"... 'Honesty is indeed a respectable virtue; but how much higher may men attain! Shall nothing more be asked of us than we be honest?'
For the present good friends, nothing. It seems in our aspirations to be more than that, we have to some extent lost sight of the propriety of being so much as that."
- Extract from 'Unto This Last' by John Ruskin
Getting better is a chaotic task. On the face of it, just honour two values (truth and love) and you're on the right track. But practically, it is full of subjectivity. 'To be or not to be, that is the question.' When all that is needed is to be cool and be in the present, the mind constantly keeps sizing up situations, analysing responses and judging consequences. It is the duck and the paddle story. There is superficial calm while the mind operates furiously and churns out reason and tracks logic. The mind simply refuses to let go.
And there is the problem of loquaciousness. You see it in others but not in yourself. As Viktor Frankl says '(our meaning of life) must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct.' But right action is more as much about not doing the unnecessary things as about doing the right things. To remain masterly inactive is a difficult chore. Warren Buffett says, benign neglect, bordering on sloth, remains the hallmark of his investment process. Sachin apparently leaves more balls in the matches he hits a century. And Gandhi in his autobiography says 'silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth... a man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech.' Tolstoy, amidst much rambling says in 'The kingdom of God is Within You' - 'The ideal is to love the enemies who hate us. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall, is not to do evil to our enemies, to speak well of them, and to make no difference between them and our neighbours.' So much for dos and don'ts.
Now apart from providing inspiration, the thing with reading the works of great men is that it puts your life in a rather harsh perspective. The mind is constantly trying to get in sync with those elevated thoughts and at many times when you lapse into being your own dilatory, unrestrained self, there comes an essay of Tolstoy or an example of Gandhi which again puts the mind into churning. The last two weeks went much this way. Now there is a faint light, a bit of clarity, some sense of understanding. And again, there is the difficulty of being in the present, to listen and be truthful. And of being sincere and not serious. Vanity steps in now and then, mind reverts to calculations. But precedents of great men help. And it helps that these men have set the bar very high. Gandhi took a vow of celibacy when he was thirty seven. THIRTY bloody SEVEN! He of course says that it is not just physical abstinence but also mental detachment from horny thoughts. Bloody hell! And now that the winter in Delhi is coming to a close and girls in JNU are shedding their clothes, the mind has to constantly remain on guard! ;-)
Most inspiration I've received during this process is from a now well marketed quote, which originally was released by the British government, in their inimitable style, when the bombing of London began in the second world war. It reads 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. It is rewarding when you get the hang of it.
For the present good friends, nothing. It seems in our aspirations to be more than that, we have to some extent lost sight of the propriety of being so much as that."
- Extract from 'Unto This Last' by John Ruskin
Getting better is a chaotic task. On the face of it, just honour two values (truth and love) and you're on the right track. But practically, it is full of subjectivity. 'To be or not to be, that is the question.' When all that is needed is to be cool and be in the present, the mind constantly keeps sizing up situations, analysing responses and judging consequences. It is the duck and the paddle story. There is superficial calm while the mind operates furiously and churns out reason and tracks logic. The mind simply refuses to let go.
And there is the problem of loquaciousness. You see it in others but not in yourself. As Viktor Frankl says '(our meaning of life) must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and right conduct.' But right action is more as much about not doing the unnecessary things as about doing the right things. To remain masterly inactive is a difficult chore. Warren Buffett says, benign neglect, bordering on sloth, remains the hallmark of his investment process. Sachin apparently leaves more balls in the matches he hits a century. And Gandhi in his autobiography says 'silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth... a man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech.' Tolstoy, amidst much rambling says in 'The kingdom of God is Within You' - 'The ideal is to love the enemies who hate us. The precept, showing the level below which we cannot fall, is not to do evil to our enemies, to speak well of them, and to make no difference between them and our neighbours.' So much for dos and don'ts.
Now apart from providing inspiration, the thing with reading the works of great men is that it puts your life in a rather harsh perspective. The mind is constantly trying to get in sync with those elevated thoughts and at many times when you lapse into being your own dilatory, unrestrained self, there comes an essay of Tolstoy or an example of Gandhi which again puts the mind into churning. The last two weeks went much this way. Now there is a faint light, a bit of clarity, some sense of understanding. And again, there is the difficulty of being in the present, to listen and be truthful. And of being sincere and not serious. Vanity steps in now and then, mind reverts to calculations. But precedents of great men help. And it helps that these men have set the bar very high. Gandhi took a vow of celibacy when he was thirty seven. THIRTY bloody SEVEN! He of course says that it is not just physical abstinence but also mental detachment from horny thoughts. Bloody hell! And now that the winter in Delhi is coming to a close and girls in JNU are shedding their clothes, the mind has to constantly remain on guard! ;-)
Most inspiration I've received during this process is from a now well marketed quote, which originally was released by the British government, in their inimitable style, when the bombing of London began in the second world war. It reads 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. It is rewarding when you get the hang of it.
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