THE IRON LADY
This is the life story, in its distilled essence, of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher – a highly talented, strong, outstanding individual; the first ever woman Prime Minister of Great Britain; and the longest serving Prime Minister of that country in the previous century.
In addition to narrating her life story, however, in this post we shall attempt something audacious. We shall compare the stages of her illustrious life with the four-state roadmap (see here). Why do we want do that? The answer is very simple: Because that comparison throws light on human life.
Tag Archives: Human life
Uncovering the true motivations
CIVILIZATION – 6
THE FOUR-STAGE ROADMAP
[Important note: In this post, the notation ‘H/SD’ is used as shorthand for ‘Hinduism/Sanatan Dharma‘, which are the two commonly used references to the vast ancient spiritual heritage of India.]
In print or electronic media, we often see language such as: ‘According to the concepts of H/SD, the four stages of human life are Brahmacharya, Gruhastha, Vanaprastha, Sanyasa.’
Such language carries a risk of erroneous understanding. ‘H/SD’ does not coerce or urge a person to behave in a certain way, or to plan his life in prescribed stages. It is entirely up to the individual – through his wisdom, or lack thereof – to understand and cherish human life the best he can. Truths do guide the individual – but only to the extent he finds and assimilates them.
Continue reading CIVILIZATION – 6
CIVILIZATION – 5
NOT IN MY NAME!
The previous post (here) touched upon one’s duties, responsibilities and moral accountability. Can the burden of Karma – of accountability for one’s actions – be transferred to another by the ties of marriage, family, clan, friendship, business, money, politics … or whatever else?
The answer is, ‘NO. Karma is strictly an individual matter’. But, as we know, a desperate person will try anything to avoid the inevitable payback for his wrong actions, including attempts to deflect the payback to others.
Continue reading CIVILIZATION – 5
CIVILIZATION – 3
THE LAWS OF KARMA
Our earlier two posts (here and here) discussed the war economy, and the fact that nations must also face the consequences of their actions. Thus each of these posts was a specific instance of the inexorable laws of karma at work. That should not surprise anyone, given that the blog aims to seek out root causes of the multifarious phenomena we see around us!
At this stage, we thought that a brief discussion about the laws of karma was also needed – and so here it is!
Imagine that, for the first time in your life, you are passing through a thick forest. Foliage is so thick that daylight barely reaches ground level. Turning back is not an option, because you know your life’s goal lies ahead. As you move, you walk into branches and bushes, slip, stumble, hurt yourself, tire, be bitten by bugs, be fearful, be thirsty … and much more. You curse your fate. You curse the forest. But if you are wise, and if you persevere, you will make it through the forest and achieve your life’s goal.
Continue reading CIVILIZATION – 3
CIVILIZATION – 1
Off and on, we come across ‘expert opinion’ stressing the goals of ‘saving the western civilization’ and ‘deterring Russia and China’. The language used implies clearly that ‘western civilization’ here has undisguised, in-your-face geopolitical motivation.
‘Civilization’ and ‘deterrence’ is in fact a very strange combination of notions, tempting us to dig deeper into the matter.
Continue reading CIVILIZATION – 1
TREASURE HUNT
Over the last few weeks, a truth has dawned on this seeker.
Internet is flooded with opinions … answers … narratives … theories … viewpoints … self-promotions … whatever. Almost every person on our beloved planet is able to share something of that kind with almost every other person on the planet. This is in fact a mind-boggling gift of technology.
Thank you, Internet!
But there is clearly a HUGE down side to all this. What is an individual to make of this unprecedented, incredible information overload?
THE TRUTH LIES WITHIN, AS DOES THE TEST OF TRUTH.
In the absence of these two crucial elements, an individual is literally lost — drowned? — in the flood of information.
Therefore, instead of hawking yet another opinion … answer … narrative … theory … viewpoint … whatever … Why not try something else?
Why not prompt … provoke … nudge … prod … the search for answers in the recesses of the individual mind? That should be fun!
Questions will be posted — or, to be more precise, points to ponder. The hope is that these will generate answers. Not ‘perfect’ answers, of course, because there is no such thing. But honest and authentic attempts, offered to others in the spirit of sharing.
Join the treasure hunt!
Watch this space.
KARL MARX, THE PROPHET OF GOONS – Part 3
Truth requires no coercion. Any moderately intelligent person can make choices appropriate to him or her, based on what is available and feasible. Any healthy human society runs on the basis of average people making innumerable such ‘common sense’ choices. This, in practical terms, is what the average person understands by the word ‘freedom’.
Depriving a society of such freedom leads to misery. Despots – that is, glorified goons – deprive a society of the vitality that springs from this freedom.
KARL MARX, THE PROPHET OF GOONS – Part 2
There will always be economic inequalities in any society. Why? Quite simply because there are incredibly huge differences among people’s outlook on life, the importance they attach to wealth, their ambitions, their good and bad habits, the social pressures they experience … and so on and on.
Dreaming of an ideal society in which there are no economic inequalities is therefore being naive, foolish – or both! The dream does not match reality.
So then what does a person do? Does one simply sit with folded hands and shed tears that the world is not constructed according to one’s ideals?
Continue reading KARL MARX, THE PROPHET OF GOONS – Part 2
Homo Implacatus
People often wrongly interpret the process of natural selection – which drives the evolution of living species – by the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’. However, the latter phrase can be highly misleading – for two reasons. One reason is that ‘survival’ may be wrongly understood as ‘survival of an individual’, whereas the correct understanding should be ‘survival and continuation of a species’. The second reason is that a criterion of ‘fitness’ is left unspecified in the second phrase. If these two potential errors are avoided, ‘survival of the fittest’ can be brought into agreement with ‘natural selection’. Continue reading Homo Implacatus
seeker-of-root-causes 