Is World a Museum?

                                            Literature for Social-Transformation

Amanda in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ (Tennessee Williams) is flabbergasted by her daughter Laura and retorts that there must be more to life than her glass menagerie.

We all can wonder if there is?   Every one of us has his own Glass Menagerie to watch. The name of the wild animal is Homo sapiens but the species are further classified in to extremist, terrorist, druggist, lunatics, capitalist, communist and idealist who are another type of fanatics or fundamentalist.

All onlookers  watch and decide their own role models or to go for a  prototype hitherto unknown to the curator (God?) of this World Museum. Never be afraid of being first of your own type. Though later or sooner you would know how many have already trodden the path chosen by you.

The materialism has so much stereotyped the society that one is easily tempted to be different. Psychological needs compel us to presume that I am different. That decides on which side of Menagerie we are. The uniqueness assigned to anyone by friends and peers is always tinted with some ulterior motives and as soon as it is served one is thrown back on the heap of materialistic mediocrity.

These materialistic mediocre are the only persons who are awed by everything. They always wait for a miraculous opportunity that never knocks on their door. They are gregarious in nature and are herded together in a larger cage in the glass Menagerie of the World. The political leaders see them as hungry Vote Bank who is fond of Day Dreaming. So they make promises that anyone can guess would never be delivered, but hungry always believe promise of bread.

If the Menagerie is divided in just two compartments, we find one is way to too very small in comparison to other. When we compare their wilderness we are astonished to notice that those in smaller cage which has every facility of the world are wilder than the big cage which does not even have bare minimum needs required to survive. They often see perishing weak and out of insecurity propagate rapidly. Oftentimes they are faster than rabbits when commanded in the name of religion.

Now travelling has become an industry and tourist select the country on the basis of Museum they are interested in. There are Cultural Museums, Monumental or Historical Museums, Modern Museums, Spiritualistic Museums and so on and so forth.

Tourist visiting India have following items on their itinerary:

1.Taj Mahal- History

2.Benaras- Spiritualism

3.One Metropolitan city-modern culture

4. Village Safari

5. Camel/Elephant Safari

6. One Indian marriage

7. One Yoga Camp

8. One Sadhu/ Guru

9. Pictures of slums and poverty

10. Pictures in Sari

Likewise the conducted tours of Europe  shows the glimpses of famous touristic places like Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Big Ben, Westminster, Pisa, Vatican and Venice. The tourist get a feel of the place but develop no insight into the culture of the country.

No one is bothered about a healthy debate on values of different countries and their prioritisation on international level to have uniformity in Value- System that is ideal for coming generations of Global Village.

In Worldis Conical the top-notch people are responsible for most of the ailments World is suffering today. They control the world, the best-off  1%  who already have 48% of the world wealth and would soon have 99% of world health(World Economic Forum 2015 at Davos) are the people who have made the world a museum.

The authors who create literature can be instrumental in preserving culture and spearhead the social transformation in proper direction, but alas they have become escapist and writing 'Boy meets Girl' type of stories.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

 Author, AmbassadorCouchsurfing

Mood Swings and Creative Persons

Bipolar are Just Cross Legged Persons

                  

 It is by default that all creative persons have frequent mood swings. It is the price they pay for the gift of God. The persons affected by their mood swing viz. their family members and friends, reconcile with them with a heavy heart without any mention of it.

1. It’s not a Psychiatric problem.  You are lost in a jugglery of words having complicated interpretations of day-to-day words like anxiety, depression, euphoria that would sound as serious psychological disorders. It is not a sickness so there is no remedy for it. Any type of medication could be addictive. So it is better to make use of both the types of mood.

2. It mostly has a duration, like a pendulum or a swing; the velocity and duration have a fixed pattern. One can even maintain a diary to identify the pattern of cycle of occurrence of swing. Water is one of the major constituents of our body. Like oceans have tides due to phases of the moon, the mood swings are like tides governed by our inner moon. Remember IQ84 by Murakami. The whole book revolves round the theory of  “Two Moon”. The Author has given very fine symbolic narration of situations under which the characters see two moons in the sky.

3. The intensity of the swing is very important. It may depend on whether you resist or give up to it. You have to evolve a strategy to win it over. The awareness is a useful instrument. Everyone is best judge of his mood if he or she is aware of it. The famous book “An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness” by Kay Redfield Jamison is good for those who are comfortable with technical details of the things.

4. Unfortunately, much literary fiction about characters suffering from mood swing is not written. May be because most of the writers also suffer from it so they take it as a normal human behaviour. Only those who do not utilize the energy transformation of mood swing fall in the trap and slide unrestrained.

5. One may think that swings happen for no reason. But it is not so. Sometimes the activity that sets the ball rolling is apparent, often it is hidden. A scene in a movie, a dialogue or even a word from a friend or relative, a novel that you are reading, a dream, an innocent remark or even a compliment may have a connotation in your mind to open the floodgates that would drown you in emotions.

6. Benevolent and generous people are more prone to mood swings. These qualities need to be nurtured. If one constantly ignores the impulses of generosity it leads to self-condemnation or self-pity. Little effort is required to pull the strength and go out in search of a person who needs your help. If he is not on the first corner around, he is definitely on the second.

7. The creativity has numerous outlets. The writers, painters, musicians, dancers, architects and designers are popular forms of creative arts, but the list is endless. Technology has expanded the span up to infinity.

8. Three Boxes Theory: We know what is to be found in the two boxes on the right and left (being Bipolar), but the middle box is the surprise. Something different is always coming out of it. That’s the impulsive box, about which no prediction can be made. Society craves for predictability; mature and prudent people always condemn anything unpredictable. They have no objection so far as someone is diagnosed as BP and is taking treatment for it; they only want to snatch away the middle box. 

9. Moods have no gender bias. They affect male and females equally. Some people are able to face it squarely, overcome it and are known for their creativity. We know that many creative and talented people have ruined their life since they were not able to cope up with their mood swings. Females may pretend a weakness to seek support and attention and male pretend to be strong and supportive for the same reason. It is a myth that Females are more emotional and thus more prone to mood swings. In patriarchal society male has an ulterior motive to  serve by keeping woman weak.

10. The role of chemistry has been yet not fully explored. The secretions of the endocrine glands are called Hormones, which are chemicals. The secretion is an involuntary function so human beings are at the vagaries of the mood. The science of Yoga describes six plexus or chakras that control the working of endocrine glands. If the process is learnt under guidance of a teacher, you will surely be a master of your moods.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

 Author, Spiritual Counselor

Does Utilitarianism Concedes Terrorism

"World is Conical" (Part ii)

The whole community could be wrong in perceiving a fact. Majority cannot be the criterion for determination of Truth. Many of the notions with the advancement of civilization have changed drastically and taboos turn into fad and superstitions are proved scientifically.

What is condemned today is revered tomorrow. What is mutiny for one country is revolution for another country. Why someone had to say Everything is fair in Love and War. And War there is, since Love is also having all the ingredients of war. The purpose is to gain a victory which is a stepping stone for Happiness.

According to John Stuart Mill  happiness is the sole basis of morality, and that people never desire anything but happiness. The people's achievement of goals and ends, such as virtuous living, should be counted as part of their happiness. The determination of Goal is a prerogative of all individuals, communities, cultures, ethnic groups and organizations. The rights of unorganized sectors are usually ignored by capitalists who configures Spherical Excess of this Spherical Triangle called World.

The unorganized sector has a hidden agenda. It needs to be discussed with an open mind and resolved with compassion. Instead of that the Capitalist Cruel Cons (CCC) draw sadistic pleasure in not only making Poor Poorer but also in making them crawl for meager means of survival.

Moreover, they feel offended if oppressed try to unite or try to draw the attention of the World towards their problem. The problems all over the World have become complicated by external intervention. The intervention is not with the pious objective of resolving a problem, but with some ulterior motive of taking advantage of some God gift like Oil or Diamonds or for selling weapons which also indirectly helps in occupying natural resources.

This greed is the sole cause of violence the humanity is facing today.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Remember what Robert Frost said in his Poem "Fire and Ice"

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Sun Tzu in his book 'Art of War' says

"Emerge from the void, strike at vulnerable points, shun places that are defended, attack in unexpected quarters"

"Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."

Even if despite Police protection, several threatening and  warnings the attackers succeed, despite a Police cordon one can escape it raises doubt about who is more organized and intelligent. If we have a history of appeasement the morale of law enforcement agency is already jeopardized.

Every one has a right to be more sensitive than others on certain issues. When advantage of this weakness is taken by one agency to earn popularity and money, it opens the door for another party to exploit your vulnerability. How the pain of one could be different from the pain of another when all shoes are pinching.

Mill in Utilitarianism says "The sentiments of justice, in that one of its elements which consists of the desire to punish, is thus, I conceive, the natural feeling of retaliation or vengeance, rendered by intellect and sympathy applicable to those injuries, that is, to those hurts, which wound us through, or in common with, society at large."

He concludes "Things appear either just or unjust, according to the light in which they are regarded."

What if we retrospect with an open mind and identify the acts that are responsible for our present situation, we may acknowledge the choices and free will Sartre talks about were not only applicable to individuals but nations also.

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Excerpts from his unpublished book "World is Conical"

Make -Up Your Break-Up

The worst is Over: Make-Up your Break-Up©

Pexels

Makeup is multidimensional phenomenon and you have to exhaust all possible aspects of it to get rid of the hangover of break up.

Easier said than done. So far there was a hope "Everything is going to turn out fine", "It is a temporary phase, we would come out of it", "We will forgive and forget", "Happy days are just around the corner", "It's a nightmare. It's not real" was the game you were playing with your mind.

Here are few remedies:

1. Allow Precipitation:

Pexels

It takes time to precipitate. The more you were caught in the whirlwind the more time it is likely to take. The world was not spinning, you just imagined it. When precipitation is over you can see the things clearly. You may exclaim "Oh, My God, was I blind not to see it before. No you were not! You were just caught in the spell of a Magician.

Learn to play tricks of Magician here.

2. Travel Far and Wide:

The farther you go, better you would feel. Antarctica is not a great destination. Choose a country which is rich in history, culture and social values. A poor country would change your perspective. You will be amazed how people are coping with the failures of life. Travel like a traveler and not like a tourist. Even if you are rich travel by ordinary means of transport, stay in cheaper lodges and mingle with local people.

If the country has spiritual heritage, it could change you dramatically and drastically.

Read one story here

3. Pull or Push:

To come out of the situation you are strangled in, either you have to Push or Pull. It is not an ordinary dilemma, but a Metaphysical one. The option is to choose between "Free Will" and "Determinism". Either take the responsibility for the situation you are in or accept it as your destiny.

You can read how it affects your life here.

4. Paper has more patience than People:

Pen it down ! Whatever, and of course whatever is your exact feelings, pen them down. Do not relive those moments, you are already over them. Be a spectator and see what happened as a third person. It is Catharsis and it is going to calm down your nerves.

5. Read Best Literature:

 Read the best literature of the World. Ultimately a book will land in your hands that would give you more solace than anything you have tried so far.

Some of the best books are "The end of affair " by Graham Green "Licks of Love" by John Updike and "The company she keeps" by Mary McCarthy. Read some Philosophical books like "Why bad things happen to good people" by Harold Kushner and "Notes from the underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

What else Make-Up means:

The most simple meaning is to apply Cosmetics especially to the face. So do that. It is strange. You are melancholic but a light make up would enhance your beauty. Otherwise also, human look more glamorous when desolate. Gloom is aesthetic emotion. You have a chance to test the aesthetics of the people around you.

Second, Make-Up means  'be reconciled after a quarrel'. Though you have already ruled out this possibility and have made up your mind that you can not be together even if you are the only Homo  Sapiens left on Earth. Despite our all despise the chance exists.

Third, Make Up for lost time. It's ages since you lost contact with your real world. You have ignored your friends and  relatives who really cared for you, for a stranger. Its high time you patch up with them. They would understand, or maybe they would care more. Also make up for lost time with your hobbies. Read the half finished book with a mark, waiting eagerly to be touched by you. Take care of your garden that once you reared so carefully. Mow the lawn, weed out as you have weeded out memories, water the plants and talk to your favorite trees. Say sorry that you ignored them all the while.

Most important meaning of Make-Up is 'the physical, mental, and moral character of a person'. So this is the Acid Test of your character.

Its high time you prove yourself.

Part I here 

Wish You A Happy Break-Up :You Deserve Better

Part II here

Wish you happy Break-Up: Real Life -Style

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Excerpts from his Book "The Worst is Over"

Author is also Advocate at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur

Read more at: http://vipinbeharigoyal.blogspot.in/