serendipity

Serendipity is the lucky discovery of an object that you were not looking for by accident. Our world teems with such examples..penicillin, america and what not...you name it..and it was probably more of serendipity than a focussed search.

Now, I might be wrong, but I believe that our universe is also a result of serendipity. And out of this is born the fundamentality of probability. Everything is not deterministic as we would likt them to be. And whatever we perceive to be deterministic always has some amount of probability intrinsic to it however we may try to ignore.

This leads me to ask, is it the deterministic nature nature of the universe which leads to serendipity or the probabilistic nature?

Had it been a completely probabilistic Universe, it would be child's play to convince ourselves about the serendipity. Serendipity is an embodiment of the chance - the very basis of the probabilistic theory.

So, now the real question is whether Deterministic Theory account for serendipity. Now any layman might raise this very valid question, if the universe is deterministic, there is no chance then how can serendipity be applicable. I would tell him thus, It is the determinism in this universe which ensures that a person does what is expected of him in spite of the million decision he takes to avoid it. All the what if's that could have gone the other way went the other way but still he managed to come back to the right road? that would be the essential nature of the deterministic world again. The end has to be predetermined and certain in spite of any deviations that may occur in between.

Serendipity may be borne out of either universes but it is an essential part of our life and this is what makes our life infinitely more interesting even amidst our drab daily activities.

Imperfection lets us appreciate perfection

This thought struck me when I stood in front of a lush green lawn, fresh after a morning rain. My friend commented that It was the greenest grass he had ever seen. That thought kept bugging me until I comprehended a very important human notion of comparison. We love to compare objects and their traits. When we say how blue the sky is, we are implicitly comparing it with a mental image of the bluest sky we remember seeing.

We say how beautiful she looks..or how cute the baby looks! They all imply comparison albeit done implicitly and unconsciously. Although we sometimes pay them compliments to conform with the appropriate societal forms and requirements, it still incites us to compare this situation with a familiar one in the past or with an ideal situation we have in our utopian imagination.

But within all this lies the fundamental weakness of our being imperfect and our inability to make judgements without comparison. The goodness of an object in every sense should not be the result of a comparison but an appreciation of the object's own intrinsic beauty and value. It should not be the byproduct of a skewed comparison between two situations which we perceive to be fundamentally alike.

Another very important issue that could be raised here is that if everything were perfect, then we would all be good and no-one will be better and none the best. We would all be spitting images of God himself and we would all be the same in every sense. It is the small imperfections and shortcomings in us that makes us all different. Unbelievably, it is the small quirk in the mouth, or the twitchy jawline that makes us imperfect, which in turn allows in all to appreciate perfection when we see it. Some appreciate the perfection, some covet it, others desire it, but only some truly have it. But what very few might have is the ability to see others perfection and appreciate it, without belittling others or even themselves. We appreciate beauty at the cost of considering ourselves imperfect which in itself is a crime against your own conscience, but it is the cost we pay for comparing others with our own sense of perfection.

Perfect is not a idea, it is neither a goal, it is simply a state of mind.

Ethics

This is a so-very-common word we come across in our lives. So many other words have been built around it too like conscientiousness, conscience, values and value systems. It is a tragedy that we have such a rigid structured system of ethics that even the slightest perception of anyone deviating from it is considered a social faux-pas in the least and a crime in most cases.

Ethics have been ingrained in us since our childhood. We are supposed to imbibe ethics into every walk of our life. Even while writing this article/blog I have to be consciously aware if I am being politically correct and if anything here is taking a dig at some one.

We sometimes need to forgo ethics in situations of extreme urgency or extreme complications, but we are still held responsible for our actions and are looked down upon. But this is to all the two-faced hypocrites I direct this to : Do you flinch when you speak two facedly? Have you ever thought for a moment the purport of your actions on others?

If we committing an unethical action is a crime then hypocrisy is a felony which has no excuse.

Random thoughts

In this sombre mood, when I get too philosophical, the strangest of stories come back to me.
There was this once when I read somewhere that Love was more enjoyable when it was not yours to take, but yours to give.
When you have loved someone for most of what you can remember of your life, he states enigmatically that, you will love her more because she was unattainable and her fey attractions will always be more enticing and enduring than if we were the object of their love.
However stupid it may sound it rings true everytime I think about it. For instance, didn't the toy in the shelf, the one your mum wouldn't buy you look more enticing than the one you already had at home?
Doesn't that car look amazing? But once you own it all sense of awe and wonder disappears over a week. What happened to that girl you so desperately loved after she agreed to go out with you?
Do all things lose their wonder we held for them once we have it?
Food for thought!

even better!!

Today it was the classic case of - if I don't listen you, how will you bore my ears off me?
Listening to people droning on sometimes brings on a comatose state that is so strongly soporific that it is just too irresistible to put our head down on the table and snore softly.
So I take to writing furiously whatever is up one the board or whatever sense I find in the monotone that I hear. It is a terrific remedy to counter the sleepiness that permeates the class.
And looking around the class to see the fretful spastic movements of my friends I can safely surmise that they're up to no good too.

A bland face is one that works very well in class in which you have no idea what is going on where and when. And it earns you some sympathy from the professor too. But all that is utterly useless when the professor himself turns around, not only himself but the podium too! He addresses the board as if it was the most receptive audience and looks back at us only to impress upon a point that he thinks we should appreciate.

But as you get used to the schedule you drift off and think how nice it would be to come up with another a real anecdote about someone who talks to a wall instead of an audience.

should i? shall you?

No this is not a way to propose a girl. Nor is it a question to an examiner. It is an inner conversation between the mind and the heart. The mind is a cold and calculative and the heart is warm and empathic and emotional. Not sensitive but emotional.
For all those who dare to deny this, I ask you, have you ever loved a woman (or a man for that matter if you are a woman)? If you have then either you are lucky to have a woman(man) who loves you too much to be with a man(woman) who doesn't love her(him).

This is a simple story of the heart asking whether it should do what it does best and the brain calculating the possible consequences and arriving at the most likely conclusions. Then asks the heart again, shall you? Heart as we all know is a fickle thing. Be it in a man or a woman. Hearts change in a matter of seconds if allowed to. How many of us get cold feet moments before climbing on a stage?

But hearts are also the reasons we make the most mistakes in our lives. We give up what would have been good and take up what is bad. But it is after all a heart and not a brain and we learn to live with it. Hearts are why our lives are not lived like machines. It is why we lead colorful lives. It is what that lends joys and sorrows to make our lives more meaningful.

For all the people who rely more on their vaunted brains educated and trained in prestigious colleges, please use the heart. It'll make everyday a new day. To all my friends - learn to think with your heart. Perhaps we shall make mistakes that we shall remember, but they will be worth more than the correct decisions we took and forgot.

Latest class fiasco

"Talk to the hand!! " that seems to be the worst kind of insult anyone can throw at a stranger without abusing him. But it was taken to new heights today with the professor talking to the foot the whole while. It was a comical one hour trying to catch his eye. Ever tried catching the eye of a sleeping man? This was probably harder even though our highly qualified professor had his eyes wide open.

With a monotone going on in the background it was hard not to let our eyes drift out of the class to the beautiful soft rain outside. The lush green grass was a much better sight than the drab earthy colors one could see inside. With noone to keep a check at the what the class was doing we students were left to our own resources. Conversations were carried out with hands and eyes and some even resorted to outrageous hand gestures. Some took to the more profitable activity of "sleeping in the class" and took it to new heights in the comfort of a suitable cushioned arm chair. That there was the cool breeze with a soft fragrance of the wet grass was a luxury, few would like to miss.

But all good things come to an end and so did the siesta.
By the way the class was called ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR.. !!