What were men, and what the Hobbits? And the Beasts, the Flies And the Worm?
What was the Wind and what was Light? Whence did All That Is, come from?
What was the journey, And, what the end?
What were the questions? And what the answers?
What was it that we feared, more than all the Darkness and Evil that Are?
Was it the Truth? For what could be darker than the Truth?
What was harder to gulp? And was there a Force that was tougher to conquer?
And what was the Revelation, but the Thing that we saw in the skies?
Who was Gandalf? Who was Albus, and who the wise men?
Who were Wizards, but mere little Men who sought the Truth on starry nights?
What was it that men sought? And, when in dark weary nights,
Whenst they peered into the vastness of the void,
What was it that they saw in the depths of the starlit space?
"I know not the Truth", Gandalf said, "I watch the Dark in Vain,
And I let the Vastness and the Void, fill the spaces in my Brain,
And I reflect and I ponder, but I know not the Timeless Truth.
And in my shameful Ignorance, I submit my pride and zeal,
To the Life which I am disposed to experience, and to feel."
"I am a speck, and what I walk on, was just another.
And in the infinite fabric of Space and Time that is, none of this counted.
But, there is my life, and there was not a Thing more Real, to me,
So is my Blood, my Skin, the love, hunger, my joy and the Pain."
"I was born, I live today, and in a meagre speck of time, I would perish.
I thrived here till yesterday,
And I did many of those Things that restless men Did,
The restless men that wished for a purpose to the speck of their lives,
A sense of meaning in the vastness and infinity, that was beyond us all,
I was not one of them, but I still did those Things, for my life was Real,
And Today, I go to this another place, And my journey goes on."
"The path is long and winding, a Destination, there is none.
But, my days here were Real to me, just as, is my Life,
And what mattered was the journey, itself."
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Free Man
Free-man and Bound-man walked on a piece of stone arbitrarily located at a rather unassuming spot of space in an inconceivably humungous stretch of space. And they both walked the stone everyday with an enormous sense of something in them, something that caused their dizzy brains to feign a sense of ‘purpose’ for themselves. ‘Purpose’ was the second umbilical cord that bound them to the piece of stone, soon after they stepped out into the open tearing their baby bodies off the original cord from cozy placental beds in motherly wombs and assumed the enormous responsibility of a ‘living’, without giving the rather treacherous idea, much of a thought. And then, the ‘walking’ began, soon after this umbilical cord matured and acquired its incredible strength. It was a bond that was to tie down man forever, very much like a mother’s love.
Interestingly though, brains weren’t as accidental as the stone was, and though they were bound to suffer from the inherent limitations of any systematic logical thinking apparatus, they happened to detect noise and randomness in the wilderness that IS, and the fundamental drive for consistency drove some bound-men to perform a feat, that defied the course of evolution and it was a feat the Gods were jealous of. These men ‘freed’ themselves of ‘purpose’ tearing off the fateful umbilical cord, and roamed as truly motherless orphans. They led a life where there were no nobler causes, no greater heights, no higher reasons and no sensible goals and as the cord broke, they were freed from the stone.
Free-man walked the stone and Bound-man walked it too. But, there was a difference. The Free-man didn’t belong to the stone, and hence, he really roamed the cosmos. He walked, not because he wanted to go anywhere, as to him, all directions were the same, and ends were non-existent. To him, existence was flawed and ‘wandering’ was an act of restlessness that was founded on the rational twitch that his brain once had and the consequent realization of a tragic truth that freed him off the final umbilical cord (Whenever you felt a mildly ontological rational flicker in your mind when you ‘wandered’, it was really this Free-man in you, who caused it to happen), and ironically, though being a ‘free’ man, he was sadder than the bound-man, for, he was now an orphan and he was carrying the whole weight of the tragic truth in him and he had in some sense ceased to exist. But for the walk, there was nothing real, and he sure knew that, with every step of his cosmic wander, the infinite hands of God’s great clock ticked and more importantly, so did His great ‘entropy’ meter, both in perfect unison, and so they would, till a time when all of what IS, would fade into a singularity disappearing back into the huge random fluctuation that spit us all out on one fateful moment.
Interestingly though, brains weren’t as accidental as the stone was, and though they were bound to suffer from the inherent limitations of any systematic logical thinking apparatus, they happened to detect noise and randomness in the wilderness that IS, and the fundamental drive for consistency drove some bound-men to perform a feat, that defied the course of evolution and it was a feat the Gods were jealous of. These men ‘freed’ themselves of ‘purpose’ tearing off the fateful umbilical cord, and roamed as truly motherless orphans. They led a life where there were no nobler causes, no greater heights, no higher reasons and no sensible goals and as the cord broke, they were freed from the stone.
Free-man walked the stone and Bound-man walked it too. But, there was a difference. The Free-man didn’t belong to the stone, and hence, he really roamed the cosmos. He walked, not because he wanted to go anywhere, as to him, all directions were the same, and ends were non-existent. To him, existence was flawed and ‘wandering’ was an act of restlessness that was founded on the rational twitch that his brain once had and the consequent realization of a tragic truth that freed him off the final umbilical cord (Whenever you felt a mildly ontological rational flicker in your mind when you ‘wandered’, it was really this Free-man in you, who caused it to happen), and ironically, though being a ‘free’ man, he was sadder than the bound-man, for, he was now an orphan and he was carrying the whole weight of the tragic truth in him and he had in some sense ceased to exist. But for the walk, there was nothing real, and he sure knew that, with every step of his cosmic wander, the infinite hands of God’s great clock ticked and more importantly, so did His great ‘entropy’ meter, both in perfect unison, and so they would, till a time when all of what IS, would fade into a singularity disappearing back into the huge random fluctuation that spit us all out on one fateful moment.
JOEY
Joey lived with his F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for a time, which was so long, it seemed like it had always been that way, and that it was going to be the same way forever. He was happy. He was carefree. Life was a matter of living, in small pieces of what went by the name ‘days’. Everyday was the same. Everyday was different. He ate exquisite food. He loved to talk. He had no home of his own, for he lived with his Friends. And, their home was his.
Joey was something his Friends were not. He played the ‘dumb’ guy, the joker who went to great lengths to set people rolling in laughter. He dressed himself up in colors that were unconventional. Joey was a vegetable. He was material to laugh at. Joey, the joker, never understood the broader truths of life. There were no deeper layers of existence, and he made as much difference to the world as one broken chair placed in a deserted house in the middle of nowhere, did.
Days scrolled by.
And, one fine day, the friends were gone. To their own homes, to find the things they sought for, in vague attempts to justify their own lives, to a world, where, Joey was no more.
And, now, there was Joey. All by himself, in a new place, and amongst new people, and it was as if, the world he had been in, all this while, was all really part of this one big confusing dream, which faded off into a puff, as soon as he shrugged himself off a dirty bed, on a long weary night. He woke up to see around, and they were gone. The dream was over, and he had to get along with his own life, a life that he had never had all these years, and hence had to really search for it. He did not know why he was here, and what he had to do. And, he found himself lying on the cold bed, with eyes refusing to open up, and face the blinding light, that signified the long day that lay in front of him. He thought of his friends for once. He wondered why they had not called him ever since the last season was gone. He wondered why the world was now full of new people, and he had nothing now, that once belonged to his happy dreamy past.
And, so, he realized, that his F.R.I.E.N.D.S. were really a series of episodes. And, whenever it had gotten a little better, it only had grown up and stealthily eaten into a bigger timeframe, into wilder and crazier seasons, where nobody had a reality of their own, and one could only be defined in relation to one’s friends. But, the day would come, when one returns to one’s own homes, onto dirty beds on cold weary nights, and wakes up one morning to face the dizzy light, and the dream fades, the seasons had long since ended, and everybody had one’s own life to live for. And, the dumb joker ought to stop acting childish at some silly point of time, and better try to find some way to while his life away, in small pieces of what went by the name ‘days’. True, he had not a life of his own. But, days were real, and there is no escaping them.
He thought of all the new people in his life, the new friends, and wondered if they were all really part of more episodes. Episodes, that would start well, have its own charm, which would last for a happy little season of its own, and then fade away as part of one dream that failed to register itself in one cozy corner of the brain. Was he still in another dream? Joey, now sat on his bed, and wondered, if he were this butt of cigar that an unforgiving God, who had failed in His larger purposes, smoked out of a sense of dejection, and it was as if, he was simply waiting for the day when, he would be dumped down to the ground and crushed under His immortal feet to put out the fire which was Joey.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
A Brief History of Love
Preface:
"What if human emotions were reducible to purely physical notions?", is a question that might have struck many as singular. There might be some who would argue, "If you tell me that 'love' is what is felt when the spins of an even number of electrons in a left-polarised carbomethyl compound in the nerve-1931 of the carpus callosum get aligned due to a time varying magnetic field, I dont give a damn. I dont know what a quantum spin is, I dont know what left-polarisation is, but, I do know what it is to love and be loved. I cant believe, your science can make me understand it better".
True, but what is attempted here, is rather a mildly funny, imaginative narration of how things might have been, had love been the basic constituent of the universe we inhabit instead of, say, matter, and the greatest minds had spent their lives attempting to understand it better. The narration does assume some basic knowledge of the history of science (physics, in particular), but I have tried my best to refrain from very uncommon facts, to aid easier and enjoyable reading. This might be something similar to what Stephen Hawking would have written then.
--------------------- A Brief History of Love -----------------------
It was in the year 1660 that Descartes had said, "I love, therefore I am". (King Archemen, the dad of Descartes' lady love, had him hanged for that. "He loved, therefore he isn't (anymore)", he had yelled on his demise). The science of love, also known as "Phil-sics" (phil=love) has definitely come a long way, since then, the time when it was believed that love was "action at a distance".
Sir Isaac Newton, in 1680, formulated the fundamental laws of love and the gravity that henceforth results. He had, by an almost magical insight, discovered the law of gravity, wherein, the force of attraction between two objects was directly proportional to the product of their 'lovabilites' and to the 1936th power of distance (Yes, my friends, the force of love, unlike other forces known, increases with distance, and it so does, to the 1936th power of it). Its an irony that Newton, a bachelor for life, would be the first to decipher a significant understanding of love. (It is though believed that, Newton discovered this, when he was napping under an apple tree and a 'rose' fell from the above. (It was his lady who threw that. For further details, refer "Newton's illicit love affair, Cambridge Press, 2003")).
For almost two hundred years since then, it was believed that, the universe of love was 'deterministic', until the quantum age set itself in. It was almost at the same time that Einstein, a patent office clerk, had made a profound leap in the mechanics of love. "Love is relative", he'd said. "The Special Theory of Relativity (and Relatives)" was thus born. One of the primary outcomes of the theory was that, no matter what, an object has to hate lesser than the intensity of the "Phobo-Moron". (For the laymen in you, I can just say, at this point of time that, a Phobo-Moron, is a very unfeeling, unlovable, despicable freak). In short, you can't hate more than a phobo-moron can. Einstein, hadn't stopped at that. He went on to 'propose' (in a truly scientific sense of the word) the "General Theory of Relativitiy (and Relatives)". The theory claimed that, "Love, if sufficiently strong can bend one's space and time, and hence even a phobo-moron". This claim was verified beyond doubt, though practically it is very difficult to observe a phobo-moron bend in response to love. (The degree to which he/she does it, is too small and often escapes notice of the most talented eaves-droppers / door-sneakers that we have. As it was later shown, certain objects do exist, with a gravity so strong that even Phobo-Morons can't escape from them. In fact, their love is so strong, they collapse into themselves due to their own gravity).
Welcome to the quantum era. It was thought that 'love was a very continuous emotion', until Planck proved that it existed in quanta. (His conclusion was based on careful observations of black bodies, some say, negro women). Bohr had immediately come up with a theory where people existed in definite states amongst which they transit, whenever they experienced the feeling of love. Some found his theory, a little, Bohrrrring. But, it did prove the quantization of love beyond doubt. Quantum theory has made significant progress ever since, thanks to romantic people like Heisenberg, Pauli, Dirac, et cetera... Today, we understand that 'love is a non-causal, random force'. The behaviour is truly random, and what is predictable is only the probability that something would happen. I should not fail to note here that, Pauli had discovered the 'spin' (Some of you, who've felt love might recognize this feeling), and that Dirac had predicted the existence of 'anti-love', a mysterious force, which would later be popularly known as the 'hatred', that would annihilate 'love' and result in emptiness.
The Big Bang!! No serious book on "phil-sics" can do justice without it. Hubble, a popular attorney in Britain, had discovered that objects no matter what, receded away from one another against the force of love that tries to gravitate them together. (He had worked in tens of divorce cases, which might well explain his observations). Thus, the big bang was born. According to the theory, around 20 billion years ago, all of what exists was together in one bundle of primordial love, and it all started rapidly expanding with a bang, and hence diverging from one another. The big bang theory had two versions, the cold and the hot. The 'hot' theory of big bang eventually won because it could explain the 1037:994 sex ratio prevalent, quite accurately. (It also gained favour, because, some thought the theory was hot, and sexy).
What happens to the future of the universe we inhabit? Phil-sicists identify two possibilites, based on a quantity, called the 'critical love' of the universe. If the sum total of all love in the universe is less than the 'critical love', then the universe would eternally expand and disperse into nothingness. On the other hand, if the universe did have more love than the critical love then, objects would stop receding and come back together to form one nice bundle of Love. And the earth would be one beautiful place to live in!! And, we would all live happily ever after!!
This is where we stand today, as far as our understanding of 'love' is concerned. We are not far from the ultimate truth, and given the current advent of the theory of superstrings (elegant 'strings of love' that tie objects together), we foresee a very promising era in phil-sics, and soon love would be something we would finally understand.
"What if human emotions were reducible to purely physical notions?", is a question that might have struck many as singular. There might be some who would argue, "If you tell me that 'love' is what is felt when the spins of an even number of electrons in a left-polarised carbomethyl compound in the nerve-1931 of the carpus callosum get aligned due to a time varying magnetic field, I dont give a damn. I dont know what a quantum spin is, I dont know what left-polarisation is, but, I do know what it is to love and be loved. I cant believe, your science can make me understand it better".
True, but what is attempted here, is rather a mildly funny, imaginative narration of how things might have been, had love been the basic constituent of the universe we inhabit instead of, say, matter, and the greatest minds had spent their lives attempting to understand it better. The narration does assume some basic knowledge of the history of science (physics, in particular), but I have tried my best to refrain from very uncommon facts, to aid easier and enjoyable reading. This might be something similar to what Stephen Hawking would have written then.
--------------------- A Brief History of Love -----------------------
It was in the year 1660 that Descartes had said, "I love, therefore I am". (King Archemen, the dad of Descartes' lady love, had him hanged for that. "He loved, therefore he isn't (anymore)", he had yelled on his demise). The science of love, also known as "Phil-sics" (phil=love) has definitely come a long way, since then, the time when it was believed that love was "action at a distance".
Sir Isaac Newton, in 1680, formulated the fundamental laws of love and the gravity that henceforth results. He had, by an almost magical insight, discovered the law of gravity, wherein, the force of attraction between two objects was directly proportional to the product of their 'lovabilites' and to the 1936th power of distance (Yes, my friends, the force of love, unlike other forces known, increases with distance, and it so does, to the 1936th power of it). Its an irony that Newton, a bachelor for life, would be the first to decipher a significant understanding of love. (It is though believed that, Newton discovered this, when he was napping under an apple tree and a 'rose' fell from the above. (It was his lady who threw that. For further details, refer "Newton's illicit love affair, Cambridge Press, 2003")).
For almost two hundred years since then, it was believed that, the universe of love was 'deterministic', until the quantum age set itself in. It was almost at the same time that Einstein, a patent office clerk, had made a profound leap in the mechanics of love. "Love is relative", he'd said. "The Special Theory of Relativity (and Relatives)" was thus born. One of the primary outcomes of the theory was that, no matter what, an object has to hate lesser than the intensity of the "Phobo-Moron". (For the laymen in you, I can just say, at this point of time that, a Phobo-Moron, is a very unfeeling, unlovable, despicable freak). In short, you can't hate more than a phobo-moron can. Einstein, hadn't stopped at that. He went on to 'propose' (in a truly scientific sense of the word) the "General Theory of Relativitiy (and Relatives)". The theory claimed that, "Love, if sufficiently strong can bend one's space and time, and hence even a phobo-moron". This claim was verified beyond doubt, though practically it is very difficult to observe a phobo-moron bend in response to love. (The degree to which he/she does it, is too small and often escapes notice of the most talented eaves-droppers / door-sneakers that we have. As it was later shown, certain objects do exist, with a gravity so strong that even Phobo-Morons can't escape from them. In fact, their love is so strong, they collapse into themselves due to their own gravity).
Welcome to the quantum era. It was thought that 'love was a very continuous emotion', until Planck proved that it existed in quanta. (His conclusion was based on careful observations of black bodies, some say, negro women). Bohr had immediately come up with a theory where people existed in definite states amongst which they transit, whenever they experienced the feeling of love. Some found his theory, a little, Bohrrrring. But, it did prove the quantization of love beyond doubt. Quantum theory has made significant progress ever since, thanks to romantic people like Heisenberg, Pauli, Dirac, et cetera... Today, we understand that 'love is a non-causal, random force'. The behaviour is truly random, and what is predictable is only the probability that something would happen. I should not fail to note here that, Pauli had discovered the 'spin' (Some of you, who've felt love might recognize this feeling), and that Dirac had predicted the existence of 'anti-love', a mysterious force, which would later be popularly known as the 'hatred', that would annihilate 'love' and result in emptiness.
The Big Bang!! No serious book on "phil-sics" can do justice without it. Hubble, a popular attorney in Britain, had discovered that objects no matter what, receded away from one another against the force of love that tries to gravitate them together. (He had worked in tens of divorce cases, which might well explain his observations). Thus, the big bang was born. According to the theory, around 20 billion years ago, all of what exists was together in one bundle of primordial love, and it all started rapidly expanding with a bang, and hence diverging from one another. The big bang theory had two versions, the cold and the hot. The 'hot' theory of big bang eventually won because it could explain the 1037:994 sex ratio prevalent, quite accurately. (It also gained favour, because, some thought the theory was hot, and sexy).
What happens to the future of the universe we inhabit? Phil-sicists identify two possibilites, based on a quantity, called the 'critical love' of the universe. If the sum total of all love in the universe is less than the 'critical love', then the universe would eternally expand and disperse into nothingness. On the other hand, if the universe did have more love than the critical love then, objects would stop receding and come back together to form one nice bundle of Love. And the earth would be one beautiful place to live in!! And, we would all live happily ever after!!
This is where we stand today, as far as our understanding of 'love' is concerned. We are not far from the ultimate truth, and given the current advent of the theory of superstrings (elegant 'strings of love' that tie objects together), we foresee a very promising era in phil-sics, and soon love would be something we would finally understand.
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