Category Archives: Reflection

The idea of being organised and being proactive is that one knows not only of what to do and not what to do but also how to be engaged in the world. It is about an authentic way of being for ever rather than being instinctive and or reactive to every situation.

One who lives on a day to day /moment to moment are always caught up in non-certainties. Choice therefore is accidental. One moves about and would readily adopt the reactionary approach where one follows a way set by others: merely having the illusion that one has a choice. A veritable choice is where the subject is not controlled by events/verbosities or opinions or following any other. Life is that choice where one views the goal ahead not through some other but of one’s own reflection.

The test is to always stop, pause and reflect. The key questions being what are the advantages of making or making a particular choice. How if my choice may or not cause distress possibly to the choice or those about me? That the test which is a difficult as often in the thick of things one of course ‘knows’ that one is making a correct choice.

Many years ago as part of my learning; I came across a certain Shivapuri Baba who commented to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan that he taught three disciplines physical, mental and spiritual. The non- balanced life causes distress if we just attempt to live haphazardly. Take the affluent professional: one may be a hard worker but not quite a smart one as there may be over indulgence of say lack of sleep which in turns affects other aspects of one’s life.

Similarly our comrade may also after having a resounding horrid time through hard enterprise then goes on a crusade of ‘enjoyment’ or pleasure seeking involving leaving aside all the hard work and or when s/he is off duty then does the exact opposite of work to the point of over exposing of the body in over indulgence.

Or take the guy who feels the way to be is precisely in overindulgence. It is the ways of the world where the concern is one of seeking happiness albeit momentary even at the cost of failing to apprehend the dialectics. By the latter phrase, I mean a lack concern in appreciating how the bodily- self functions.

The excuse for the pleasure seekers is a truncated goal which sometimes lead to despair measures at readjustment and the abuse of the body finally come to light only when an emergency forces one to awake. In some instances, it may be too late.

The rationale behind a frantic style of living is that one fails to adopt and appreciate life in its grandeur not because one does not do but simply because there is no time in the modern world where seekers are after those instant grabbling of happiness/pleasures whether it be through indulgence in the multi forms of readily available consumables which initially one yearns for … then with time over indulgence creeps in.

The Buddha has warned against craving and yet the projects of the pleasure hunters are precisely that of seeking a part without the latter and again to use a Buddhist term; dukkha kicks in where it becomes all unavoidable. Or you may not have pleasure without suffering. It is all part of the same process that suffering will always be there.

A lack of appreciation alludes to the fact that one may avoid the latter in our hapless search for a way out of the maze through frantic type existence, hence the call is to nurture that basic self in unison. Or it is a question of seeing that there is an interdependence between all three aspects of the self: bodily, mental or spiritual. Covey pointed out that one needs to take note of such a rational balance of physical/mental /spiritual in the first instance or making sense of each aspect of these categories or there will be a lack where one part of the equation if overriding the other makes one crumbles and or lead astray.

To be sure there have been lots of effort whilst educating the child in aspects of the known about the physical, mental and other moral of one’s being.

To some extent there have been efforts made in the cultural field which teachers others at reaching out against a blatant bigoted view of life. Part of the problem lies in the fact one fails to saw the wood again to borrow a Coveyan term!

Creating a triple balance in one’s life is not something that the blogger may pronounce as a recipe which may yield instant results. It is up to the reader to put the brakes on with one’s frantic lifestyle and restore or recuperate the self through self-reflection and taking creative actions rather than be misled in the waves of opinions or exposures which may drown one. Is there a way where one may actually rather verbally put an end to a futile form of being?

Is there a way where one may not fall prey to the norms of the superficial of the known where the danger is always there at being turned into an object in spite of our expertise at some-thing where one lacks appreciating other or all-thing? Can one shrug the malady of living a partial way and adopt a fuller more appreciative way of being? Is such a way viable? Or should one continue with the form of truncation where all that one sees is merely a divided aspect of one’s being? In this division lies inherent problems of a rupture style of existence where one fails to make sense whilst continuing to believe that it is after all how one is taught through the school system and later on through more expertise work training.

Life apprehension takes on a different dimension that of uniting rather than living a part of one’s being. It is indeed seeking that firm balance. How does one do it? Over to you the reader!

We quickly aimed to learn to do what we need to do in order to make sense of the world about us. As we do so we are helped through our schooling system and other education teach us those things to get by in the world arena.

The crude system about us soon makes us into a beast which easily learn that success comes with being alert like a parrot to do those activities which help our navigation through life. Success comes to those who swiftly adopt and apply and makes use of the ins and out of what is on offer. Intelligence is measured in terms of the recalling and regurgitating of what is thrown at us. Knowledge becomes a form of parroting the essentials and not only using but abusing the genres about us. The expert or specialist is no more one who has adapted and makes use to one’s advantage what the system has devised.

All these are popularly known as application of the facts which is assimilated and using our intelligence and mental faculty at working within the confined of the known.

The better one is at manipulating the forms the more successful one would become. On this view, life is a constant appraisal of how to be in within the perimeter of what has been set as standard. That standard gives us a set of guidelines to be followed within a system which merely reinforces our beliefs systems. That there are so many forms within the bigger system is there for all to see but the crude always finds that what one knows to be a fait accomplit…. All set and done and why not as after all it is a manipulation of this in many ways which b rings success to its adherents.

Even more successful are those who manage to somehow aim at manipulating what is on offer through a strict and rigid approach. The better one does it the more elevated one becomes where one is hailed through becoming a leader of the populace and the latter adores the skill with which one displays either within the physical, mental, or other artistry whether it be music the arts or sports and the few are hailed as idols within society. Such are the ways the world. In being able to master what is required; suddenly one awakes form anonymity into stardom.

Others noticing the inherent problems may see the lack and protests by rejection of the forms instead of seeking a comprehension of the forms. What the other represents is so easily seen and so either one withdraws and seeks solace in other parallel  forms equally as potentially spurious ways and sure it is a fallacy that there may be a full proof format as a narrow and straight path which some claimants always sees as being the way! To be indulged in any form means that as  long as one is okay one may sod the rest. That what a system preaches its adherents ultimately where one follows a belief system whether it be secular or otherwise all have the same malady of ignoring and or forcing one to be what one is not as one walks about in conceited ways and adopting a truncated reality which debases others.

The test is not so much that others within ‘my’ family or group, party or such other is better but when the test come such a saliency at the test makes one withdraws in a ghetto of being. In that ghetto, what matters is oneself full stop.

That we operate within such a system is all so obvious. Knowledge is  a simple recollection  and the ability to make use of it intelligence: unfortunately these often gets confounded and the system deem the intelligent knower as the one who has mastered a technique and make it work and thereby achieve recognition whether it be the arts or business politics and or a film star or religious leader… bearing in mind that the system always wants us to be at the top of the hierarchy. At the same time, one also knows that such a system only account for the few who may be able to make sense of the ways of the world and be there.

That is how things are around oneself or what is revealed upon awakening in the crude world. Learn it fast, adopt and apply. No need to make sense of it but just try and be a specialist or expert at doing some thing and success is guaranteed.

With this being so; there are millions across the work who readily seek to apply the norms as are revealed in the conditioned world where existence seems to be measured by the being diligent partially. Or this is the format which are presented to be successful.

To operate in the known that is all one require: However, on a different level away from the transactional mode of being in a fiercely competitive form; there is another realm; albeit an unexplored one which call on the self to go above and beyond the realm of the known where knowledge is to be sure not about a partiality or a superfluous form but of a more complete form.

That knowledge is not of a specialist kind but at seeing the whole rather than the parts. It is not about aiming to be like the Jacks /Jones or Mandys /Priyas  for that matter. It is simply about calling for a pause in one’s life and doing a bit of reflection at that level of the mind where one is most creative.

As the blogger/writer, I am not proposing to give and or provide an instant solution to the idea of making sense of the world. That is for the other to find out and rediscover at the question of to be. Do I accept everything thrown at me or is there a different realm from the known? : More particularly am I content with the known as revealed in the crude or is there something more which is non partial … of a non-specialist/expert type. The call is indeed to rise above the known and explore further rather than accepting as ‘knowledge’ whatever may be thrown at us. Is that possible? May one venture further? Or am ‘I’ of a closed mind which accepts and or rejects at the outset?

Knowledge is about understanding the what is. Or to be able to analyse adopt and see what unfolds in front of us. Essentially this translates in the understanding of what needs doing or not doing. It is about being alert and able to discriminate our in-situation in life.

The call is important as one is not coerced or governed at the level of materialism which rejects others for what they are. It is an appreciation of what is unfolded, a way to apprehend that all others have a right to be and that is inclusive of all species or goes beyond humanoids.

To be sure in this mode of being one is simply not following a so called ‘good system’ and or adopt a routine non-reflective life. The point is very much a question of pausing, stopping and being reflective!

In such a reflective spirit one readily looks at life not from a perspective but attempts to do so from every other perspective… including non-humanoids ones! Whether this is a viable way of being is for the reader to decide.

This mode calls us to be in tune with all aspects of life and be ever ready to question one’s being as a perennial exercise in case we dip into dullness or simply act as automaton. The test to be conscious at all times or have that understanding not to delve into mere actions without reflection or being mere reactionaries. As reactionaries one depends on others for our being. And like chemicals one reacts upon being in contact. And such reactions are simply ways which makes one often acts in ways which instils seeds of hatred about. Hatred shown to the other whilst ignoring if the reverse was to be done how might the actor feels. The rationale of the vulgar is that it is a case and always a case of survival of the fittest would say the latter echoing that brute force is indeed the way to be. Such type antisocialism of course is not relevant in communities generally but those who adopts such trends attempt to justify their partial actions as they would clearly identify with perhaps a group as against another. And so they may say it is fine to do so in spite of the fact that they may just have adopted as their motto the ways of the jungle where the strongest annihilates the weak and frail.

In doing so one may become violent verbally, physically or in other ways. One becomes a reactionary subject full of emotions and due to this often one may become passionate with abundance of desires. In that mode of being one loses one’s ways of being and so is full of negativism to the extent that others may be viewed as the cause of their inspiration to wager fear and hatred about.

Whereas on the one hand one may become dull and so just be there at all time at the mercy of the few who are reactionaries who may use the dull to seek or pursue their objectives at either coercing and or conning others but for their own narrow objectives.

There are others who despite being above and beyond the pettiness of life may find the ways of materialism as a desired mode to follow and so in spite of understanding still succumbed to a life which may make use of others towards a predefined zeal where some others are excluded.

They are the sophisticated type who does not fall to the level of the superficial and has some comprehension of the what is but still uses all their abilities to affix the world from a certain perspective where some others are still excluded. They may be referred to as those who readily fit within the realm of the known. In spite of being reactionaries they are the cautious type who follows not the way of the jungle: Indeed, they extend their sympathies to the downtrodden and sometimes even extending a hand of friendship.

In dullness mode one simply exist…. either as consumers or reactionaries. In both ways one cares but for itself and shows or have no concern. It is a lazy way of being where one by default simply lives at the level of an automaton where one follows a system or any system and happily carry on indulging in partial ways in which one is caught. That ‘opium’ ranges from sport or doing pseudo activities as propounded by the elites to the thousands of set activities  which one simply engages in a passive mode. With modern technology one again is misled as if there are skills to be learnt. Yet unless one rises and awake and question what we have to do in life there can never be an escape from being an automaton. In a sense modern societies have condemned us to so be!

To be free and alert to the facticity of life is to be able to have an adopt an above and beyond-ness which makes no other suffer. It is not simply about understanding but a kind of praxis which both challenges and engages the self.

It is indeed a call to reflect …call it meditate… not for an end which makes just oneself better but of that kind of action which engages body mind and spirit in a synergy of being where each and everyone matters. It is an adoption of a consciousness which is to be sure not about following a certain system but placing that system in Q if it excludes any other.

The Q of course being is there such a system which may be non-exclusive towards one and all. If this is so perhaps one may adopt and or espouse this in order to move forward and lead such a life which is not dependent of being reactionaries. Aldous Huxley too warned us already of how one may be mere automatons. Should one simply exist in a placid mode? What one may easily witness about us are no more than a way of life which has all the ingredients of people seeking and adopting dullness and or other categories as hinted above.

To be sure the call herewith is to awake from a dormant position of non-creativity towards awakening. In such a mode of being one may not be governed by the modes of opposites which characterise and effect our way to be in that either we fall prey and or prey on others for ‘our’ being, groups, ideologies, families or nations.

In summary one may ask the reader to reflect on how may one be free from leading automatons type existence? In essence, what is it to be creative rather than inactive? How may one contribute in actively rather than passively. Sure the call is to awake, and reflect and moving on in a mode of cooperation with others…..where every other is valued not just verbally but actually!

We are ensnared in our activities so much so that we tend to ignore why we set to do things as we do. A business person is so absorbed with how to make deals after deals and or better deals that he soon forgets other aspects of his life. Or let us say why in the first instance one has chosen such an engagement: Surely not to be overwhelmed by it all!

In the same vein a mother may decide to spend all her energies away from her family and or seek to spend a little time with her closed ones. Technology has made us into a robot. We never know when to stop and or create a life balance. Day in and day out it is the same routine. It is a debased living where we have surrendered in a ghetto of being. In our effort to stick to a work routine we have become victims of being an effective technocrat. The notion of work implies that we need to focus on what we are paid for or have chosen to do as a work activity. We have surrendered a little of our humanness.

That we have developed into a specialist, with super expertise skills in our field so much so that that aspect has taken over our whole being. It is the be and end of everything. A way to be where we never see pass that saliency which has overwhelmed our being. Caught up into it; we may either be remunerated nicely and or have been made to believe that what we offer surely is worth espousing …after all life is just about being a robot… a machine which makes us surrender our self to the artificial mode of being.

In that artificial mode of being all we do is simply see life through that veil as one may not see beyond that veil which simply stops us and make us surrenders to a certain way of being.

As an efficient technocrat, we simply do things almost repetitively whilst to be sure the ‘modern’ culture has a way of making one feels that life verily is simply about being able to be an efficient expert full stop. As an expert, I know what I am doing is good, great and superb. I also know that it would benefit my clientele and pleased my immediate superiors, These superiors may also too be a victim of the system which makes one surrender our being.

Verily we have become robots if not quite morons. This is reflective in all aspects of our engagement in life today. Work has made us surrender our being. It is all about simply either trying to be an efficient technocrat or aspiring to be! In a way the technocrat happily likes to be so subservient as it gives one a pseudo sense of being where one feels contributing towards a better future!

When our friends have some time to relax; this is mostly done in a passive state as one simply may not or cannot engage with others actively. The culture around and about us has made one develop into a consumer not a producer. Our comrades may not or cannot think beyond his expertise as he has surrendered his being to others.

Is there something lacking? Or perhaps this is the whole aim of life to be cornered and moulded in a particular way of being? Being so subjugated we thrived about as the Orwellian deltas. Or at best betas or even alphas where one is no more than an automaton… and or a productive machine which simply is here to create and recreate results

Can one be free of the norm? is it at all possible to shrug free and live beyond and above saliency of a technocrat way of being? Or am I just caught up and surrendered myself to the other?… whether a personal or impersonal one! May one be free from the norms or models which has been thrown about? Or into which we have been thrown into and adopted as away of being. Is it possible to be so organised that one may rise from the known which perhaps may stifle one into subjugation so that one may see and free the self. Or are we simply condemned to be so? … with its justifications being that we need to involved as on it depends primary our livelihood without which we may never be able perhaps even allow us to even exist. Or one may say there is a need to work and or be involved in actions which binds us in every way that one is surrendered in every way to its norm making our life little more than the Orwelians’s livid dead as already observed above.

However, the actions of the technocrat are no more than an expert which may only see that partiality. The wholistic to be sure may as well be non-existent. The specialist or expert is an excellent at the details and in some fields that is applauded and gain recognition. For most though as has been hinted the doer is caught up with projects which mesmerised one. To be free is to have that ability to rise above and beyond the modes which has absorbed one’s being. It may be a difficult but perhaps not an impossible task which may only be achieved by the reflective self: Once one began the process of questioning  one’s  role within our expertise we may begin to move aside and perhaps see oneself in action. No other may do so for us. It is for the individual to realise the potential to be. In so doing one may not be a victim of the modes into which we have been thrown into. The power to be is within the self: It is a call for the self to awaken from its objectivity and move onwards into a subjectivity which appreciate not only itself but others about itself. That one may not be either a plain object/subject is as equally potent as one moves about and try to make sense of the known and perhaps witness that self which we are may not be a simpleton of a plain technocrat. Indeed; there is more and the more about us…. is that which provides meaning rather than being a prey to a dull existence! Or we may observe that one may opt for a balanced life where one may easily adopt and thereby arise from the mere crashing into the mundane of a routine life which ensnares us.

A world of verbosity where opinions is all that matters; a world where those who may argue for their opinions takes precedence over those who may not do so.

It is ‘my views’ which eventually reigns above and over any other. Others are relegated, denigrated  or at best ‘tolerated.’ In this current climate, it is important to stick to a set of values, beliefs and or espouse opinions as favoured by a group or a community. Groups whether they may adopt positive or negative attitudes are all based on opinions and at best perspectives seen as per one’s veil of comprehension.

‘Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not a truth’ Marcus Aurelius AD 121-180.

However; most of what we hear are adopted as facts and with time accepted as facts as if that is the be and end of everything. Upon adopting such a mode of existence what my family pours in front of me becomes the norm one abides by and exist. Nothing needs be questioned as I have learnt from my family that this is the way to be. The way of others may not be acknowledged let alone appreciated as they belong to a different, nay alien culture. There is an undermining dislike in operation. We are told that we need to tolerate. Yet that toleration in itself is veiled with the superiority complex whilst the inferiority one is attributed to the other. On this line of thought there can only be truths based where one family, group, community, or nation proposes or perhaps those with similar opinions. Whilst the others are dismissed’; my thoughts and opinions takes priority over and above everything. In a way it is the law of the jungle which we have failed to appreciate. That law authorises us to despise others based on our opinions and perspective. Espouse our perspective and opinion and you are hailed as one of the great. Object to this and you may be seen as the enemy.

The enemy is everywhere as what matters is my opinions or those who share mine. Oppose this and you are doomed and may be subject of abuse verbally, mentally, or even physically. You may be seen as a social pariah by those who take shelter of a belief system where they see their system or way to be as being beyond and above.

Unfortunately, because I espouse a certain way of being; I fail to observe that there are other equally well authenticated modes of beings. Blinded by the veil we may not see that which is: Instead everything is moulded in to the veil which one has accepted as being the norm.

The question emerging from our observations is that can we really be free from the world of opinion or perspective or are we caught up despite ourselves. Is there a way out of this moral maze are we simply condemned to adopt and adapt a certain mode of being?

Can I perceive that what is unveiled in front of me through my senses is not necessarily ‘objective’ facts to be hold on at all costs regardless but aspects of my saliencies, prejudices, fears and or bias which causes us to adopt and hold on to certain ways of relating to life as it unfolds in front of us. Can we see that this is so? Or can we appreciate the fact that all that we are…..indeed are no more than preconceived perspectives which reveal to us through our already tainted views … or what we have amassed through centuries of conditionings whilst these has simply been thrown at us and upon being thrown at us as dogmas are unveiled to us as ‘truths’ These truths are the cause of confusions, hatred, hypocrisies and so much terror whether verbally or otherwise.

The key question which emerges out of this chaos is can we be free of opinions, verbosity, or perspectives ? Is that possible? Can we clearly see something without any form of prejudice where opinions are simply negated? Can I as a person be allowed to be or must succumb to their ways of being which exercise coercion or subjugation into a particular mode of being? Indeed, where one is made to be and be a party to one or other forms of being where to be successful one has to adopt and seek a way of being part of the norm. Should this be so? Or can I as an individual refuse point blank to join the ways of the world which pushes one onto oblivion based on loss of individuality where the person may not be allowed to be where one is coerced into accepting opinions and perspectives or can one shrug free of it all? And just be? Is this possible?

The quintessence of what is being communed herewith is precisely that… can we clearly see something, anything without any form of conditionings. Or is it possible to rid the self of opinions, verbosities, perspectives which further adds to distress in societies? Is this a viable alternative/ or am I caught up with every other / any other views and thereby remains a victim of the known?

How can I participate in the world free from the world of opinions… the world of perspectives the world of hatred and violence or must I give in and say there is no other way out?

Is it possible to be free of all ideas and concepts and theories and connect with the world with others  just as how things reveal to the self without any form of conditionings?

Can I see things as they are? Is such a state of being possible? Or need I simply give in? Can one relate to life a la freshness of being where one may see things as they are rather than through a veil?

Opinions and perspectives are hindrances; To be remains a firm choice in an ambiguous way. A choice on which one builds on and or develop one’s way of being. If that is authentic and causes no distress to any other regardless of any specie let alone another human; we may then deem this as a worthwhile exercise in attempting to makes sense of the dialectics of life as these unfolds within our midst. Or we may say that some forms to be sure causes non- harmony and or a deterrence to others way of being… which may be ignored as one moves on but the essence of being in the world in a way entails that we are ensnared or subjugated into adopting a way. What one needs to be alert to is that there is no single way which ought to seek exclusivity. If one’s life choice is about a way of downgrading any other whilst keeping one’s own views/perspectives/opinions as the way to be then there may not be appreciation of others. When this is so adherents engage in frantic fundamentalism or fanaticism. Whilst is so, it is obvious there may never be an appreciation of others about us. Where there is so there will be disharmony and without harmony one’s attempt will be futile.

To recognise that is so requires that one pays attention to the dialectics.

Or we may say that to be simply appreciative of the other remains the basis of one’s effort at making sense of the all opinions /perspectives whilst attempting to seek that which may be beyond and above the latter.

Whatever happened to 2017: A year that arrived and soon to disappear? I wonder what have you done? What have I done/ What have we done?
Taking stock is a call for reflection: to reflect on what we did, how we lived , what we desired and what has been achieved or is it that we are continuously struggling? Will the struggle ever come to a halt in that we may perhaps say that yes I am truly contented. All is said and done and that there is nothing to aim for. The truth is that being is such that there is always a futuristic ;project which somehow provides a rasson d’etre …. in that there is always a movement onto wards something else. Otherwise it is all ‘fait accompli!’
2017 is the year of culmination of technology which converts us into a puppet ….nay a moron which simply follows the way of others. In the age of non creativity to be polite we are simply consumers of products whether it be in the physical, social, mental or otherwise?
Our being is tampered with whilst we think that we are in control. There is a superficial control in that all that we do is verily not out a free a free choice but through a conditioned choice which we have become accustomed to.
On the reverse side, we are superficial beings thrown here and there with little to contribute. From awakening to the time we take rest; it is all being pawns and controlled by the force of circumstance.
Whilst we lead a baseless life we are caught up and simply cornered into negative existence. There is nothing to aim for . That desire, aim and goal has been taken out of the equation and so has the belief in the self. There is a belief in the external or a search based on that which may not be or inauthentic projects in that there is a movement towards a veil of the abnoxious in that one is mesmerised and subjugated into oblivion through force of circumstance as there is hardly any effort aimed to counteract the forces. These forces are indeed so fierce that it may mislead even the strongest as super alertness needs be developed if one is to escape its claws: Often we are subjected to its impulses and in fairness most of us are so subjugated and so caught up in that superficial realm.
We give hardly little or no time to the self but merely through escapism. In that escapism we further endanger the self and become a puppet of the norm or of our time. As we may not live but exist through dipping in and chewing that has been thrown onto us. There is both a fear to face one self in bare form without having to take shelter of what mesmerised us: We like this process as we are not confronted or made to face the self which we are.
There is a constant running away … to another realm where there is a denial to look to stare and to see who we are. Projects and or being involved in mesmerising projects makes us forgets that self, the being who we are. Superficial existence simply a recipe for escapism. It is a continuous running away, a fear of having to stare en face with the self which we are. It is seeking an easy option , a hiding from what we should be doing and so we are contented in seeking solace with our devices or in the exterior?
The richness of being is nowhere to be achieved but through facing of the self rather than running away in projects or other forms of consumerism. Authentic projects begins with the self being acknowledged whilst other forms simply pushes it into oblivion and so the search becomes spurious: In genuine searches, one is free from the norm of the world. One may have a vision of being and yes one may stare en face with the self who we are!
However, this is not a mechanistic project in that in order to stare at the self we need do certain things. It is not for the writer to say if you do these steps well you are on the way to finding your being. It is more like can you as a reader develop your own strategies and seek that which you are. It is more of a pathless affair where in negation of the superficial you may discover your real self. Or it is not for the writer to impose a form or a certain mode to be. The world is already full of pundits who poses as experts in showing others. Ours is a question of self discovery through looking at the self . Can you look at your self without having to make use of a medium?
Or is it easier to just do those projects and be involved in superficialities? Is it easier to just follow others in their ways rather than just be? Sure there is less challenge in accepting ways of the world than questioning its existence or indeed no challenge for whilst we are mere consumers we remain mere preys or victims of the known or what has been packaged as truths and ways living than iof we are to question and keep questioning its very source. There can be no querying as we are mostly mesmerised and in such a mode of being there is no time to sare or reflect as aspects of reflection has been taken out of the forced scheme to be. As puppets we remain as morons. As morons we may not think. Where there is no thinking can there be creation? Caught up in a catch 22 situation we thus lead a superficial form of existence where all that is required is to lead a debase life.

We never have time. It never waits either. They say time is money. We are always content with the flow. In the flow, there is no planning and preparation. We just react: As reactionaries, we just relate and act as the situation demands whilst any planning involves us to make a commitment. Some calls it being pragmatic.. Why commit to something, anything when I may just live nay exist … an existence which simply does not constrain us. Or in another sense, why is there any need for commitment. Again commitment to what… To another form, another system which has no respect for others even if be any other? Our freedom is at stake, a freedom which puts no constraint.
Time is mine. Life is to be ego centred. The other after all is a threat, a bigger threat to my freedom to be in the way I want to be. The question is not about ‘who am I?’ one lives as if there is already an answer to everything. After all, are we not surrounded by the fact that we know. What else is there to know? Like the self made man or person to be politically correct, we have a vision, a certain vision of the world: That vision is both positive and negative…. positive because, it gives us a certain way to be in the mode of knowing exactly what we have to do. Negative because, it may also be a way which denigrate others and that our vision is exclusive.
Is there a way to be? Can there be a way to be? That is precisely the call which appeals to the dialectics and or dynamics which forces us to seek answers not from a perspective but simply to look at the self and investigate and or probe in to living and query whether one ought to look at life where the other is not despised whether it be it any form of living entity /animate or even inanimate thing. May it be possible for me to be that all encompassing but then I have my own view which tells me that the other is a threat at worst and or egotistically that I am better than any other or rather all others. First, the nation to which I belong, is definitely the best then the region, locality or perhaps the many groups of which I may choose to belong… after all if I adopt and subscribe to a way of being then naturally that way may be deem as the best. And finally, it the family and ultimately it is that big I that I am.
The paradigm is a shift from the perspective of what/who am I to why am I? If the question is easily answered then life would have been perfect. Certainly over the centuries, thinkers have probed in to the question and some have come with suggestions on the way to be and in our contemporary time there is no shortage of answers from the crude to the absurd where someone is targeted whether it be a group, individual or a particular specie when they say it is all about survival of the fittest and so barbarous acts of terror first among non- human kinds is accepted norm in societies across the globe where slaughter houses are in place as if all is normal whilst some species are just raised to simply be abused by us. That such a cardinal error is an accepted agenda which we readily subscribe. Can there be peace if a certain group is despised? Who gives us right to make use and abuse of others?
Life is not seen as ambiguous but based on egocentrism: a belief where the individual blinded by superstitions and opinionated verbosities and being part of a contradictory/hypocritical world views simply is entangled into. That in itself is accepted not as a norm but as the norm as if it is the way to be. Extremists revel in this but the reactionaries who appear as saviours may not be any different in substance expect in the former one may abhor it as non palatable due to the massive impact but all the same in the latter which claim restore pride is no more than guardians of the status quo where societies have flourished at the expense of others. Unless that is seen from a visionary perspective all hope may just be a kind of a lip service to attempt at even trying to restore humanity when essentially its foundation was based on hatred or despise of some others.
Humanity is a crossroad. It is being challenged. There are threats being posed not only in the exterior but also internally. Is it possible to scrutinise our being fully? Or shall we simply help in maintaining a state of affairs which is dubious in any case. What is life about? How may I effectively bring change? Am I prepared to fully scrutinise everything? Or am I compelled nay force to so be subjugated by the time constraint which makes us abide in a certain way of being? Can I break free of this trauma which has left its mark on humanity? Or where I have awoken and thrown into and somehow accepted it as being the norm as I have learnt from my parents/teachers or ideas which floats about from that moment I became conscious as a being. Importantly, what does being human means? Despising of some to the detriment of others! Can I lead a life where no other is threatened? Do I really want peace? What is your message of freedom or peace to the world? Who knows?

I wonder what may be our resolution. Is there something that we may want to really improve; rather than just making a wild resolution that we do not feel and perhaps something that matters most to us? That is why any such resolution must be of the form that we not simply verbally need it, but aim to have and achieve it fully. Or it demands some form of commitment. That idea of that dream must be vivid and something that one wishes to work towards it. How committed are we? How much do we really want it? What can I do to achieve it? Is that idea or dare I say goal is something really worthwhile? How can we summarise our goal? Which area of life that needs the most attention and that I like to pay attention to?
The Goal
If it is a goal that we desire can we work on that? How may we work on that so that it does wither within days or a few weeks of the New Year and that it remains a mere resolution like something of the déjà vu form? Am I my best comrade in need? Or do I always let myself down? Can I have a comrade? If so, what type? Someone who will be act as an advisor? But then I trust no other as there too many about with lots of advice based on their own perspective/world views. Can I find in the other a special comrade who perhaps may really and truly understand the self that I am? Is this possible? I feel that I may and can do it, without the need for any other. How I am to know that I am treading on the path leading towards the desired goal? Is there something I can measure progress towards what I have set to achieved in that come what may the focus would always be there? If this sounds like you ; you are in good company as mine is now an invitation for you to have precisely that anonymous inner conscience without the need for you to be interact with me directly and or exposing your dreams/resolutions/goals. It is in away an attempt to invite you to work in an exercise of togetherness where ‘me’ as the other is verily no more than your own inner self which I shall invite you to communicate with. Since, it is an anonymous exercise be assured that yours would be fully and completely one where you would always be the one with full responsibility with the other in this case… me being only there in the passive/active mode dependent as to how far you may wish to go forwards with this process . Please also be assured that there shall be no advice emanating from me during the whole process. My aim throughout would be to ensure that your dream/goal/may resolution be achievable? Remembering all the previous resolutions of yester years are you truly wanting to go down the same route or perhaps try something anew? Are you really ready for it? Let’s try clarifying other concerns first….
The process
Let us move step by step: As you read this what is it that you really want to achieve in the mode of believe, desire and achieve in that there must be a firm belief that the projected goal may be achieved. With this being so the next step would be to check on that desire; again to reiterate check your desire as to how much you want it to be so. The last part of that motto equation is dependent on the first 2. Where there is no firm belief nor intense desire; obviously there would be a lack. So can I have that firm belief and or desire? Or rather how can I ascertain that I have that in place so that mine does not become another annual victim of failed resolution? Do I really feel that I may achieve whatever I may have set up to do?
Dear Reader, let this be a dialogue, rather than a monologue. As you embark on reading this let what follows be an exercise where you are in touch with your own inner conscience rather than the author of this article/blog. Or my call is precisely to awaken that feeling of being shaken not by what the writer is saying but rather what that comrade or inner conscience is telling me. In this respect the author is a mere tool for re-awakening. Naturally, the choice is yours. Put an end to all this now may stop now. Or you may proceed. If proceeding; it is best to take a proactive view of what would be stated or go through a similar reading process. The enticement, remember is your goal at stake whereas I see myself here as being a mere inner comrade as I had defined elsewhere in my website. Or as you read this, it is you who have to gain in this process or being proactive. Again everything else depends on yourself as to what you may or may not do or how much you desire what you have chosen. At the outset please note that any goal should be must be of the form that you have full control over and not be engaged into something whereby you may attempt tying to coerce some other into. That would not work because it would be non -authentic and whatever is so may not be rewarded by humanity or it would be a plain failure from the outset. Or the project of salvation of our goal must be a genuine. Only if this is so, then we may proceed. So here you go. Do you have a genuine goal ? Is your resolution/goal specific? Is it personal to you in that you may proactively work towards it where you may blame no other but have full responsibility over?

Another new year…..and more resolutions: With renewed hope. A fresh start again looms. That in itself provides impetus. That is the nature of being human. To never give up: Even if that resolution lasts only for a while…. At least the desire to move forwards is there. Yet what is it that cause blip again and again? Is there any way one may avoid it? Why is there always failure? Why is it that only the few are achievers? Whilst the rest simply are caught up in that web of never ending start to never really get going? Why is it that we lack that resilience of the few? Covey may state in this connection that perhaps we never begin with the end in mind or rarely we feel, touch and taste that desire, as I have previously remarked. Or, all that is done is simply verbal or at best intellectual or lacking that cutting edge? However, the next time like now when we seek that new resolution, perhaps the call may be to build up and nurture that intense desire and or try actually having that core of belief and desire rather than merely verbally or mentally which in turn may yield to achievement.
Getting back to the New Year ahead: As I stated, one needs a motivation. Any new thing brings in motivation….From acquiring the simplest of things to welcoming other ‘changes’ provides an impetus to move forward. One feels good about it. Hence anything from a gifted new book, to having a ‘new other‘, any other synergises oneself. The turn of the New Year again brings that added hope. To have that initial forging ahead itself is to be commended. What one needs is that feeling past mere verbosity! Or we may say how serious is one? Or is it just a routine thing that one does annually? What do you think?
Naturally, it is also equally vital that we take stock of the ‘current’ year, which will have passed by the time this reaches readership which again provided a similar being of surging forth wards. More about the kind of questions which we may want to set up as a defining tone of success/ measurable goal to move forwards.
To put the New Year in perspective, one needs to be on guard and ensures that resolutions are maintained fully. In the past years, the notorious ‘I ‘have failed in doing so, in spite of having the best intention. Close ones to us, often would be our most severe critics, or await a slip up to then remark sometimes with sarcasm ‘I knew it. It would only last either momentarily, or simply a few weeks.’ Similar comments often cause doubt even within oneself as if deep down, we are somehow moving towards failure in spite of our initial effort.
That brings us to pose some questions: Is there any way whereby we may move on from that stagnation mode where there is self-doubt? How to move forward and forward rather than be halted a few days weeks or months into the new year? I have already hinted at Covey’s dictum that we should begin with the end in mind in the form of repeating again what has been clearly stated that perhaps one way of addressing and or making sense of the issues is to really feel, touch and taste what really should be a resolution taken not lightly but with clear idea or else it is all just paying lip service with no real belief. Of course, ‘I’ start every new resolution with equal vigour. Or do ‘I’? Good luck and pray accept all my good wishes towards your lone journey.