Gen rambling
A while ago some buggers in the US attempted to file a lawsuit against Microsoft Windows alleging that it wasn't really an operating system because it only allowed you to do things a certain way and never gave you control over the machine's resources. I empathize with those buggers but I'm too lazy to install and get cozy with Linux.
Anyway, this line of thought has led me to look at my own life in a different light. I have been living my life in a very specific way; one that I now feel has been imposed upon me. I must eat meals at certain times, clothe myself a certain way and do a million other things in very specific ways that I think I have a right to question . Some of these things have evolved from hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and trial and error but it still doesnt mean I must conform to them. And yet I do, without askng any quesitons. I must break out of this shell. I must break away now !
Why do I have to go to college and get an education and earn a respectable living ? These moulds that have been pressed down upon me suddenly feel alien.
I was once very upset about something at home, when my father, in an attempt to calm me down, took me to the window and pointed toward our building's night watchman. It was really cold outside that day and this watchman guy, a native Kenyan with probably little or no education, was sitting there beside a small fire with some maize and a radio, swaying his head to the african rhythm. And then my father said something which made a lot of sense. He said 'look at the askari. He is poor but he proabably has more happiness in his life than we do'. Whever I reflect on this I feel I have been forced to live in a certain way. The amount of freedom one normally assumes one has in living one's life doesnt really seem to be there. The whole system reeks of 'destiny' and that makes me uncomfortable. It begins with our birth. We are born into a certain family under a certain circumstance. Destiny makes me very uncomfortable.
'Destiny' means there are certain things integral to my life over which I have no control. The family and circumstance of my birth for instance. It means that the 'free will' that I assume I have and take for granted, isn't really absolute. It's there alright, but it isn't absolute. I can only excercise my will, for instance, as far as I can 'see' into things. Beyond that, the way things turn out cannot be attributed to any one person's will and therefore must be a result of a larger, certainly more complicated design. So my question is: why must uncontrollable things turn out the way they do ?
+
Anyway, this line of thought has led me to look at my own life in a different light. I have been living my life in a very specific way; one that I now feel has been imposed upon me. I must eat meals at certain times, clothe myself a certain way and do a million other things in very specific ways that I think I have a right to question . Some of these things have evolved from hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and trial and error but it still doesnt mean I must conform to them. And yet I do, without askng any quesitons. I must break out of this shell. I must break away now !
Why do I have to go to college and get an education and earn a respectable living ? These moulds that have been pressed down upon me suddenly feel alien.
I was once very upset about something at home, when my father, in an attempt to calm me down, took me to the window and pointed toward our building's night watchman. It was really cold outside that day and this watchman guy, a native Kenyan with probably little or no education, was sitting there beside a small fire with some maize and a radio, swaying his head to the african rhythm. And then my father said something which made a lot of sense. He said 'look at the askari. He is poor but he proabably has more happiness in his life than we do'. Whever I reflect on this I feel I have been forced to live in a certain way. The amount of freedom one normally assumes one has in living one's life doesnt really seem to be there. The whole system reeks of 'destiny' and that makes me uncomfortable. It begins with our birth. We are born into a certain family under a certain circumstance. Destiny makes me very uncomfortable.
'Destiny' means there are certain things integral to my life over which I have no control. The family and circumstance of my birth for instance. It means that the 'free will' that I assume I have and take for granted, isn't really absolute. It's there alright, but it isn't absolute. I can only excercise my will, for instance, as far as I can 'see' into things. Beyond that, the way things turn out cannot be attributed to any one person's will and therefore must be a result of a larger, certainly more complicated design. So my question is: why must uncontrollable things turn out the way they do ?
+
4 Comments:
wtf !?
now u couldn't control that anonymous guy, could you!life is so random *sigh*
I listened to this philosophy somewhere and am trying to repeat it here. see if it makes any sense.
Everything that happens in our life is the result of our own actions. Including what kind of house we are born in. that is the result of our desires/actions in our previous janma. Hence, our present comprises of two forces. the first is the effect of actions in the past. this part is unalterable and this is what we can call destiny. the second part is the action we can do in the present or purushartha. this would determine how our future turns out. The purushartha of today will become the destiny of tomorrow.
Since both these forces are interacting together, the result cannot solely be determined by what u do today. It is like painting a yellow wall blue. The first coat won't give u blue...u have to keep giving subsequent coats to get the desired colour.
even if u ignore te re-birth bit, see if this makes sense :)
Hi TT: Yes, the theory I believe in is also quite similar to what you have said. However it essentially calls into play the concept of Karma which one need not necessarily be a believer in. SO it kind of motivates the need for a law like Karma.
Post a Comment
<< Home