What is freedom

Thanks to Praveen for starting me on this .. :) I would have posted something on freedom may be a couple of posts down the line but any way here goes.........................

Freedom is often miss-interpreted as free will. Why ? Because people have different concepts of freedom Btw -- Has nothing to do with "free will" check my earlier post about "free will"

Freedom has multiple meanings .. again depending on what the point of view is

1. Political Freedom – It is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. Freedom is commonly known as a state of being free from government oppression. The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behaviour. In this sense ‘freedom’ refers solely to the relation of humans to other humans, and the only infringement on it is coercion by human

Or

2. Economic Freedom – It comes from the libertarian tradition emphasizing free markets and private property, while another extends the welfare economics study of individual choice, with greater economic freedom coming from a "larger" (in some technical sense) set of possible choices

Or

3. Freedom (Ethical) – Here we are speaking about morality – what is good / bad , right/wrong . I see it as the justification that you give your self after taking any action or inaction

Are these three definitions different?

I don’t think so all of them depend on ethics .. well then what is ethics

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with moral responsibility.

I could go on about ethics but will stop here to see what everyone has to say about Freedom

….. Ethics we can cover in another post

C

ps: I could be wrong :) remember its my point of view .. would like to discuss this and other ideas to learn about other points of view ... Keep posting guys

What is your Purpose in Life

Looks like i am on a roll .... :)

I had posted almost a year ago a sentence from a book i was reading at the time.. for those that have forgotten here is the line again

"The Point of life is not to get anywhere - It is to notice that you are, and have always been, already there . You are, always and forever, in the moment of pure creation. The point of life is therefore to create - who and what you are, and then to experience that."

During this period some of the questions on my list of questions to my self have been answered and some removed as they are no longer relevant but at the same time my list of questions has been growing longer and answers not forthcoming; As a result I have thrown my self into work and have neglected a basic necessity of life... that is to think and resolve all questions when they pop up. Looks like its time to start answering those difficult questions again.

Well the subject of this post is the question I would like to ask my self today; and I guess by now the readers would have guessed the reason for my posting that line from that book. The question has troubled mankind since the beginning to time, and the line I have posted answers the question but throws up a set of new questions.

The only way to answer what your life purpose is to ask your self who you are and what you are, (not simple) because the normal answer to the first new question is “ I am so and so son/daughter of so and so , husband/wife of so and so etc etc…” Is that who you are? Is your existence defined by the existence of others? If that is the case then you have not discovered who you are and then the true purpose of your life would be to discover who you are and then experience that.

So how does one discover what he or she is ? Well try this

Sit at home with a paper and pen, try to clear your mind of all thought. You will reach an instance when you realise that there was no single thought in your head a moment ago. At that instance ask your self who am i?

The answers might come in a rush. Start penning them down; all of them without trying to analyse what the answer is.. Just write them down as they come…After a short while your mind will start to wander again. At that point look at the paper and see what you have written down

I have done it and will be doing it again in a day or two.. Will post my new result on the blog as a reply to this post… Would love to see what every one else gets

Regards

C

Food for thought

Hi all ... been a long time since any one made a post .. so here goes

Couple of questions

1. All religions say that man is composed of something that god made and that god decides what has to happen ... where is the space for free will in this ?

2. All modern philosophies say that man is made up of molecules that came together at the right time .. and that electrical impulses decide what man is and does. These impulses can be shown to have a definite pattern in a lab ... again where is the space for free will in this ....

finally what is free will .......................

hope u guys have sleepless nights figuring out the answers

C

Salutation to the Dawn

Hi All

I am curently reading a book in which I have found this interesting poem. Just thought of sharing it with you all.

Title : Saluation to the Dawn

Look to this day
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course,
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!

Read it over and over again, take some time to digest it and think over it. It is the essence of solution to all our worries. I would never have guessed it was written by a great Indian poet.
Any takers? It was Kalidas. He wrote this masterpiece several hundred years ago and yet till today, we fail to live by it.

Food for thought.

Questions to ask of myself

After putting a comment to Sumeets last post (edit... Every one needs to read Sumeets last post and the comments to understand where I am coming from ...) 

here is the link  http://elevencousins.blogspot.com/2009/02/other-person-inside-me.html#comments

I realised for my self that there are questions that most are afraid to ask. Difficult answers to difficult questions that might throw a persons life out of gear.

I call these questions .....

Simple questions that could help define the meaning and purpose of life. (I am putting them down randomly)

1. What am I doing that will further my knowledge of life?

2. What do experiences teach me?

3. How do I help my self learn about my self?

4. How true am I to my self?

5. What if any are the problems that I face that reduce my knowledge

6. What knowledge must I share with people I know?

7. Why am I on this planet in this space and time?

8. Where do ideas come from? Does an Idea have a right or wrong associated with it?

9. What would I tell my self if I could travel back in time or what questions would I ask if I can travel forward in time?

10. What is God? Are rituals associated with God necessary? Do I ask god to help me or do I Thank god for what I have?

11. Does a sage/seer know more than I do or is the sage/seer struggling with the same questions that I am struggling with? And if so have I taken a more difficult path to learning about life?

12. What are ethics, morals, and values? What teaches me these things?

13. What do I do if ethically or morally I was proved to be wrong?

14. Where do I find the answers to all my questions?

………..

The list is endless.

I am stuck for words as there are questions I have put down that I ask myself very often even though I know what my answer is going to be. (May be it is to reassure my self and also to take time out to review what i have learnt and un-learnt during the time when i asked my self the question last)

What I can tell you is that my answers are true only for me, not for meghna, ishan, simmone, mom, dad, papa, mummy or darshana or extended family or my friends. They will find their own questions and answers. As a parent I can teach my kids how to think but not think for them. As a husband I can help Meghna ask the questions but i cant answer for her, She can help me ask questions that i might have not thought about but will not be able to answer them for me. As a son/brother i can learn about questions that i might have overlooked but will not be able to answer their questions.

I can also tell you this – start asking questions like this list and more and give your self truthful answers and you will be taking small steps to discovering your self and your purpose.

Purpose is what gives meaning to human life.

C

Is your life recession-proof?

A few weeks ago I was talking to an individual inside my industry and he was proudly saying that their business is recession-proof. It was the first time I had heard this word. What he really meant was this global economic meltdown is having no effect on his business. I was little bit surprised, but I said hey, good for him. This week, I talked to the same person and his opinion has changed. He was complaining about the economy and how it’s affecting their business.

In last few months we all have read and heard lots of news about recession and how you can make your job or business recession proof. But why just focus on job? I think it affects more than just your job. I want to divide this in the following categories


1. Job and Career
This is an obvious issue and most likely the recession has affected all of us in one way or another. My company is running at 80% of what we were doing a year ago! We lost a good 20% of so business to slowness in economy and overall decline in the market. Although this does not affect my monthly paycheck, this will affect the bonus and other perks. The yearly raise is already out of the question. Not to mention the fretfulness regarding the job security. So far our company has handled the recession very well, because we are owned by a very big company. For small business owners, it gets worst. On the other side, there are certain businesses which have no effect of recession or better yet, are thriving due to recession.

2. Health and Fitness
I was on a roll about a month ago! I was hitting gym 3-4 times a week, eating healthy and was in line with my weight loss goal. All of a sudden, the recession hit me! No folks, I am just kidding!! My reason to discontinue all that has nothing to do with recession. (I thought I might as well blame this on economy!) But it definitely has to do with the extreme cold weather we are having and the holidays. I need to stop being so lazy and get back on the track.

But seriously, I am sure there are some people whose health is affected by recession. There could be several reasons like not being able to afford the gym membership because you want to save money, or unable to continue the sports activity because you spend more hours at work to improve job security or not able to afford eating organic and fresh food because you are keeping money for other necessary expenses. It could be just plain mental depression.


3. Family and Friends
Recession has not affected this area of my life either. Fortunately, I don’t know anybody who has lost a job or a business due to recession. I don’t want to know.

You hear everyday that unemployment rates are going up. In US it has sneaked up to 7%. That means there is a chance that every 1 out of 14 people you know is out of work! That is scary. One more way it can affect your life is people who lose jobs might move away from your neighborhood or even your city, eventually you may lose contact with them.

The flip side of recession in this area of your life is, now that people don’t have cash to spend on vacations and other activities, they may want to socialize more. I mean just hang out at home and spend more time with close family and friends. So did the recession bring you close to your loved ones?


4. Dreams and Goals
This area of my life is definitely affected by recession. I am 30 years old and still have about 30 more years before retiring, that means as compared to some older folks (over 50) out there, my long term dreams are still intact and I will have several chances to make those come true. I feel bad for people who are very close to the retirement and have lost so much money recently that they will have to push out their retirement by few more years. However, some of my short term goals of savings and investments have definitely had an impact. I am not a big investor, but whatever little money I had in stocks is down by more than 50%!! I know I am in the same boat as most of the people. One of my other goals is to take a cruise or a foreign vacation, but slowly it looks like I am going to have to sacrifice this one. I just don’t feel financially secured anymore to justify this vacation.


5. Others
I can think of some unique ways in which recession can hit your life. Family extension plans, marriage, renovating your house, donations and charity contributions, taking care of chronic health issues, desires of higher education etc. At this time, there is no other part of my life which has had a significant impact due to recession.

So, how is recession affecting your life? Would you categorize the issues any differently? I am curious to know if your life truly is recession-proof or not.