Why hate others?

Well, at least we’re not in the middle ages, when every conceivable atrocity against groups and individuals was justified by the fact that they were different in some way. It’s better now, at least in some parts of the world, than it was then. Of course, there is still a good bit of hate and cruelty, and we usually just bemoan it as a part of human nature. It isn't.

People have very high standards for themselves. As psychologists point out, we don’t like to see ourselves as not meeting our own expectations. People naturally try as hard as they are able to meet their own goals, so "trying harder" is not a solution. People certainly don’t want to lower their expectations either, so they adjust their image of themselves instead. This temporarily solves the crisis; our expectations are intact and we don’t have to try and improve our behavior and performance to a level above what is possible for us.

Unfortunately, this image shift has some rather undesirable side-effects. Whenever we have thoughts or feelings that do not fit in with our superior self image, when we are ashamed of our thoughts, we shove those thoughts and feelings out of our conscious attention. We are afraid of such thoughts; they threaten our self-image at a fundamental level.

These thoughts do not go away; they are still in our minds. Thoughts have their own energy whether we are paying attention to them or not. Similar thoughts attract one another and form structures. People who are involved in creative mental tasks experienced this constantly. When they work with related thoughts and ideas, these thoughts begin to form themselves into hierarchies and patterns. Thoughts that we fear are no different; they create mental landscapes of what we fear the most within our own minds.

When something reminds us of these fearful thought structures, we experience a sudden surge of hatred, fear, or disgust as our conscious attention is momentarily focused on our unacceptable thoughts. Because we cannot accept these thoughts as part of ourselves, we assume that the feelings they generate are coming from whatever or whoever reminded us of them. This is called projection. Anyone that seems vaguely menacing can cause us to project our own suppressed anger onto them. This anger seems to be separate from "our own" thoughts, making it easy to believe that the anger is coming from the other person. Someone with different customs can prompt us to project any anti-social or simply unconventional thoughts of our own that disturbed or disgusted us, making the person before us seems disturbing or dangerous. Depending on the force of our suppressed feelings, people who are in fact harmless can appear to be capable of bringing down civilization.

Well, that was a long exposition, but it boils down to this. The more you accept your own thoughts as normal and natural, whether they offend your sense of decency or not, the more clearly you will be able to see the world. Convincing others of this could be a problem, however.

Return of the prince

My tribute to Sourav Ganguly

I have nothing to say”,

That’s what Maharaj said after landing today,

But his fans numbering a plot full of hay,

Are with him, come what may.

To them, he is a man in a million,

In a vast and big country of a billion,

He stands out prominently like a polestar

In a quiet, dark night, and so far.

Like a flashy jewel he sparkles,

Brightly and incessantly he twinkles,

Holding a charismatic, mystifying power,

Like some tall, magnetic, illuminated tower.

A boyish face full of determination,

Lovely eyes never lacking concentration,

He could reach your very soul,

Entirely, by and large, or as a whole.

A smile that charms a numerous million,

Awaits patiently in anticipation of occasion,

A winner, a leader, a lover and a father,

No matter what, he is an achiever.

A focused batsman and a spirited bowler,

A man with sound attitude and robust willpower,

He led his team to many a victory,

There is no skipper yet like him in his territory.

The Bengal Tiger nursed and nurtured,

He struggled and pushed and plundered,

Until a team was born to accomplish more,

At the cost of his own personal data score.

Things then altered to the astonishment of every fan,

As Fate took over in the form of a tall white man,

It darkened his cricket career for a while,

And cruelly stripped the captain of his smile.

That was precisely when he became a teacher,

A skipper who practiced but was no preacher,

He taught the youth of a whole nation,

To place perseverance above emotion.

Today, on your safe return from abroad,

An ardent admirer of yours prays to God,

Sourav Ganguly, let there be more of your tribe,

That brings his family, friends and fans alive.

To view Ganguly's profile CLICK HERE

Meaning of Life

What is the meaning of life? I'm sure we all have our own ideas, along with our own goals and achievements of how we perceive life as a whole. Were we put here merely to make money, i.e. attend school so we may be educated enough to find a job that we may keep until we retire. Or were we put here to look after our fellow collegues. Maybe we were put on this Earth to try and achieve the best we can. Maybe both of these together. Each and everyone of us has their own opinion.

Each and every individual has his/her own definition for his/her own life. The definition may or may not be common for all individuals. The right way to live a life according to me is not to follow others and instead follow your own set of principles. There should be some set of objectives and goals which makes the life meaningful. The objectives may vary from person to person. If a person does not have any objectives or goals, then he is heading in a wrong direction.

I believe that life is a tough obstacle in itself. I also believe that we were put here to survive and do as best we can through all of life's troubles that are thrown at us and also to enjoy the good times that come, take nothing for granted and appreciate life itself.

Here is my first one

Hey guys . Yipee..I'm back into blogging and its gonna be fun to meet u all again. Hoping to have a great time. Lets kick start and keep rocking once again.