"Ataraxia" is an ideal state to achieve. As the Greek philosopher Epicurus would state - Its the ultimate ability to find peace in chaos - reach a perfect and lucid state of tranquility.
Showing posts with label Poetic Nonsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetic Nonsense. Show all posts
Pause. Rewind. Reflect. The answer is always in front of us. As elusive as it seems, it is quite self evident.
Man's problems as Blaise Pascal, the fresh philosopher said wonderfully "stems from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone".
This is a short post. Here's an old favorite poem from W H Davies on Leisure. This so represents the need to stand, pause and understand that we are a small piece of puzzle. Nature has so many things to teach us.
I am a big fan of Monty Don - ever since I started watching his shows, I have been smitten by the gardening bug.
It's a great pleasure to walk in any of the great gardens and the palaces of Italy. I never could pin point what was that one thing which gave the gardens its character and panache. Walking around in some of the great gardens there... brought about a profound sense of peace and wonder.
Recently, I started creating a small garden on our terrace. I have been getting inspiration from some of Monty's Italian Garden's series.
Building a garden is like a work of art. Building anything in one's life that needs to sustain is a work of art. Like John Keats said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" - so too is your work of art..
Monty Don's Garden series takes you to a different world. I strongly encourage you to see the four part series from Monty on Italian gardens. If this does not awaken the sense of mysticism and wonder about nature, I don't know what will..
You see...some of the greatest works in the modern era - music, painting, architecture, science and invention, printing, war making, expansionism, learning, industry... emanated from the renaissance era!
Come to think of it - it was a reawakening of the Greek and Roman era in the modern times which gave suddenly, the somewhat backward nation-states of Europe - a new purpose and direction.
What started as an artistic pursuit in the 14th century lasted until the 17th century and left the world a very different place. Europeans, decisively took the lead from Chinese and Indians post renaissance. There was a new sense of direction and purpose where there seemed to be backwardness before.
Great prosperity is typically preceded by times of reawakening of art and culture. Some of the greatest gardens in Italy were created during this time. The way the gardens were made, give us some learning on how to build somethings which can last.
The great gardens' of Italy have lasted 300+ years and will likely last many more. The trees and flowers are long gone, but the style and texture still remain.
One of the things which has profoundly impacted me in recent past is that one thing which all the gardens seem to have in common....
Like Monty says - In every direction, you see balance, order and harmony. There is something in them... that still has such a powerful resonance with us today. The thing that strikes you immediately when you walk in is the symmetry.
Everything is balanced. Whatever happens on one side is picked up on the other side. The result is harmonious, and you can feel it, you can feel this sense of lightness, of generosity that is completely prepared and ordered and laid out.
And you might think that that would be dull and predictable, but actually, it's not. The whole point of that is in every direction, you see balance, order and harmony.
Renaissance thinkers were exploring classical scientific principles, and one of the beliefs was that God created the world along mathematical lines.
The renaissance gardens give us a great lesson to learn - that... that which is created to last, has to have a sense of balance, a sense of purpose. All, built with a sense of love and great harmony filled with delight.
Let us build our pieces of work and art... that unfinished painting, which we want to build to last... with great balance, order and harmony.
I just got an email - Its important reply ASAP. I am wondering if it’s really important for me or to the sender.
Not a topic I like to write. But, it’s something that’s been on my mind lately. It’s funny I’m putting off the trip to the gym, missing my son’s first day to school, that dinner I had planned for a long time, the festival which needed me to be there; but again it understates just how much we've been manipulated by those that would make their important into our urgent…
The problem, of course, is that the list of “do it now” never ends, it merely changes its volume as it gets longer or bigger…
Its morning 6.30 am. My son refuses to take bath to go to school – that urgent. Going to school is important. An angry customer with delivery problems is urgent. Building systems which will prevent delivery problems is important.
That meeting you attended at 8.00am a few weeks back was urgent (you’ve even forgotten about that meeting). Your son’s first day to school was important. You’ll remember that for years.. maybe more than a few years with the right kind of spouse – that’s a different story there!
Sometimes it’s like watching TV. I used to watch a lot of business channels a few years back. Buy stock on tips, watch what the TV anchor says is the next big trend, the next big stock. Bought them only to see that I had just bought something a few percentage points below the absolute lifetime high (I remember RNRL –10 years back which I bought at 190 or so.. at the absolute highest… and thank GOD I had so less money to lose..). Last year - I made three stock transactions (sold one, bought two; out of which I added onto something I already held for past 4 or 5 years). This year I’m down to one transaction. I’ve never had better results in stock market. Just sit tight and watch your stocks. Don’t shift, just make the right buys and sit tight. Let compounding work. Give it time to work.
In fact any sort of breaking news or flash stories are rarely important. Important means long term, structural, secular trend - oh.. that’s something everybody knows’ type of stuff. Something that’s a slightly positive today that can be a long term secular theme..
Yep.. let’s face it. The aim of present day news channels is not to improve your and my knowledge or to give you the tools to have a better life. It’s to make money. The reason rags-to-riches, emotional soaps, or some scandal – political or otherwise attract attention is because its entertaining. Its fun. Its emotionally engaging and attracting your mind to something that’s not challenging. Activity which has no consequences, but fun, engaging and addictive to whatsoever degree. Your mind wants to do it.
The topic started with an email and it just went onto other things. But – this article is just to show you what’s important. What’s not? And maybe act smartly.
The news we listen-to eats us. What your boss tells you, what your employees tells you, what’s on TV, what’s around you, what your investors tell you, what your customers complain about, blah blah blah – everything consumes you.
Your choice (and mine too) is to decide whether you want to engage in living through other people’s important news instead of actually focusing on what’s important for you!
I am an individual with lots of energy... so, motto in life for me has always been to make the best out of what there is.. be enthu.. have fun.. enjoy whatever you do..
Time seems to be struck.. did some arbit things over past few weeks.. but the restlessness within is not rubbing off..
Went to an orphanage to give some food stuff on a weekend.. somehow the kids seemed so happy.. why not me? Just the smile at taking a bite of food seemed to cause so much joy.. may be I have got accustomed to the luxury of good food..
Been on a trek to kemmanagundi.. spent time with old friends enjoyed the moment.. But, once back.. the serenity of place seems to be haunting me.. I've been thinking of WH Davies poem.. 'what's this life if full of care, we have not time to stand and stare?'
Work is not that hectic.. getting more time to spend with family Now, I regularly have dinner with family- a luxury from past few weeks.. But, somehow is this because I am not working enough.. hope not, because i seem to be doing the same things faster..
Met up with all my old friends over weekend, everyone seems to be in the same phase.. doing same things.. Some have moved, some have struck onto the same places, but generally not much change.. Oddly felt withdrawn.
Just trying to see what needs to be done differently.. where to make a difference?
I categorically hate english songs, videos... I am one of those characters who fail to understand english if spoken at that speed! Also, flashy videos where the music, background, everything else keeps changing as if the whole scene is enacted straight from matrix... I simply fail to understand! So, I stick to our mushy videos, songs from Karan Johar films, Adnaan, Shaan and recently a guy called Atif. I am not a big fan of any music apart from run of the mill hindi ones...
I fail to sync with my regional songs (kannada music), thats something which I have developed over time and simply can't change.
But, wait... from past couple of years, I have started selectively listening to English music wherever the lyrics is good. So, slowly the music I listen to has expanded to Include- Greenday, Linken Park, Pink Floyd and Brian Adams.
A few weeks back I listened to this number from Baz Luhrmann... and simply fell in love with it! One of the most inspiring songs I have heard... thought lemme share it here!
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience… I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….
You’re not as fat as you imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing, Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life… the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary… what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can… don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…
Feeling a little low today, somehow fate plays the wrong cards when you lest expect them.. anyways, here I am just trying to browse through all my favourite poems.
Here is a poem "If.." from Rudyard Kippling-
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
William Ernest Henley, one of the best critics/writers of modern day poetry and prose....excellent poems, better still are his series of critical essays....wonderful timing, with the right kind of pun intended.
Some of his best known works are (according to me- his short crtical and caustic series of essays-'Views and Reviews' and offcourse my favourite poem- 'Invictus')....
In tis world of furious pace and time is money type-of-attitude, its sad that we are losing some of the best moments of our life sittin in cramped rooms (called in plain words 'cubicle', in a s/w firm)...coding....brooding.....cursing....and whining.
Its worth every second reading works of this awesome man....more so in the times we live.... His works reflect the changing lifestyle in the upheavel days of late 1890's, when England was more like India we know today... in midst of a mind set make over..
Here's his poem- 'Invictus', for those who haven't come across yet:
OUT of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate I am the captain of my soul!
Wow....wat a poem...me ready to hit the bed! Ciao till next time...Harsha
I was feeling very bored today......not much to do, feeling somewhat low and quite edgy....i am counting the no. of days before i go back to bangalore for diwali!
So, was randomly searching the net....came across a chap called 'Edgar Allen Poe", yeah...the same chap who had written most of the poems which used to be there in our high school text books. Just started reading about him....was a very unhappy man, full of sorrow and melancholy.
Here's about him:
'Drug addict, alcoholic, suicidal, and insane; none of these are the words that come to mind when you think of great minds of our time. However, one poet fits all of these categories. The author of hailed literary works such as "The Raven," and the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allan Poe had many mental and personal problems throughout his life. His poems reflect his emotions toward the events of his life. For example, his feelings of isolation from family and peers appear in the poem "Alone," and many of his poems, such as "To Helen," and "Annabel Lee," are about the women he loved. One poem stands out, as a tribute to the melancholy that accompanied him throughout his days; the poem "A Dream" speaks of lost love, forgotten happiness, hope, and a cruel awakening to the real world. Poe’s writing exemplifies his brilliant imagination through metaphors that describe his life.
Edgar Allan Poe made many contributions to the world of literature and poetry. The academy of American poets says, "Poe's work as an editor, a poet, and a critic had a profound impact on American and international literature" (http://www.poets.org/poets/). He was the first true writer of thriller and horror stories, with tales such as "The Cask of Amontillado." His clever mind dramatically altered detective stories, he took the writing of short stories from a mere profession to an art, and he was a brilliant poet. His fame was known through America, England, and France, with renowned works such as "The Raven," "The Bells," "The Purloined Letter," and countless others. Though a troubled individual, Poe’s effect on literature and poetry was mind-blowing. It is impossible to read a poem or story written by Edgar Allan Poe without being terrified, feeling great remorse for the characters, and noticing the breathtaking power with which Poe wields his words'.
Here's one of his works:
How often we forget all time, when lone Admiring Nature's universal throne; Her woods- her wilds- her mountains- the intense Reply of HERS to OUR intelligence!
Yeah.....just a stanza from one of his poems, donno if it makes sense;) though!
Mumbai sucks man.....just waiting to get back to bangalore!!!!!..........Happy Diwali to u all!!
Well....donno, generally was feeling low today, so will bore u all with a stupid poem taken from William Wordsworth's poem : 'Daffodils'
I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils! Why are we always so much caught up in the future!....we always visualise that in future i need to do this, be like this, want to make so much money, reach the top....the list goes on.
In the midst of all this are we not losing out something?... Well sure we are! losing out our present, may be i'm in an argumentive mood today (what with all the heady discussions and summers tension for the past few days!), but still somehow got the thought- ' Lets enjoi today, its a beautiful day!'
Think i'll catch up some sleep today...Ciao till next time...Harsha
TIME is the most elusive thing on the planet....i am sure not one person is happy about the way 'time' is spent.... I feel there has to be a mechnism to elongate the day and shorten it as one pleases....of all the inventions one can conjure up if someone can come up with a 'time adjuster', he would become the greatest scientist ever!!
Everything is sooo cramped up. Day starts at 8 O'Clock in mornin...usual stuff(read classes) till evening, lunch and tea cramped in between....some or the other events scheduled to keep busy for rest of the day..(Mandi starting on this weekend, so contact the media ppl...get some articles written, MastishK quizz...also there, etc etc....) Sleep sound sleep earliest at 1.30PM.
What the hell is happening......tats one question which keeps comin to my mind? Is this all one needs to do.....learn, earn and yearn?? Is that all.....there has to be something missing in between all these, there surely is something missing.
The other day was reading some poems mostly ordinary ones. And lo...found one tat possibly touched me the most. Thought I will introduce the reader to my favourite poet William Davis(this poem of his gave an indication to what most of us are missing):
What is life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare!
William Ernest Henley, one of the best critics/writers of modern day poetry and prose....excellent poems, better still are his series of critical essays....wonderful timing, with the right kind of pun intended.
