(The relevance of this picture of an international artist is discussed at the end. Since you are unlikely to survive reading the whole thing, you can skip to the end right now.)
Nupadhya philosophy bulletin - 001: It is possible to have a cake and eat it too!
Corollary: When you give your 100% and then have a sense of completion, that is not the end, it is only a new beginning!
So, just manifest! be open to absorb the consequences though.
Two distinct statements, but there is an overlap between the two. Though there seems to be a central theme, this thought and writing happens together, and it is exploratory and spontaneous. This is an art, may not be great for the rest, but for me, I am manifesting at my best.
Prologue: (You can skip, if you want to read only the bottom line)
I am not a trained philosopher, but philosophy is my hobby. It may be because, through out my life, I had unused mental faculties, not fully utilized, and being a reserve on the bench most of the time, I developed a hobby, to observe, to know more, to understand more, to reach more, to those or to what matter ed to me, when it mattered. Of course, the observation and processing remained always the fun, but not the synthesis, integration, and leverage. The personal life always remained full of hope, but always way short of full potential, which only fueled my hobby of further philosophizing. Over a period, my approach to life in general became twisted, I was not manifesting my life for the best execution to what I want and what I deserve, rather just collecting new experiences to philosophize more. In a way, I became a philosophy junkie, not the theoretical one, but a personal experience based one. The high from this journey always mattered, and it just carried me with who I was, an imperfect being with so much underachievement to my possibilities, but I never was miserable with the feedback's and comments, but I did feel sorry for those who felt sorry for me, it was just empathy. Remember, I always sought understanding, connection and hitting higher level of relation, intimacy, collaboration, exploration, innovation etc., but that was always a danger zone. So, I used two safety values of cowardice, one I always said, do no harm, when you know it is harmful to pursue, both for the self and the rest. This was a great value that might have severely limited my manifestation, but helped to maintain my sanity while encouraging me to soak with insanity, extending my horizons. Well, the second one, I just forgot, as I am becoming old, my short term memory less is expanding, partly because of overuse of mental faculties with no strong social context, kind of similar to like over-masturbation of intellectual than the engagement in a tantric sex. I will come back and note if I remember. I am not high with any drugs, but when my mind goes into thinking journey, it becomes high, so much high that short term memory lapses. No wonder, I do not think without writing simultaneously. I am still an armature in writing, simply because I think and write for myself, rather than revisiting my writing to edit for the audience. One of the comedy greats, Jerry Seifeld came out with an unique show called “Coffee with Comedians in cars”, he went for hours of shooting, only to edit the whole engagement down to only 15 minutes of an episode. That is the power of editing needed. I know this, but I am not committed to it, simply because I do not want to let go the high of natural being, even at the cost of great artistry, reach, impact and success. Enough for now, as my future notes will always have a prologue section for me share more of my narcissism, which is also a fuel for my own creativity here.
Main Topic: It is possible to have a cake and eat it too! Corollary: When you give your 100% and then have a sense of completion, that is not the end, it is only a new beginning! So, just manifest!
Our personal reality is too tiny bit when compared to the collective reality, but it is an infinite space for our-self, we do not bother to peek beyond our self reality, in general. But the world is now very expansive, diverse, especially with what the Internet has brought to us. This will become further worse with artificial intelligence and quantum computing. So, the values of the past which we cling to, are helping immensely for the sanity of the self, but not at all enough to digest the realities around. This in a way is creating major isolation between the self and the overall reality, and artificial walls to sense, communicate and harmonize. Therefore, there is a crisis everywhere in the world, when it comes to personal mental well being, practical philosophy to keep up with the time, and meaningful social values to live together and let live. There is a lot of commotion with the challenges, expressions, quarrels. But, we seem to be making much slower progress than we deserve, while our pace of change is only sky rocketing.
So, eating a cake, is all about being authentic about who I am, honoring my so called values, and live fully to my potential accordingly. Having a cake is to catch up with my ever changing reality, make sense, and harmonize, which is far more challenging when I want to do justice to the former. It is a nightmare to negotiate between the two, as I seem to be appearing weak trying to do the both. But, have hope, and simply commit to the optimization between these two, the art of better living emerges, which I speak from the confidence of my own personal success, pursuing this balance.
Corollary: When you give your 100% and then have a sense of completion, that is not the end, it is only a new beginning! So, just manifest!
This corollary, is about the first part, which is to invest in the self fully, engage fully, forge forward and accomplish what one can. This requires a level of discipline, mainly to avoid distractions from the rest. Only a small percentage of people are able to cultivate this discipline and accomplish high success.
Since my very nature is to get distracted towards new horizons, I have not done great in this regard. However, for a few years, say age 55-60, I did take this as a personal commitment, and decided to focus within my usual distractions. Remember, this was not to super achieve, rather to seek more understanding, about my self, and life in general. I was able to reap the benefits of this journey both for myself and the rest, but my accomplishment was superior understanding I was seeking, not accomplishment and success, though I got enough taste of both as much I had intended.
In the new reality, it is possible that the one who accomplishes will have a 100% sense of completion, that can become an end in itself from the journey perspective, with potential dissatisfaction as to how to deal with the success ahead. Of course the values that helped to come this far, will not be sufficient ahead. Sticking to only those values will shrink the universe, that too in the midst of success and new possibilities. So, typically people will face value conflict, how much to retain, and how much to seek the new. In the struggle with this, there will be a sensation that what one feels now, with all the success, is much less than the high felt, while toiling for it day in and day out. This is unfortunate, but can be easily mitigated.
So, combining both these perspectives, I am coming to the main point. Life is always a crucible of spectrum of choices. This spectrum is dynamic, so is my day to day reality and focus. As much there needs to be focus on self and the efforts, there needs to be equal focus on the rest and harmonizing the two. Over a period, this approach not only strengthens the self, the focus, the values, sense of purpose, vision, strategy, plans, execution, and overall management across these. It will not be me Vs. The rest. Rather me and us. The whole being becomes dynamic enough to deal with the dynamism of the realities. While I am still inside, I dance to the tune to the rest, without losing the sense of stillness inside and a grip as to the understanding of who I am. This is the new art of living that needs to be cultivated collectively. I am no expert in this regard, but I do strive on this and the results are amazing. That is the key message, I wan to communicate.
But, initially, it is very easy to say than do it. It is because of so many impediments we have within and around to dance dynamically. The issues are value differences primarily. Also, how much of self and how much of rest will also be a confusion. Only with some level of self realization, one can achieve better harmony, that too, only if one does not become crystallized and rigid with too much dogma, half knowledge and propaganda. But, that is what is too prevailing in the external world, so one needs to kind of step back become immune to those impediments, and act normal among those misgivings.
After a few personal success in this struggle, there will be an acceleration of escape velocity, which will eventually help one to land one to a meadow after constant struggle of uphill climbing. In the mean time, never lose hope in this struggle.
So, the new age needs different definition of the self. It needs to have two distinct layers, the essence and the aura. The essence is relatively solid, but the aura is the thinner layer that interfaces with the rest. While there is clarity for the self in the essence, it is in this aura area, one seeks new understanding, new possibility, new tolerance, new collaboration, innovation, and extensions. This is how the sanity remains while dealing with insanity. After something becomes solid thru this aura level interactions, the essence absorbs the new addition, lets go the deletions, and forges forward further with stronger leg ahead.
This approach therefore needs value extension thru the aura layer. This value extension happens with clarity as to what my personal value is, but a level of tolerance and acceptance of other contrasting values. There is a room for experimenting with those which do not conflict, may be tangential.
Let me attempt to give some examples.
First one is vegetarian Vs. Non-vegetarian. Whether one is vegetarian or non-vegetarian, the value gap is significant with the other. In my case, I am a vegetarian, who is at peace with both non-vegetarian and the vegan. I am least bothered to sort these divides, but I am clear as to where I stand. Now, let me talk about value extensions here. If I am a vegetarian, is is ok to eat veg in a non veg place. Is it ok to eat eggs which do not have true embryos that result in chicks. Is it ok to eat in front of a person who is eating non veg. Is it ok to use the same utensil to cook both, at different times. Is it ok if you have consumed non-veg without your knowledge. Is it ok that many products in the shelf have non veg contents in the form of some chemicals.
In my case, I have allowed myself to all these value extensions, so I live with a sense of peace with the confusions out there. A very strict vegetarian has to work hard against these value extensions that happen in a multi-polar world.
Another painful divide of the values is left Vs right. Left seeks liberalization, equality, freedom of expression, and sometimes even the fight towards better harmony, where the fight in itself is d-harmonizing. The right seeks equity, order, better productivity, governance etc. So,the reality needs both, and the fight between these two is permanent.
For a person like me, this left and right is two poles of a reality spectrum, we need to live with eternally. So, for me, it is not a choice between the two, rather a continuum to manage locally and globally. In this case, value extension helps a lot, to live and let live while this confusion of two polarities will never go away. So, in my personal case, my right wing friends have a suspicion that I am leftist in the closet, and the left wing friends have a suspicion that I am a chameleon of right wing in left wing garb. Personally, I integrate both the suspicions, and appreciate my central nature and the sanity that goes with it. Value extension helps me to reach out to both sides, while both sides waste so much of time, energy, resources for holding on to their polar choice.
BONUS: One deserves expansion of life with a minor adjustment of value. I am benefiting from this immensely, and it is suiting my elder years ideally.
Concept: As I said before, there is essence and aura. Embrace both. Aura can be as much real as the essence. Extend one’s life by forging better balance and harmony between essence and aura. But remember, aura is there to strengthen the essence, never sacrifice essence for the aura. Engage in aura, only to stengthen the essence, but never run away from aura out of fear.
This can be explained better in many ways. Let me try in two ways.
1. There is authentic living and then there is living vicariously.
The first one is the essence, the second is the aura. Both can be pursued. If the essence is strong, aura can be strong and extended. So, invest on both. I am able to exploit this fully well in my elder years. May be I had a sense of completion in my personal life (however ordinary and average it is), I chose to retire from hard way of living for my elder years, and make time and energy to extend my aura at the cost of not investing much on my essence. This just suited my personal nature. I did not let go my essence altogether, but isolated it to be independent of others and outer circumstances. I hold onto specific hobbies like gardening, cats, cooking, feeding stray dogs, walking, meditation, philosophy, writing etc. which together gives me enough basis to hold on to strong sense of essence, but release far more time and energy to the aura, which in itself is a platform of new beginnings for me, but I do not work harder here, as it is in the aura zone. Basically, I said, I will stay at home, use online, and seek a retirement career, and I felt it can be investing and trading, it has worked out to be a stable platform, it is only time factor for me to potentially achieve, if I do not achieve, that too is ok. So, there is tremendous sense of lightness of being, which is fueling both my aura, and essence. I have cut down my life style, mainly to save time and energy. Now, I am living in the suburb, and save myself from unnecessary hussle bustle. I minimize physical engagement, I leverage online and internet for relations, interactions. Let us say, someone offers free money of say 10 lakhs for a foreign tour, I will decline it now, I am too lazy to seek it now, I would rather experience it online, and that is more than enough, looking at the time, energy savings and the price to pay in terms of inconvenience of having to go thru.
This is an important adjustment, that helps both the elder life and also the modern online realities with scope for virtual realities.
2. Living Vs. Observing life in general.
When one has a sense of completion in one’s living, there is far more time and energy to simply observe living. So, one can develop many new hobbies in this regard. In my case, it is watching web serials, films, stand up comedies, YouTube videos etc. I spend 4-6 hours daily simply by watching, which is an experience of high. Of course, there is a risk of this becoming an addiction or infection on the self, but balancing this with authentic living allows me to extend this. Authentic living for me comes from cooking, gardening, cats, and my new retirement profession with online engagement. As a result, I have multiplied my life experience in my elder days into three fold than shrinking it. This is worth pursuing for those who can benefit from it, though it may not be suitable for the majority out there. Now, I am exploiting this success in two ways. 1. Always in the look out for extending online collaboraitons using social network platform. 2. Expanding my value reach with no compromise on the sense of self (though there will be karmic impressions leading to new me, which is ok). So, now a days, I am able to dabble with extended value systems, as I am approaching them with the safe cocoon of my own personal values. There is a sense of harmony between who I am and what I am trying to understand.
Confession: Point 1 and 2 are the same, just looking at it differently.
Case in point: The discussions in this type of stand up comedy may not be relevant to my personal values, but I am able to transport myself from the comfort of my couch, and able to extend my understanding of the realities associated with this. This could make most of the Indian viewers uncomfortable, because the artist here is Indian origin, and it is unlikely that one has come across such a liberal Indian origin artist. Both my wife and my grown up daughters were left with a sense of distaste, and I understand why. I would say, the trigger to write this philosophical piece is the encounter with this artist online:
https://www.youtube.com/@Gaurie_B
So, this artist is now part of my aura, which is expanding in itself and also expanding my very essence.
(I may lose some friends due to this).
So, remember, in this new age, one can have the cake and eat it too. Seek your inner desires in this regard, you can figure out better with techniques I cultivated over time.
Namasthe
Nataraja Upadhya
