour the cow. It gets monotonous after some time. I think I spent a large
part of my college time watching TV. Then came a time when TV became crazy and
there was nothing to watch. I remember in those days going through all the
channels one by one and circling it again and again, bored and hoping for
something interesting to watch. There wasn’t anything.
TV definitely did not make me
too much smarter.
Internet and now mobile
internet is the same. It’s not going to make you too much smarter by itself. You
have to learn what to search for, what to read through and what to take and
what not to take in. That’s why I talk about exposures. You have to structure
your life around exposures and learnings if you want to bring greater
intelligence in your life. Though of course not bring in intelligence can also
result in happiness. The two are definitely not co related. In fact, sometimes I
think a strong argument can be made in favor of the two being inversely proportionate
till a point after which it could again flip and then flip again. But still,
for me learning is as important as eating and the internet as a device has
contributed immensely to my learning. I envy Jispa and her ilk for they have internet
before they were born. The internet has been a useful ally in her studies and
in her life. Thanks to this the world has come closer to her than ever before
and so has the vast depository of knowledge as it makes itself accessible to
the child while growing up. She needs so little of me for teaching her stuff;
she gets what she needs from the internet.
A few weeks back, I was
addressing a class of teachers, who had to come for a refresher course. The
college tried to organize the course by having industry faculty as well. My
topic was the advent of digital in our lives. I had to teach this to the
teachers and explain to them on the possibilities that this has for all of us.
At the end, one question was how could teachers bring digital into the class
rooms. I gave my daughters example of how digital has already entered the class
room. Long back I had learnt of a technique which I have often applied. You
first give the topic in advance and the reading material. People read on their own
and understand and come to class. At the start of the class you take a 5 minute
test and then start the class. This way there is no real teaching left to do
but you can spend that time on discussions. Discussions that take the topic
forward. So I was telling the teachers that they need to simply send the links
to the kids beforehand on reading / watching material and then from there on
you start with an online test which the kids can take on their phones itself
and then you can start the discussion in class, now that the kids are well
prepared. While I was explaining this to them I realized that I have to start
doing this myself and this time in class I explained that from next time they
will get reading material and a test to do in class. Cool nah! In return they
can come to class 15 min late without any repercussions and they can have their
cell phones on while attending the class. No questions asked. Let’s try this
experiment. Have an open classroom with lots of interaction and complete
freedom. So now to try all these things from the next class onwards. This puts
some pressure on me to do the preparations, but I think it will be worth all the
effort. At least we will know what price freedom extracts from us.
Coming back to the topic of
exposures. I have learnt that the best learning comes from a variety of
exposures. It is very difficult, almost impossible to predict which exposures
lead to the most amount of learning. Small small things in your life that
happen to you or those around you, help you unravel your life and give you
lessons you are not likely to forget. Once my boss came to me and said that he
had the most amazing experience with the COO of the firm. He had gone to him
with a complaint and the COO called on the employee, ascertained the truth and
then castigated him in front of my boss, reprimanding him for the lacuna in
service. My boss was impressed that justice was swiftly delivered. I have kept
that in mind whenever someone comes to me with an issue as regards my team. If
my team member is not delivering the service that he should, he is pulled up
and immediately told that he needs to shape up and that I wouldn’t tolerate any
shortcomings.
Another one that recently
changed an important part of me, was an app called Blinkist. It basically gives
a summary of book every day that one can read through. I think it doesn’t do a
great job, but is an interesting app for those wishing to read fast enough. I
got it from a friend’s recommendation and then promptly recommended to a
friend. The friend then took the paid version that allows more than one “book
of the day’ read. She then sent me an interesting book summary, which at the right
time and the right context completely tipped me over to one side. It was on
Mortality by Hitchens. While most the summary was ok, one aspect of it just
blew me away. He was a committed atheist and after being diagnosed with a
terminal illness he refused to let that affect his belief, or rather disbelief
in God and religion. That made me think about my own belief. I wasn’t religious
as I have already written about in previous blogs and I wasn’t an atheist. I
was ambivalent. I was middling. I did not know how to describe my views and I tried
creative solutions like – pantheist. After reading this passage (as below) for
some reason I cleared my mind. I decided for myself that I was an atheist,
through and through. I did not believe in God. There is no such thing such as
God and definitely organized religion is a complete farce. I do not believe in
it one bit. So yes, now, I call myself very clearly an atheist. If I believe in
logic and reason, I cannot believe in the notion of religion and it various
offshoots and practices.
Extract of the summary -
After Hitchens’s diagnosis, he explored his convictions about
atheism in the face of death.
Hitchens
valued his commitment to the concept of atheism. And despite outside pressure,
he stuck by his beliefs through his illness until the very end.
Many
friends and companions pressured Hitchens to find faith as he neared death.
Although he appreciated his friends praying for him, he didn’t believe it would
make a difference to his situation.
Even
strangers would try to convert him. People callously made bets online about how
long it would take him to accept God.
Hitchens
also received much criticism from people who told him he’d “burn in hell” if he
failed to convert before he passed away. Some even had the audacity to tell him
this while he was on his deathbed.
Despite
the pressure, Hitchens believed that changing his mind about religion would be
dishonest, and certainly wouldn’t help in the face of divine judgment. Becoming
a Christian at the last moment wouldn’t exactly absolve him from being an
atheist most of his life. Surely he couldn’t prove his faith was true if he
only accepted God just before death?
Hitchens
never understood why organized religion is so exclusive when it comes to the
afterlife. What if he converted to Christianity, for example, only to discover
that Judaism or Islam was the true religion?
The
prospect of death made Hitchens realize how important it is for people to stand
by their convictions. Ultimately, nobody knows if there is life after death.
Nobody knows what happens to the “soul” when a body dies.
Hitchens
would have been lying to himself, his loved ones and his fans if he were to
back down, just because he was afraid of death.
“If I convert, it’s because it’s better that a believer dies
than an atheist does.”
---
That helped me in another way
as well. Linda Goodman. The famous astrologer who has written and sold millions
of her book called Sun Signs. Here she writes about various people born under
their sun signs and she describes them in great detail. To me, I have always
found it difficult to refute her truth about the sun sugns. They seem so right
and they seem just appropriate about people according to their Sun Signs.
Possibly there is something to it. Surely sun signs cannot predict my day to
day actions (that’s too primitive) but surely they predict the core behavior of men.
Recently someone asked me about it. I took inspiration from my new found belief
in atheism and said that if fundamentally, I do not believe that stars can cause
any change in me, then fundamentally I do not believe in the book. Yes, I do
admit that when I read the book, I too feel that it does accurately describe
the people, but then I must reject the cause and the effect, as I do not
believe in it. So hence in spite of it being seemingly true, it is false. I gave
the analogy a magician, who suddenly might magically make a bird appear or
disappear. I know that it is false despite my seeing it as true. It is a clever
ruse. I must dismiss it no matter how real it gets. Similarly, no matter how
real the description, it is false. If I don’t believe in the roots of it, then
it is false, in spite of what I think. Hence Linda Goodman is a false story
line. Possibly the way it is described every man or woman would read it and see
themselves in the description, possibly being fooled in it. Possibly a taurean
description could also be equally appealing to a Leo had he been explained as
such. Possibly the truth is what you make of it, and now Leos are possibly
supposed to behave in a certain manner as people expect them to behave thus! I
am ready to take in any other wild hypothesis but I will not believe that a
star on top has the ability to change my behavior or influence it. You either
believe in it or you don’t. You are either an atheist or you r a believer.
Simple.
This little exposure of an
app and a link that a friend sent is just one of the small examples of me not
knowing which exposure will get me where. This was a valuable addition to my
moralities and my beliefs. I wouldn’t have ever thought that it could have
helped me in so many ways.
Jasmine and me have been
quite practical in our thinking. We just bought a new car and when we went to
collect it, we did away with the traditional coconut and garland ceremony that
the dealer had organized for us. We even implored them not to burst the
confittee and spread more litter on the road. At the end the sales girl
practically pleased with us to at least click a picture of us getting a
delivery of the car. “sir atleast this much”. As soon we got the delivery, I got
rid of the ribbons all over and got the entire emotion thing over and done
with. It’s a logical extremity.
Exposure define us and
influence us. We don’t know what’s going to hit us. Hence we must try and get
the maximum possible. Look for new and varied exposures at all times. It could
be in the form of books, travel, hotels, people, anything. Keep looking, keep
exposing yourself and keep an eye out for any new thing coming your way. You never
know wat you will learn from it. Even an old thing for that matter. There is a
time for everything. The same exposure at a different time will possibly give
you much more meaning than what you have anticipated.
Bonus Video on Hitchens. Very
interesting
