Tuesday, March 31, 2009

running around in circles..

A circle.. a shape that Euclid loved the most, a shape that is sought and found by many spiritualists ( who want to rationalise the universe ) in amazingly diverse natural phenomena. The hardest shape that I ever had to draw ( and still do to my eternal disappointment ).. it has many distinct qualities in our minds.
What struck me was that it had a functional significance. A circle is something that many people embody. A circle to my naive and simple mind embodies three things :
1. repeating an action/act/pattern of behaviour however complex after a fixed duration of time
2. The centre of the circle ( read your 'self' ) is kept away from all and sundry with whatever distance you are comfortable with
3. also not being interested in things that are not within the radius of your circle and actively criticising those who are interested in them

Repetitive patterns is fine but when it is there in significant things like arguments/conversations and humor...
The first point is especially evident when arguing with people.
Have any of you ever read alice in wonderland ? or through the looking glass ? There are the most hilarious examples of circular arguments in those books. When they talk with the red queen or I think even in the conversation with the mock turtle. Well the reason this came to mind is because people tend to give circular arguments in their lives. This is especially true if one does not have a good counter point during an argument that one hears responses like : 'ya exactly !!' ( hello.. you agreeing to what i said ? isn't that against what you are saying ? ) or 'no no that is not true.. why ? no it is not... '( honestly.. what do you sat to things like this ) But both of these is fine.. this might be just buying time to think of a better point to speak. What really boils my bottom is that people have a long term circular argument system. today they are arguing with you about something... 2 weeks later you hear them arguing from your side of the same argument with someone else (occasionally with you as well ) !! This is crazy !! it is a long time ago since we all stopped expecting anyone else but ourselves ( and occasionally ourselves as well ) to be as rational as ourselves. But this is just too funny. I have no clue why this happens.. none at all.

The second one is something that that I have talked about earlier i guess so I will not repeat that. Though I admit the temptation to bash that behaviour is exceedingly hard to overcome every time I think about it.

The third one is my favourite. define one area of your existence/sentience/ whatever name you are ok with and let the world outside go to hell. I am not talking of narrow minded selfish let the earth be blasted kind of people here. I am talking about people like me and probably those who are reading this blog entry as well... everyone.
people in jobs want to do jobs to get money to live comfortably to do jobs more easily. people with families want to have good families so that their offspring can grow up and well.. have good families. people like me who write cynical posts so that they are appreciated by others so I can feel good to... write cynical posts.
Substitute the actions listed above with anything of your choice. it would still make perfect senes. I have nothing against either circles, they are all good and esteemed and really decent people trying to survive.That is ok But..
This is what is unfathomable to me : why is it that such thinking has a ring of inevitability to it ? I am sure I am not the only one who has thought of this, many must even have figured out the answer. One answer I have is convenience. It is easy to focus on something finite rather than irritating abstractions which will not directly affect our lives. Still just because it is easy I do not feel that it is right or the best way to be. Most of human effort I think is spent in 2 things. Avoiding thinking about this or pondering this and trying to figure out an answer. I am all for the latter. Because living in circles is boring... really.. however wide your circle will be the less frequently you'll be bored but you will be eventually. The question is always what next ? the day this question is permanantly answered for anyone he/she will be truly free.
The most amazing of human endavors is when the second option is selected. Trying and face your own true self, ask if you really want circles. If the answer is yes, imgaine there are no circles and how would life be like and ask again if you still want circles. If you cannot imagine life without circles what follows is not for you.
I don't mean or want that life should be purposeless, I am not even remotely qualified to answer such questions as to purpose of life. But I have something that does not rest easy with this mode of existence.. maybe that is just me.
Here I find that a lot stuff that sounds dangerous like religion/spirituality/philosophy does indeed try to address such questions. I am follower of " if you experience it for yourself then it is true" and I have experienced nothing in my rational mind/science/ education/upbringing that says that circles have to be an inevitable part of the world I live in..

If I was immortal.. I would outgrow all the circles soon and then would be faced with a really big what next... that would be interesting.. really..

3 comments:

Mukta said...

i guess if you have explored everything in one particular circle and have reached a stage where u can learn no more and are bored, then u ought to break out, increase the radius and start looking at a bigger circle. that way u can keep finding out newer things and never get bored coz you can be a part of an infinite number of circles that way :D

shilpa said...

Nicely written...and thats an interesting concept too.
I agree...circuitous arguments get my gut too.I hate it when people argue because -
1.They like the sound of their own voice
2.Because they think it makes them a lesser person to have nothing to say!

Hmm...isn't it interesting how concentric circles form? How they occupy their own space,their own boundaries..yet they each have something in common! I think a lot of us are like that!

WildMagic said...

Do you know what the Tortoise said to Achilles? :)

Sagar

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just your regular guy who dreams too much. i read a lot don't remember it all though.. swim, trek, yoga.. think and read more.. that about sums it up..