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Zen and the art of filtering junk!

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, Jun 6, 2007.

  1. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya sir,

    I always knew that you are someone special to reckon with when you started writing in IL. Some of your posts were so daunting and I have read them repeatedly before I could come up with a fair enough feedback. I have always been amazed and impressed with your writings.

    Today, as I see how many of your posts are being read and re-read and is constantly updated with each and every new feedback from another reader, my heart brims with pride at being associated with you albeit through a virtual forum.

    Nityakalyani is the latest to be enthralled by your writings and she nominated this thread for the FP of the month. How nice! I have explained your stance on FP to her. Yet, it is a pleasure to come here and inform you and it is always a pleasure to see you included in the FP nominations, never mind in which form!

    L, Kamla
     
  2. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kamla
    I must confess that I have really lost count of the number of times I have written about how good you are in making people feel that they are God's gift to mankind! I always believed that there was none to excel you in this department, not even you but you have proved me wrong! Yes! You have exceeded yourself this time and it took me sometime to get back to my moorings.

    It's awfully nice of Nityakalyani to see some merit in my rambling and thought it fit to recommend it to FP and it's good that you have explained to her my stand in this matter. The very idea of FP is to encourage young writers to scale new peaks in their literary pursuits and ever since this scheme was introduced, we have seen some outstanding writers blossoming month after month. It is really so gratifying! I honestly felt that not much purpose would be served if people of my age group become contenders in this great contest. I'll be like a stray dog running across the court while an intense final is in progress between Rafa and Federer at Wimbledon!
    Sri
     
  3. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    Thank God our mind is a sequential processor like a normal desktop or laptop we have at home and it is not a parellel processing system (Super computers) that we see to process scientific and engineering applications. It is multiple instructions and multiple data system (MIMD Systems), we may need giant fans running above our head to cool the system down as otherwise the heat generated by the system will be much higher than heat we see during Agni Natchathiram. We are wired to think only one thing at a time and it was probably to give a message to us that we need to focus only on one thing i.e. Universal Absolute.

    The right hemisphere of our brain stores all data in our memory and it is the left hemisphere that consist of reasoning and analysis of the data stored in the right hemisphere. Therefore, in case of the monk, it is not the storage of information about Guru lifting the young girl in his shoulder that caused problem but it is his left brain's interpretation of that action reasoning out that a Sanyasi should not touch a woman without considering the fact that Guru's action was to help a person who needed help. The left hemisphere of our brain takes the data from the right, compares it with prior experiences and makes a judgment.

    I wish our brain has popups that would indicate when our thoughts go in a wrong direction. At least when we go into deep sleep state, our brain is reformatted only to get all the data reinstalled again when we wake up. I guess, the meditation helps us to go through a similar process. The only way to delete unwanted files is to control, alter and delete our thoughts like what we do in the computer when our screen freezes for some strange reason.

    To conclude, it is not the data that we store is harmful but our brain's interpretation of it. It is the left side of the brain that is harmful than the right side. At the same time without the left hemisphere, we can't accomplish higher goals either. But as you guessed it right by now, we could delete the data that bathers the left leaving it focused only on what we needed it to focus on.

    Viswa
     
    3 people like this.
  4. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Sri,

    God has built a mechanism in our brains to throw some junk and retain some things. But the problem comes in choosing what to throw and what to retain. We may forget what we ate yesterday but remember what saree or dress a particular heroin wears in a film or who scored centuries or how many runs a decade back or who said some taunting remark two decades back...... So, we should be judicious in deciding what to delete and what to retain.

    Syamala
     
  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Viswa
    Thanks a lot for all the technical input on the way our brains function. It is nice to have a working brain and if it works to a set pattern, we would be far happier. But more often than not, our thinking processes go haywire and after reading what you have written I wonder if we should blame our whole brain at all for our wrong doings. Since it is the left side that is playing all the mischief, I should hit the left side whenever my mind latches on to an unbecoming thought. Till now I was hitting the poor right side being a right-handed person. It will be unnatural to reach to the left side with our right hand!
    Sri
     
  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Syamala
    I can't agree with you more! When I was a student, my mind kept deleting whatever the teacher was telling me. When I sat down to study, my mind worked overtime in deleting whatever I was reading instantly. But when I was reading magazines in general and film magazines in particular, my mind stored all the information in a safe deposit locker!

    As I grew older, this process continued as my mind was the ultimate authority in deciding what was good for me! It has now become tired and like an aging computer, has developed a tendency to 'hang' if it is asked to process more than one info at a time!
    Sri
     
  7. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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  8. rgsrinivasan

    rgsrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Very nice post Cheeniya Sir. The story is already known, but the way you connected it with the mind and computer made it a nice read. To try one more time: [where is that hide icon?]

    "List the ones that I should shun,
    I humbly request you, master!",
    Said a young disciple when
    They weren't moving that faster.

    Like a kinder father to a son,
    The master smiled and patted
    The asker pointing to the sun.
    Very soon he too departed.

    The answer was not understood
    By the young man who brooded
    Many days, but it always stood
    In him like a thorn pierced good.

    Finally when another sage
    Unravelled it, he cried.
    The wisdom was beyond his age,
    And so subtle did it lie.

    The sun never shuns anyone
    But goes on giving the light.
    We shouldn't bind ourselves to one
    Neither we treat them light.

    If they need a help and we
    Could, We really should.
    Nobody is listed ever to be
    Shunned. A sage never should.
     
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  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    My dear RGS
    Your range is awesome. I really do not know how old you could be but if one has to judge it by your apparent wisdom, I'll put it anywhere between 70 and 80!
    This poem has an inherent philosophy that is both abstract and illuminating. Many think that these two are antonyms but only by contemplating on the abstract, we get illuminated. Thanks for embellishing my old threads with such brilliant FBs.
    Sri
     
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  10. PriyaKathiravan

    PriyaKathiravan Silver IL'ite

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    Self-Help preaching Gurus say we can choose to retain what we want and forget the rest. But he more we try to forget something, the more firmly it gets rooted in mind. ( Just like that famous parable of some Rishi telling the sishyas : 'dont think of a monkey ', and they all promptly have a monkey taking tenancy of their mind" ) we seem to be powerless against the insubordination of the Brain. It is left to good old Time to do the spring cleaning. But such cleaning too, like that of our domestic help , is never thorough. Bits of trash linger and lurk under the carpet and behind the cupboards.

    There is much wisdom in the adage that events are, by themselves, neither good nor bad ; It is our reaction to them that grades them into Pleasant and Unpleasant memories. But even this understanding never equips us to deal expertly with the experiences life throws at us . Like the cursed Karna , we forget the knowledge precisely when needed ! And end up with all that extra baggage, so difficult to carry around, so difficult to get rid of.
     

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