Author: S K Ditta
Realization and changes
There is a lot in life that depends upon realization. We have the information before us a lot of the times. The judgments as to whether that information is correct or not are important but remain secondary. The more important factor is to move from interacting with the information and move on to the point…
Keeping some confidence in other human beings
It is difficult to communicate with others if you do not have any confidence in them. One of the things that make being a human special is the ability to communicate. It is the ability to put thoughts into words that make us unique. It is also, thus, reasonable to conclude that we alone are…
A fascination with wrist watches
I remember, as a young boy, this fascination with wristwatches. At the time, there was no deep philosophical reason for it. Watches simply were machines to be fascinated with. The way these were designed; how methodical and systematic was the movement of the hands to show the minutes, hours, and seconds! Specifically, some of the…
The notches on tools and the end of the world
We are surrounded by tools. From the ordinary nail cutter to the kitchen knife, to our smartwatches, mobile phones, Wi-Fi routers, and computers. Tools of all different kinds are all around us as evidence of human ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Somewhere, someone saw a need and decided to create a solution for it. In that creating…
Myths give us power – The Power of myth
Source: Myths give us power – The Power of myth When we think of a myth, we tend to think of old stories. Those stories may be real, or at least what we have come to think of as real. Or those stories may be so far removed from how we understand life, we may…
My own quotes and short thoughts on Twitter
I have created this page to put together all the quotes I have tweeted. On Twitter, I have tweeted several authors like Bertrand Russel, William Blake, Plato, Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzche, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and others. This page, however, has only those quotes and short thoughts – with or without picture arrangements –…
The story of the deaf stonemason
In sharing this story, I take a particular pleasure. What this man did for us is of truly lasting value. He worked diligently at our place for just a few days. In those few days, he endeared himself by the way he worked, his mannerisms, how he paid no attention to supervision, and in all…
“The perennial fibre of truth” – Thomas Carlyle. What is it?
There is something inherently easy, comforting, and natural in reading what Thomas Carlyle has written. Insofar as I reached the point of his writing about “Worship” and the “devotion” that mankind has been familiar with, these words have been outstanding: Worship is transcendent wonder; wonder for which there is now no limit or measure; that…
Assumptions regarding the maturity of the self
Maturity isn’t a quality of only the mind. The simplicity of this understanding can have a transformative effect on an individual. It need not have any such effects on society. It might even be childish in itself to consider those ideas that can bind societies and lift them up. There have always been individuals in…
Certain kinds of knowledge and the preservation of sincerity – with some thoughts from Thomas Carlyle
At a certain time in life, and not necessarily as a cause for or a result of an existential crisis, one might be confronted by certain questions. Those questions are about what one perceives of this world and his own attempts at making sense of what is the reality of our personal and collective existence. …
When attention is sustained, a small change can hold the potential for a major shift
Could it rightly be said that small things can hold the potential for a major shift? It is possible that you already understand the possibilities. It is possible, you have seen by way of observation, or experienced in your life when such a thing happens. A very simple, innocuous-seeming conversation, reading a passage in a…
Identity and self-expression; with some ideas from David Hume and Swami Vivekananda
The act of writing, as one does in one’s own journal or a personal diary, brings a person into a unique state of mind. It is the same state of mind as one has when one is talking to himself. These peculiar practices of writing to build a self-record and the talking to oneself are…
The experience of engaging with people – how a change in views is a fundamental need and also beneficial?
There isn’t a greater art and more of it needed at this time than of engaging with people. Engaging with people should be considered the end of all philosophy, systems of belief, or even the systems of society. When a person engages in thinking out solutions to issues or attempts to foresee the end of…
Remembering what my father said about belief
I remember my father as a wise man. He acquired a wisdom that comes from doing work with his own hands, tinkering with any machine for hours and finding a fix when many others would simply give up. And he had the gift of interacting with people face-to-face with an uncommon familiarity. I don’t know…
To be consumed, yet not be burnt – the gentle illumination
It is that image that has always appealed to me. Yes, it brings back to mind the burning bush, the one Moses saw, and from there, his life changed. This is not about Moses though. This is about the bush. An angel is said to have descended upon the bush, manifesting the Almighty God himself. …
Looking at life the wrong way, no long
By the mind one understands. By an excess of the same mind, one misunderstands. How does one escape the tendency to be unsteadied by the extreme of a habit? For as is one’s occupation, so one becomes proficient. The great discovery since the developments of the sciences has been the tendency toward the mind, even…
Existence – Poems by Christopher Venerus
Existence is about life. Existence is the spiritual journey of a man who is traveling through time. It is experiencing one’s own existence in the larger reality of history and of anticipated visions for the future. Existence is sensing the poetry. Existence is about being a boy, growing up to be a man. He discusses…
Comparing the messages of Solomon and Jesus regarding generations and longevity
The contemplations over our life affect how we live. In such thoughts, there are the concerns over generations existing together, what legacy one builds and leaves the latter, and the temporariness of all we have and build. Such contemplation is good. Wise men have done so. They have left their words for us to reflect upon. …
Writing – pen to paper or fingers to keyboard – tradition over modernity
These days, everyone is a writer. That is what technology has done. From the person who composes a short text message and garnishes it with the perfect emojis, to the one who prepares the agenda for an important board meeting, to the one writing in her own journal, everyone is writing. Whether there is some…
Bipolar disorder – the inner conflicts arising from trying to reconcile the Old and New Testament writings
Bipolar disorder has become the accepted name given to the manifest inner conflicts of disturbed individuals. While there are questions and concerns over the diagnosis of bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) itself, there are special considerations that arise as a person’s beliefs are considered. The source of those beliefs also invariably comes into question. Aside from…
How the diagnosis of bipolar disorder keeps a person psychologically trapped?
If you have had even a minimal contact with books on psychology and psychiatry, it is impossible that you have not heard of bipolar disorder. It was previously known by a more sinister name, manic-depressive illness. The words, bipolar disorder, evoke a vivid imagery; manic-depressive illness is even more evocative! The idea of a person…
Analysis and problem-solving don’t bring real happiness
Happiness is such a basic human desire. It also is one of the foremost pursuits of mankind. Whether we are those who consciously pursue happiness or believe it to be like the light that shines through upon us through the clouds when the time for it has come, we all know the good sensation happiness…
Can real happiness be found through objectivity?
It would be difficult to place an exact event or time when a person experiences happiness for the first time. One would very much hope, it was during the days of infancy, even before the faculties of reason had started to develop. And so, by this way of referencing, happiness or the experiencing of it…
How to compete without being enemies?
It seems the most common of tendencies, and almost instinctive for us to compare ourselves with another. We are competing in appearances, in words, in wealth, education, nation, or some other reason that human society has developed to put a division in the family. Our comparisons produce envy and jealousy, but also the aspiring to…