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Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts

Jun 4, 2013

The thin line between being a Cynic and a Critic


Have you seen this guy on the right, people?  "The Thinker" that's what he's called. Ever wondered why he's crouching so low? Some may say he's deep in his thought. I beg to differ. It is the weight of his preoccupation hanging on his shoulders. Can't you see this guy is depressed?!

Knowing too much can be a pain in the neck. To be enlightened about world (read: too much of news, Facebook shares, Twitter, TV, and Googling) burdens your mind with negativity. Then, your dear friend make you sit and watch a bunch of Youtube conspiracy theories. Follows a ranting session on "how the world has gone to the dogs", "scams", "corporates", and "corruption". Keep doing that, and before you know it, you'll end up bitter and start sneering at everything around you.

Now that we have established media hype and bias, what's your next best option? They say ignorance is bliss. So, it would have been better to not read the news, drink a cup of coffee and enjoy the evening, right? WRONG! It's no fun being a dumb retard either.
  • Choose your sources wisely. If you read the Times of India regularly and believe in all the speculations on Aaj Tak, lobotomy is your best option. (Not just these two, but I could name other lost causes.)
  • Be curious. Question. Most of the conspiracy theories and e-mail hoaxes are with "evidence" that are webpages on the Net itself. Authentic, isn't it? I'm not asking you to Google to prove it. It's like that line in Alchemist:   "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Google will always deliver whatever you seek. Don't mug up any such fact on the net.
  • Follow blogs and opinions by unbiased people. That my friend, is a good start to clear your head and form opinions.
Here are some "few good men":
Noam Chomsky, Ramesh Srivats, Richard Dawkins
and many political satirists like: Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Sumeet Raghavan. Do tell me if there are others of the same repute. I would be interested.

Oct 5, 2012

Voices inside: What makes us human

Those tiny voices inside your head!

As Jim Carrey said (on a lighter note, of course) we are always just one step away from insanity. Your mind is a pandora's box that cooks up all the evil you could do at "the moment." Read these weird thoughts; you might have had them before - from time to time. Be it

  • jumping off the cliff while being awestruck at the suicide point, or 
  • dancing in the middle of the road, or 
  • imagining yourself beating the shit out of a guy in front of you, going on... and on... speaking nothing other than bullshit (with a baseball bat when the situation demands it).
Your brain is a weird place. It is like a super-computer which figures out all the possible chess moves in front of you.
It is that tiny voice inside your head that holds you back from all the wrong, insane, suicidal moves. It just tells you:
"Uh-uh-uhh.... It's counter-productive! "
And you stop. You throw all those thoughts away in the trash can. Let's call it the voice of control.
The catch is - you can't control that voice in your head. Reasoning and logic can only bargain a little. You can never turn it off. If we were allowed to do it, anarchists, psychopaths and criminals will be all around. So it is fine the way it is.



Then, there is another voice. Unlike the voice of control, which asks you to stop; this is like an inner urge which ask you to start doing stuff, that you normally, "logically" don't want to do. To make the idea simple enough, let's call it the voice of heart. Although it feels like a pounding in your head more than the heart.
  • be it helping out a good friend in need, when you have "loads" of work to do on your own; or 
  • a parent taking his/her kid to the children's park even though he/she is worn out after a day's work; or 
  • falling in love and that lingering infatuation or crush; or 
  • helping out someone you care with shopping, although you couldn't stand shopping when you're not doing it
No matter how much you have planned and premeditated, that you won't do it, you finally end up doing it. You will break your own plan, and there you go.

The catch here too, is that you can't stop it. Maybe if you are really strong at heart (figuratively), and have a will of steel, you can fight it out, and suppress it. But still, the pounding in the head remains. The voice shouts back at you for being an insensitive prick, and you are filled with regret.

These random voices are what end up as decisions and what makes us human. Unique, unpredictable, but equally compassionate beings.


P.S.: Correct me if I'm wrong. Just feel free to reply.
Jim Carrey's take : http://youtu.be/lbqxkS2ssUI?t=5m3s

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