randomness

John Cage said that sound, to him, doesn't have to mean anything. The example he gives is of traffic.

How unlike Mozart or Beethoven, it sounds different and detached to the rest of us. It is never

similar or predictable. He goes on to say that it is this sound that inspires him. It means nothing and that is fine.

I think it is probably why I love nature. The sounds that are produced there are for no one and yet, for every

one. Having grown up in the information age, it is quite easy (and 'mechanical') for one to train

their minds to analyze sounds they hear.

One part of it is social communication (talking, listening, singing, praying, chanting). When we

listen to other people talking, sub-consciously we start assimilating this information. With the help of

visual and other senses, we try to predict and react to this stimulation.

I guess that is probably a very basic or even animalistic instinct. To react to external stimuli.

This could be extended to explain the second part i.e. reacting to any kind of noise. My favorite

example is how as a kid, I used to recognize my dad's scooter from the wheezing sound it did. I used

to run to the gate to greet him. Here, the sound doesn't necessarily have to be verbal but it could be anything.

Anything that your brain has associated a context to. Anything that 'means' something.

It takes a lot of training to unlearn this knowledge and to look at sound as just an event, with nothing

else attached to it. To appreciate it for that moment and move on. To not attach a consequence or see

a purpose for the existence of that sound. Like the sound of water hitting the rocks on it's way down

the hill or the sound of traffic on a busy highway.

It is this random, illegible noise that makes you feel lighter, eases your mind and harmonizes your

breath. It will cleanse your brain of the worried dirt and makes your thoughts turn inwards. A lot can

be said about these sounds and their therapeutical effects. For ages, many have realized, practiced and

preached this wonderful gift of nature.

All of this is true for random thoughts as well, I would think. A thought that is not necessarily sandwiched in

any particular context. A thought that lives in it's moment and vanishes there after. A thought that doesn't bother

the mind with extended questions but just serves it purpose of bringing momentary delight to it's bearer.

Such a thought is dispassionate. It is stated and understood, all in that fraction of second. It might become

the object of other thoughts but it, in itself is complete and independent of every thing else.

I wonder how it would be! To appreciate nothingness!

memories these are, sublime!!!

Just dropped by, to get a taste of this lost recipe. Glad to find that it's still got "it" :)

jayanti te sukrutino
rasa siddhaaha kaviis`varaaha
naasti teeshaam yas`ahkaaye
jaraa maran`ajam bhayam
-Bhatruhari (Circa 450)

Annotation:
Great poets, by their works, have become great accomplishers.
They have no fear of old age and death. They have a body of fame and reputation

(2B|^[2B])

you will always have a choice... between doing something that pretty much seems to be a logical consequence and doing something thats totally wild and crazy . Hence, what has to happen, doesn't really equate to what's destined to happen but rather, how particular you are about (not/)choosing this "path of destiny". It sounds silly, steering through what's only supposed to be natural and pre-determined but I think its something different to that. I think there is nothing really defined, anywhere. There are only sign boards, no barricades. If you want to chalk your life based on these sign boards, so be it. You will arrive at the exact, pre-determined point some time sooner or later. But if you, for a second, wish to ignore the boards, it totally turns in to a different game.


However, most of us prefer the comfort and cushioning that comes from the "god-chosen" path, partly because if something goes wrong, you could always blame your destiny/fate/lines on your forehead or palm, how crooked they are and leave it there. Another reason could be that you believe in fate so much that it would be sacrilegious for you to even think of doing anything out of those premonitions. Yet another could be that you are trained to think so logically and sequentially, it becomes tough for you to accept the rationale behind choosing something thats foreign and totally out of context.

I have been through many such cross-roads in my life where I had to choose between the sanity and serenity of a logical consequence and the wild. Though I cannot boast to be a totally path-breaker or a rebel, I had many incidents where I just did the opposite to what's only evidently imminent. I preferred that no-path to path, that wild to civility, that dream to reality. At times, it was worth it and at times, it was not. There were times when I cursed myself for pulling myself in to this puddle but every time i entered that, I only came out stronger. This, I think is what's "destined" :) Of course, I could choose to not come out of it, which could have been the other possibility but I could never venture to take that path. May be, I'm trying to be logical again or no. I'm not sure.

Well, looking back at what I wrote just now, I think I have reached the end of a circular hoop. Its only getting round and round, me just trying hard to move randomly and "he", just pulling me back to the circle. All I'm doing right now is probably saying out loudly that "his" will is greater and worthier than mine while humming the song "I want to break free" with in my mind

Amen

PS: I know this ends inconclusive and abrupt, but this is all i got, for now! Probably, some thing different to how posts are usually destined to end :P

The Lie!!!

The Lie!!!
by: Sir Walter Raleigh

O, Soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless arrant!
Fear not to touch the best;
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.

Say to the court it glows
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If court and church reply,
Then give them both the lie.

Tell potentates they live
Acting by others' action,
Not loved unless they give,
Not strong but by a faction.
If potentates reply,
Give potentates the lie.

Tell men of high condition
That manage the estate,
Their purpose is ambition,
Their practice only hate:
And if they make reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell them that brave it most,
They beg for more by spending,
Who, in their greatest cost,
Seek nothing but commending:
And if they make reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell zeal it wants devotion;
Tell love it is but lust;
Tell time it is but motion;
Tell flesh it is but dust:
And wish them not reply,
For thou must give the lie.

Tell age it daily wasteth;
Tell honor how it alters;
Tell beauty how she blasteth;
Tell favor how she falters:
And as they shall reply,
Give every one the lie.

Tell wit how much it wrangles
In tickle points of niceness;
Tell wisdom she entangles
Herself in over-wiseness:
And when they do reply,
Straight give them both the lie.

Tell physic of her boldness;
Tell skill it is pretension;
Tell charity of coldness;
Tell law it is contention:
And as they do reply,
So give them still the lie.

Tell fortune of her blindness;
Tell nature of decay;
Tell friendship of unkindness;
Tell justice of delay:
And if they will reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell arts they have no soundness,
But vary by esteeming;
Tell schools they want profoundness,
And stand too much on seeming:
If arts and school reply,
Give arts and school the lie.

Tell faith it fled the city;
Tell how the country erreth;
Tell manhood shakes off pity;
Tell virtue least preferreth:
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

So when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing,--
Although to give the lie
Deserves no less than stabbing,--
Stab at thee, he that will,
No stab the soul can kill.

The Bathtub Philosophy!!!

Life this is, very different from what it appeared
Change is the only constant thing, a wise man said

I have these moments, these glimpses that arise
Tyring hard to convey something I would never realize

"Solace is what you want now", something said,
"Its your tub!! you know that, don't you, kid??"

I turned the taps and filled it to the brim,
Its more than just water, its mystic and bedim

As I sat, little bubbles started raising to the surface,
Probably trying to shake a hand with those sunrays

Only some make it to the top while the rest disappear during the course
Its probably more due to the belief in survival that any other force

A new lesson learnt, a new thought began
The tub never repeats anything during its span

Its water never remains the same
Just as the lives we lead always change

Now i'm out of the tub, looking very pale
The moisture on the face turned a little ale

I started coughing and gasping for breath
Seems like oxygen in this world is in dearth

"Finally you are out", greeted my people
Little did they know how i hate their babble

Life outside the water feels so bad
It took away all the intellections that i had

Its full of people with no thoughts and direction
Those who follow the chore, both in sense and in action

When solitude is all that my mind yearns,
There's nothing desirable than my little pond of observance !!!


PS : This is my first poem. So, please...please...be a little kind in your critisisms...TIA :)
Luv

PS(PS): I wish I waited a couple of more days before I wrote this.

The Bloody Complexifier!!!

At times I realize how mighty dumb I'm. I just cannot express my thoughts to others without packing them in thick sheets of obscurity and frivolity, which, by the way, ruin the basic purpose behind my expressions. 'Intelligent', is what people think but I would prefer 'complicated moron'.
I think I have started mastering the art of complicating things just for nothing. A whole lengthy paragraph with words spewed over it like a splash of mud water covering the entire front of a white wall, but nothing. An unwinding thought, full of pre and post references to incidents both personal and global, but nothing. A long, complicated sentence consisting more number of prepositions and conjunctions than nouns and verbs but nothing. Lately, I've started feeling that my mind has stopped having any rationally formed thought. A central idea and many surrounding thoughts; before the central idea places itself firmly on my mind, the other thoughts just swoop in and start demanding attention. Call it attention to detail, I know only a pig would do that, my mind starts trying to place these thoughts in to the frame and miss over the central theme. So, at the end, you have a dog, you have a garden, you have a small bone in the mouth of the dog, the picturesque sunset, the thickly grown grass, the kissing couple on the next bench but where is 'She'????????? Sorry but ‘She’ has to wait. We are busy trying to place that stupid big useless lawn mower somewhere in here.

Hmmm.....such a waste...

Oh and btw, yes, i did not really convey the stuff I wanted to...in some other post, may be
Luv