Life is now, in this moment. Cliched? Yes. But then stop for a second and think… do we really live or are we just keeping ourselves busy going from one problem to another trying to solve the problem that we’ve made of our lives… eventually in the end death is the solution no matter what the problem because beyond that final resolution there is nothing you really need to worry about… well at least nothing that you could effectively do anything about really… so do we want to be stuck solving mundane stupid problems that we ourselves created or would it rather not be simpler to just be a little less rigid about what we expect from life? For where do the problems come from if not from our expectations. We expect things to be a certain way. Kids should be doing this good at school or better. I should be making this much money or more. Wife should have an iPhone 11 or 11Pro. Car, oops sorry cars, should be 2 litre 4 cylinder or more, camera should have 83x zoom or more, speaker should be a Bose Soundbar or better… What difference does it make? Seriously what difference? Do you feel happy when you have all of that? No. Some of it? No. So then we go out and create more problems. We want all that and family and friends and affection and adulation and recognition and a Nobel prize (right that would be great please thank you). And then comes conflict and the push and the pull and the stress and the cancer and the ulcers and the fear of death. So you went through life and all you did drove you to a death that was going to be right there waiting for you if you had not taken the circuitous route as well… how interesting. Death is so much more loyal than life.
Minimalism, cliched again, but that is what is the answer. Find your passion. Forget the money, the 4 cylinder bullshit (where would you drive it anyway the roads are fucked)… follow your passion once you’ve found it. Live with your heart and make the most of what you have. Write, go build a garden, paint, sing, dance, do maths if that’s your thing (for some people it is) though there’s computers, you know. Computers can do maths better than humans now, in fact there’s computer programs that can write more computer programs… so yeah maths and science are over rated now. Humans have been surpassed in those fields we’re mere data entry operators for the most part throwing up more of useless faff… Unless you really want to convince yourself that you invented ironman yourself not with the help of Jarvis. Jarvis wont mind, not for the time being. Case in point remember blockchain? Anyone? Yeah it’s still got potential you’d think… We as a collective are trying to sell ourselves our own potential by first thinking of grand ideas and then trying to convince ourselves that these are really really really grand ideas… in simple words we’re just lying to ourselves… Cloud computing is another example, it was the future, the ultimate uptime guarantee… remove the server admins from the soup for one hour and you have 48 hours (and counting) of outages at the largest bank in the country … don’t just trust me on this go look for what happened at HDFC bank between 1st and 3rd December 2019… right so much for technology we’re just creating tools for bigger white outs… human intelligence and importance in any system can never be replaced by technology… Some may say science saves lives… fat good that’s done to our planet if all that it’s achieved is over population… isn’t a shorter yet happier life much more desirable than a drug fueled hanging by a thread drudgery…
Humans were not built to do math and science they were for the most part forced into it. Humans were built to be creative, to bring meaning to this universe. To find beauty in a drop of water, or two drops (check out macro photography shots you’ll be amazed). Humans were meant to enjoy what was put on this earth not what was in it …we drilled holes and pulled it all out… all the iron and the oil and made our concrete jungles and built facebook and whatsapp and twitter and just went to our deaths assuming we made the world a better place. Did we really? Or did we just fuel our greed and assuage our fears by amassing huge fortunes while inflicting huge pain. The guy who made the electric car that’s orbiting Mars today per me is the greatest asshole ever, he’s convinced himself that he’s doing the earth a favor by making himself a fortune… same sentiment for every billionaire out there writing his autobiography and philatropist-ing like no tomorrow.. first create a problem then earn cred for trying to solve it… did we ever turn around and ask “dude whatchya burning and where” to generate the electricity for charging that car… more important did the cadmium rain down from the heavens or did you fuck up the ecology some place on this earth to get that for making your cars?… we just create more problems trying to solve problems which were never there to begin with. Go use those legs dude walk a mile or two or ten you’ll live happier. No we have to keep up with the Joneses.
But then that is not what I had started off from… what I had started off from was much simpler as far as thoughts go. It doesn’t take much to be happy. But in all the noise that surrounds us we forget that simple fact. It takes just two legs and a path, one foot in front of the other a friend you can talk to and… that’s it.
Don’t lose yourself in the noise. The world has lost it’s shit and is completely out of whack. Don’t let it make you go bananas as well. Work hard but make sure you know what you’re working for. No not for the rent, EMI, credit card, school fees etc. etc. etc. no. You are working for the soul. If your soul is not eating properly your life is fucked. The best work comes when you work for the soul, for yourself. The money is incidental (no do not get me wrong it is important to pay bills, just don’t confuse the two things). I could earn a boat load of money doing stuff that I hate, in places where I am all alone or I could make a smaller boat load of money doing stuff that I love. What makes me happier? The iPhone 11 Pro or the ability to talk to the people whom I wish to talk to when I want to talk to them?
How is it that the people for whom I profess so much love that I promise to give up my life to see them happy are the ones I can barely make time for in my day? Where did we go wrong? I think the answer is out there blowing in the wind… follow your passion… and if you’ve not found it yet then go lose yourself and work on finding it, make it your top priority.
Think about this radical paradigm shift, people always say they want a lot of money, lots and lots and lots of money… what I always say is I need enough to never want. Trust me there is a huge huge change you will notice if you place that order instead of the previous filthy-rich demand. The universe will recalibrate itself to provide you with a wallet that always has exactly the right amount of money for exactly the right amount of needs. You will become less greedy and your needs will reduce is the reason because when you know there’s always enough in the wallet you don’t crave as much anymore …just like how kids will be “very full” and never want more pasta when they know there’s a bowlful of the stuff still sitting on the kitchen counter… it’s called contentment or more precisely a sense of security and it doesn’t come from having more but from knowing that there’s enough. There’s enough for everyone just not enough for everyone’s greed.
Some might say “easy for you to say try walking in my boots”. To that I say throw away those boots you don’t really need them boots if they’re hurting you so bad. Look for new shoes and in the meanwhile walk bare feet. I’ve been there and done that (bare feet running was my thing way before Milind Soman discovered it and made it his mantra)… if you do not have shoes do not worry your feet wont fall off you just might cure that bad plantar issue that was troubling you all those years (it helped me actually I fixed my plantar fasciitis with bare foot running)… there are a billion ways to make a living all you need to do is throw away those old shoes and start walking a different route. The new boots will present themselves in no time. For all you know you’ll discover people who are more than eager to help you on your journey, lend you their shoes (don’t take the smelly ones though, those will leave a lingering stink).
So yeah everyone can follow their passions, find their rainbows and attain happiness they just need to believe they can do it for nothing kills enthusiasm and a gloriously happy life more than self doubt. Believe in yourself go do what makes you happiest and do it well. Don’t worry about the RoI. Time spent on doing something you love will always be time well spent. After all the idea needs to be to spend time well not just spend it anyhow …for there are always many routes you can take but it’s only the scenic route that makes the journey worth the effort and what else is life but a journey from point A to point B.