LOVE ONLY REMAINS

Two glances speak but silence remains

Two hearts beat but the oneness remains

                                                                             

At marriage it seems, our life did remain

But when life does trip you; what does remain? 

When sorrow strikes, hope does remain

When hope deceives, acceptance remains

When acceptance dawns, no life did remain

When life is gone, memories remain

When memories flow, the fondness remains

Though life is gone, love shall remain

Forever and ever the Love shall remain

THE STREAM WITHIN

Oh you thirsty traveller ,  What are you wandering  for ?

come drink from this stream  of unlimted love

Break your pitcher and shed your baggage

Come with me to the sacred place

The place that is so near yet so far

Come into yourself and drink

 Drink from the stream of love

Drink and fill your heart

Let your mind over flow

Do not bind it ; Do not hold it

Let it come and let it flow

Drink from the stream of love 

REALITY AND NON- DUALITY

What is it that is called reality?

Is it only a thought, or is there duality

What is it that is called a cloud?


A fluffy white sky floater or a fog of dirty droplets

What is it that is called a tree?

A bird's home, a source of wood, or a growing mass of photosythetic protoplasm 

What is it that is called a man?

A high hopping monkey, a self, a soul or a heavenly puppet

What is it that is called beauty?

A face, a form, or the eyes of the beholder

What is that is called right ?

Good for oneself, good for all or words by the book

What is it that is called the self?

The one , the all or  its just not at all

 Not this, not that; is the nature of reality

An interdependent flux of non duality

Not objective; nor subjective

It’s all a matter of perspective

Thus  is the nature of reality

No mind or matter; its just non duality 

THE EIGHT RELATIVE TRUTHS - my philosophy of life

        Existential questions are often encountered but seldom answered in everyday life. However having been awakened by a conversation with a friend I decided to be more contemplative and to analyse my existence systematically.  Why do I Live ? what is my meaning of Life ? What motivates me ? what is my philosophy of life?.  Having thought  over for a while I realize goals , ideals and visions are all too dynamic and emergent and may need persistant analysis and frequent updating.  However I would attempt to try to answer my existential questions

My Dream for humanity

The state of the human condition is such that  the illusionary boundary of the ego has finally been eroded and there is collective realisation of the oneness/ interdependence/ brahman/tawheed.

Having  collectively realized the oneness , there is emergence of a global harmony with respect to all domains.

Environmentally sustainable  economic  systems

A balanced and meaning ful society rooted in love and compassion

compassion in dealing with all other living beings

Choice being available in every human action

PERSONAL GOALS

To be Constantly  mindful  and avoid ego traps

To have a world view centered on compassion and loving kindness 

To treat everyone as i would like to be treated 

To develop a nonjudgemental openess to differing world views

To have a flexible perspective and not be attached to a single conceptual view point

understand interdependence , impermenance and selflessness and to channel loving kindness in every act  

To engage in contructive collaboration with openminded , awakwened individuals and to establish a common path towards a global harmony

MY CALLING

To bridge the gap between the perspectives of science , spirituality and philosophy

To demonstarte the biases in perception, thought and action and  to identify a common way to overcome them

Understand the nature of perception  and to understand the mystery of consciousness

To work towards changing the capitalistic and impersonal health care system to a holistic one

PASSIONS 

cognitive science  and Neurophilosophy

Understanding the Ego bias

Consciousness and its tricks

creating conditions for the emergence of an alternative society

MY PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE  - THE EIGHT RELATIVE TRUTHS 

1.Impermenance - everything passes away 2.Synchronic Interdependence- reality is dynamic flux of interdependant variables 3.Self is a delusion - self is a concept and intentionality and agency are illusions 4.suffering is inherent in individuality - 5.The umwelt is a perceptual bubble - the limits of our perception is set by our evolutionary history - the limit of our umwelt is our event horizon for perception 6.All perception is fallible - all perception is within the event horizon of the umwelt . 7.All truth is relative - as there is no independent observer 8.All knowledge is fallible

OCEAN OF LOVE

Wake up to the  ocean ; wake up to the the call of love

Loose yourself in the ocean of Love

Become the salt and let yourself dissolve

Loose your form but not your taste

Beware of the rock that clings to form and sinks to its fate

Beware of the ego bubble that floats  and gets hurt with the waves

For its water that makes the bubble and its water that makes the waves

Being filled with air doesn’t get you to a better place

Bubbles come and bubbles break

But the ocean of love is there forever

So be the salt and loose yourself

Loose your form and spread your taste

Wake up to the ocean; become the ocean of Love

PERCEPTION , UMWELT AND PHENOMENAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The phenomenal mind is based on the assumption that there are essentially two kinds of perception; objective and subjective. The hard problem in explaining consciousness is actually due to the inability to explain the subjective nature of things. I would like to resolve this issue by stating that all experiences are subjective and qualia is  the closest we can come to actual reality .

In order to explain this, I would like to speculate on the nature and purpose of perception in the context of evolutionary science.

 To perceive is the ability of an organism to receive a signal from the universe and to divide the universe into to semiologically usefull entities. In other words perception is nothing but the divison of the universe into meaningfull and not meaning full chunks. Meaning on the other hand is derived from what was usefull in the past.

For example for a single cellular animal with primitve sensory capacity, it may be meaningful to classify the universe as, food vs no food, mate vs no mate, safe vs unsafe. The similar phenomena can be hypothesized to act in higher species with complex neural systems; and finally with all the co-evolving complexity the human mind.

Thus I would like to postulate that all sensory systems evolve to detect what ever was useful for them to detect in the past.

The human mind too understands the universe by sensory perception that divides it into meaningful chunks. The simplest such chunk is a feature ( eg. colour, Shape, pitch, ). A collection of features is an object.  The relation between objects is called causality.

The internal representation of the object in the organism’s nervous system is called qualia.

The collection of certain features to be grouped together as an object is determined by its clustering in space and time and its usefulness to self (pleasure).

Objects therefore are artificial clustering of features based on their co-occurrence in space and time that are seen through the lens of the qualia enhacing feature called pleasure and pain.

 The meaning of the object is encoded in the very fact that we are able to perceive them and by the sense of  qualia  . Thus one would conclude that perception is emperical, relative and historical and is not an accurate description of the truth. The only way reality its represented to the organism / the human being is through the Umvelt of  qualia.. In other words all perceptions are qualia, which in turn are empirical and dependant of our ecological past and this qualia is the only link to reality.  Also one has to realize, dividing the universe into semiologically useful chunks is in no way a complete representation of reality. Hence one can conclude that all perception is limited. The fact that perception is limited can explain the fact that we can feel our pain while cannot feel the pain of the other person. In other words our limited perception is not evolved to perceive the pain of the other person the same way it perceives ours.

What we call objective reality are those areas, where people can agree upon similar qualiae. This is mostly dependant on language and culture. So hence I conclude that there is only individual quliae that make up the personal universes of all human beings. Thankfully there are areas of overlap in our perception that gives rise to the illusion of objective reality. Now with objective reality being nonexistent, it’s relatively easy to explain consciousness and qualia..

                                                                                                      Prabhakar.A.T   8/2/2010

THREE VICES

Three vices, three foes

Treat them all, and suffering goes

They delude and distort every thought

Pollute the mind and make you rot

“I”, “Me” and “Mine” is their name

Rid them off and you’ll be sane

“I” the Ego, I the beast

Lurks behind, all thoughts and deeds

I is power, I is smart

I is the one that heeds not  

I is great and I will win

I is the pride before fall sets in

I am the foe and I am the vice

Love only is I’s  demise

Next is Me, the poor little Me

For Me is helpless

And Me’s in pain

Me soaks up sorrow 

Me feeds on pain

Me drowns in self pity

Me worries in vain

Me’s the foe and Me’s the vice

Compassion only is Me’s demise

Last is Mine and Only Mine

For Mine is selfish

Mine doesn’t care

Mine drowns in craving                          

Mine is never fair

Mine is the foe, Mine is the vice

Mine must go: the final vice

Three vices, three foes

Treat them all, and suffering goes

I, Me and Mine is their name

Rid them off and you’ll be sane

Knowing this is enlightenment

If not suffering and entanglement

Three vices, three foes

Treat them all, and suffering goes

The Day That I’ll Die

The sky explodes and the earth shatters

Thunder grasps you and the seas drinks you

Tears flood and the mind sinks

All this and even more

For today is the day, the very day

The day that I’ll die

Why me, why now, why the hell!

All these thoughts just float

While my little heart sinks

Terror, and anger; sorrow and pain

Play a hostage game in the mind’s stage

All hope is gone and death is near

Nothing to cling to, except for fear

What will happen to our Love my dear?

This may be the day that we will die

But little darling don’t you cry

The sky may explode and the earth may shatter

Thunder may grasp and the seas may drink

Tears may flood and the heart may sink

The body may burn and ashes may fly

But nothing can shake the Love

The Love that holds our hearts together

The Love that made our mind as one

Though this mind and heart may die this day

The Love always remains

Not in form, not in name and not in time

The Love always remains!

THE GRAY RAINBOW

Life is a rainbow that ends in gray

Though colourfull memmories often stay  

All colours come and colours play

But flow away and turn to gray

Pink – The secret blushing when our glances met

Red – The hue of your lips when I heard you speak

Brown- Those diamond eyes that swept me off

Orange - The silent sunset we held our hands

Black – Those twrils of beauty  singing to the breeze

Yellow – Those noisy bus rides

Green - Our lovely garden walks

Purple - Your royal wedding dress  

Violet –   The day of the News

Blue-  Your loud absence

White – The cloth that covered you

Gray – The ashes that you left

Life is a rainbow that ends in gray

Though colourfull memmories often stay  

All colours come and colours play

But flow away and turn to gray

The WHO

who is it who speakes from my mouth

who says the words  who hears the songs

who is it who feels the wind

Who is it that makes me walk

who sleeps and who is awake

who is it who views me dream

who is it that makes me ask ; Who am I ?

I am no body, I am no soul

Iam no thought,  I am no desire

 I 'm no agent to pursue's goals

What is it that makes the "I''

The silent viewer under every eye

Neither this nor neither that

Are words too small to pursue that

Is there  emptiness or is it full

Do causal chains  of it , tug and pull

is it in one or is it in all

An interdependant all in all ?

Beyond thought and language the answer lies

In claps of single hands, and empty skies

There is no who but there is how;

 The Jeweled net of all at now

In silent veneration one shall see  

That '' what is'' will ever be

That ''what is " shall  forever be

EVERYTHING MUST GO

Everything must go

Plants and trees and mighty mountains

Nations, corporations and latest fashions

Everything must go

The lovely s brook, that gurgles by

The lazy clouds that float so high

Everything must go

The precious place you call your home

And wondrous places that you do roam

Everything must go

Your little cousin down the road

Your mom, your dad and your little ford

Everything must go

My life, my wife and all my loved ones

My friends, my foes and all the bad ones

Everything must go

All that you wish and all that you see

All that you love and all that you feel

Everything must go

The time will come, the time will go

so, don’t you cling and don’t you hold

 Let it flower, and let it go

Since everything must go

The universe is not just queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can ever suppose

Our perception is based on our ecological past that evolved in a world that was relevant to us; hence in realms beyond our every day life (e.g. microscopic, macroscopic, multidimensional, quantum or relativistic worlds) we are left with no tools to sense, synthesize and make meaning

Science helps us here with microscopes, radio telescopes, particle accelerators to enhance the spectrum of our perceptual field of vision. More over Quantum theory, relativity help us understand and give meaning to what we perceive via our extracorporeal supra sensory perceptual systems.

However our ability to generate such theories themselves has evolved in a world that is relevant to us. Hence the thought that drives our theories and perception is in itself limited. It is limited by the world it was evolved to describe. It is limited by the degrees of freedom that is designed to detect. Hence any thing beyond the limits of our perceptual bubble is queerer than we can ever think of (suppose). Hence the universe is queerer than what we can ever suppose 

THE END OF CONFLICT

Interpersonal conflicts are pervasive in the world today. Each person has their own limited world view and acts in pursuit of their self interest. However this conflict that we have must end for the survival of the human race.

Though it may seem trivial at the personal level , due to the phenomenon of emergence friction is what fragmetns the world and causes violence ,war and genocide....and if not checked it woud cause the apocalyse itself . Conflcits makes the mind nastier, judgemental and narrow minded and full of hatred that leaves one isolated and lonely ...in a selfdeluded world of egocentic illsusions

The solution therefore is to be open minded and inclusive . Each one should realize their own cogntive baises and the full consequences of their own action. There may be a differences in opinion but ....conflicts should be avoided at all cost......thats the only way

difference in perception and world view are one thing ..where as conflicts are another... Im talking about conflicts, .... differnce of world views however are pervasive and it takes a lot of maturity to be inclusive and not end up in a conflicts....Whatever man has learnt and progressed in terms of civilazation has come from altruistic cooperation and not from conflicts.

Even in mathematical terms , conflict is a zero sum game and always ends up with a loser ; Life however is a non zerosum game and it cannot be played optiamlly using a zero sum stratergy. The balance and optimal stratergy is defined by something called the Nash equilibirium with in a non zero sum depnds on trust and cooperation. So the most optimal stratergy for survival of the human race is altruistic cooperation.

The problem we see in everyday life is that in view of our egocentric view if teh world ..we end up viewing life as a zerosum game. We cooperate when it benefits us and come to conflicts when it does not serve our purpose. So inother words we can choose between cooperation and conflict at any instant depending onthe context. wahtever progress humanity has made is due to this cooperation and altruism. ... See More

The problem is that, our very minds have a self centred world view is always keen on pursuing self interest . Sicne the mind wrongly perceives that life is a zero sum game it shifts stratergy from cooperation to conflict. This major cognitve bias is th reason why there is a huge crisis in the today.

In simpler terms. We think we are independant soverign beings , seperate from the world and others .Hence we go about pursuing our own self interest.
However, a simple observation of the reality around you will make you realise that , that u are not a seperate entity but just another interdependant part of the simulto-synchronous dynamic flux of events in space time. Take any example, from, ecology, economics, medicine , food industry, markets, politics, globalisation, terrorism .. climate change..every aspect of knowldge on all realms point to the fact of their interdependance and their nonzerosum nature.

This however does not penetrate the most difficult to handle cognitive bias the we have ; the so called Ego (self). Hence its not suprising to see that things are going wrong all over the world. This is because of the ingnorance of interdependability of things. Hence there is conflict, violence and capitalism. If not checked ...it would end up like all zero sum game stratergies with a score of zero.
In otherwords...mutual destruction and end of the human race.

The answer is very simple to state , but needs a miracle to make it happen. Well all it takes is to shift to a nonzerosum stratergy. This basically means trust and altruistic cooperation. however for that to happen the egocentric bias had to be dealt with and society should be changed from a zero sum , greed based capitalism to a trust based econmy that is based on a nonzerosum nash equilibirium.

This soution has to be realised soon as time in the planet is running out. It may be that there is a critical mass of selfless free thinkers that make it happen or its a new mutant human mind that survives a global nuclear hoilocost... Either way , what we need is a self less , inclusive, bias free mind .
It may sound too idealistic to fit into the common cynical word view....well if this dosnt happen ..too bad... nothing will happen to the earth..its just that we wont be here anymore

CHEER UP

Wake up , don’t be sad

Life to you isn’t all that bad

Smile a little , smile today

Forget about the yester day

Pain and sorrow; anger, hate

Leave it all ,leave it to fate

Brave at heart and bold to face

You will win ; shall win the race.

Just trust, in yourself and let it go

You are greater than, what you really know

So just be happy and smile today

And forget about the yesterday. 

LIFE UNIVERSE AND ME

Life universe and me

What's it like to see

What's it like be

The clear blue sky; the dog near by

What makes me and what makes them

Is there really an us and them

What is that divides

The mind and the skies  

Does it run in the mountains?

Does it cut through the seas?

Or is it just and illusion, made for ease

Mind and matter, like ice and water

Aren't they the same ?

If so, what's in a name?

Beards and pastures; eyes and lakes

Silent desires and creeping snakes

Aren't they the same?

Mountains and mole hills

Fear and frost

Gluons and black holes

Aren't they the same?

Love and sunshine

Hate and darkness

Anger and fire

Arent they the same?

Doer and the done

Knower and the known

Feeler and the felt

Aren't they the same?

If so, Life universe and me 

Are just the same; the very same

 Life universe and me 

Are just the same; the very same

Waking up to the Universe

Just another day just another morn

Just one more turn to the earthly twirl

Gazillion moments since the big bad bang

Here I am finally; Finally awake !!

Who am I and what am I supposed to do ?

Who has sent me and what should I do ?

Born without wanting to be born

Trying to make sense of things

Here I am striving; But so are a billion more!!

Is there an answer? Is there Hope?

Who is right? Am I just a hoax?

It’s a long journey as I can see

Face it or fight it? Or must i flee?

Since all that “is” , must come to pass

So is life really, just a farce?

Thoughts like these run through my mind

Emotions and feelings of a different kind

But my time has come and I must sleep

No room for answers that I did seek

But here’s the Wisdom that I did not reap

You're the one and you're the all; the part, the sum, the all in all

So let “I “go and you will see; what is true and what is free

From dawn I came at dusk ill go; into the timeless i shall go

From dust I came and to dust ill go; into nothingness, I will flow