In my thoughts today :
1. If there are no rules, then let there be ethics. Else, the world will go wild again.
2. Some things which can be done in stupidity cannot be done in smartness.
Dear A,
Thinking about this blog, 'Forks', of yours last night, I felt little sleepless too. “ You can choose to live to impress someone OR you can choose to live for yourself” . I also went through the SENG site which you have linked in your blog. I don’t really know if I had this of not, because unlike your case where you have undergone a proper therapy for it mine is undiagnosed. But my symptoms, which are now my memories, tell me that it was the same.
You also mention about various authors of existentialism to Raghvan, of which I have heard not a single. Thankfully, much like your background, I also had a strong academic base, particularly in the field of sciences and mathematics, when I appear to have been affected by this condition.
Also noteworthy at this point is that this crisis of self-existence is very common in people from my region of our country, I can’t really say why, but I have lots of persons, males and females, who have taken deep inquiry into the questions listed to yourself.
One such classmate, T Khare (complying my policy of ‘No Names’ ), (Orkut link :‘suppressed’ ) did his engineering, BE, from Agra and later decided to renounce everything to pursue his vocation in Astrology. On orkut he puts his ambition to be ‘working to find medical cures through combination of ayurveda and astrology’(!!). His story is that even during his school-years, Class X (ISCE) he would abandon his house to go to Haridwar, Shantikunj Ashram, of Gayatri parivar, to enrol as a pupil. In those days the Ashram did not take him (perhaps fearing) owing his underage (and thus a Police action upon T’s parents complain). He was 15 yrs old at that time. In fact, the first such attempt by ‘T’ was just a few days before the Boards. He returned home on the morning of English paper (a compulsory subject !).
T’s story gets me to think about the theories on ‘belief’, which I know not many, but assume that it must surely be having something about prodigious affect of Beliefs on humans. I myself do not accept the scientific scope of Ayurveda(very feeble chances to unraveling new medicines), and not a dime of the Astrology( a nautical astronomer, I myself am), but would have to at least give room to placebos. Some odd times, placebos have worked miracles.
Some (strong) Beliefs, I think, cannot be fought by non-believers. It is better that non-believers(a strong believers of one kind) give room to believers (strong believers of another kind). Better to settle dispute by adopting mutual respect.
Then, in my vague memories, there was also one D Choudhary, often questioning the same issues enlisted by yourself. He later did his engineering from IIT-Kharagpur, and now working (or doing something) in the US.
Such enquires are common for people of this age experiencing intense competition. It is bound to provoke thoughts within us. Most of my blogs are an outcome of the same activity within. How these queries develop an individual depends a lot on his cultural, social, domestic and academic setup. Some chose to take the path of Isaac Newton, Some of Sigmund Freud, some of Osho Rajneesh, and many others of man-killers (the terrorist).
In the light of the above I would conclude by saying that I see yourself not much different from me. I propose that formative conditions will have to be treated to contain the spread of the existential-crisis condition among people. I mean mostly people should be living happy, cheerful, debonair, not self-inquisitive.
:-)
Regards,
2 comments:
Hey Mannu,
The first thing I want to say about this post is, why the gloom?
You speak of Existential Crisis as if it were some kind of ailment (which is how I took it too when I was undergoing it). It is not.
It is, most importantly, a state of mind. It does not require therapy. It requires a self-definition.
As I said in my post, most people choose to define themselves through the recognition of everyone else around them. Their life is spent either enjoying this recognition (the so called "popular" people) or moping about how nobody likes them.
On the other hand, there are people who realise pretty soon how futile this game of dressing up and impressing is. Some of these choose a few people in their life (such as a close friend, or their family members) and define their lives according to their wishes and expectations.
The others, they're left stuck up with themselves. And it is now that they discover how alone we all really are. This results in deeper inquiry and hence the existential crisis.
But you see, Mannu, this is a gift. It is a chance for these people to define themselves according to nobody else but themselves. They can be the true innovators, the free radicals, the next big thing. (It is said that the Buddha, after seeing sickness and death went into a state of despair and grief, which lead to his "moksha". I'm sure this "state of despair and grief" was nothing but an existential crisis)
As you can see, to reach the state of existential crisis requires a significant amount of intelligence. This enables these individuals to develop strong abilities in something of their choice, which is where they lead to innovation.
If we were to "contain the spread of existential crisis" among people, there would be no innovation. Human existence would reach a standstill.
Existential crisis, in my opinion, is not something to abhor or dread. In fact, it must be understood well and recognised. Those who go through this stage must be explained about it. They must develop enough courage to define themselves only according to themselves. They must make themselves ready to face a lot of pain in order to execute this definition.
Thanks Alok for that wonder explanation.
well, all that i menat by saying 'containing the spread.." was that let there only be handful Buddha's and not everybody! else more religions, more problems u see,![;-)]haha.
Enjoy, and a big thumbs-up for u, again.
Post a Comment