Pointless reflections

It sometimes occurs to me, that some of us are engaged in practicing certain set of ‘things’. These things, which if continuously practiced, will spew out ye many number of people who are disgruntled, frustrated, unsatisfied and apathy ridden on both sides of all the tables, I so feel.

Let’s start by asking some questions.

What is our societal culture like? What does it rewards? What does it appreciate? What does it tacitly encourage? By 'our' I mean the 'people like us' bubble in which we – the second generation, Indian urban youth – were brought in. Where, our everyday-maneuver is not an undertaking in ensuring our survival. Where we know, before-hand, and are sure about, the outlet from where our next set of daily 2800 KCal requirement and pocket currency is going to dutifully present itself from. This surety, even as it incites creativity, and refined thought-process, propels ignorance and lethargy. It is sort of a shot of opium for the head. As all it then has to do is direct the energies gained into furthering of the 'Ego'.

'Ego' - which puts into picture the ‘Self’. Self-preservation, self gratification, self identification, self expression - all those aspects which furnish to the need of external validation of this very ‘Self’. And mind you, this idea of 'self' was very important when we tried to hunt in packs and ensure that our community lives to the see the next day. The need to be 'accepted', ‘applauded’, ‘appreciated’, ‘envied’, 'feared'.  The current times in which this 'people like us' bubble exists, makes all these aspects and their perceived importance a bit redundant, I so feel. Hence this ego doubles up as our alter-self, whose only job then remains is to 'create' a ‘personality’. Where every word that leaves our mouth should come out of a motive which would help us create this 'personality' better. My inner corruptions – to exaggerate an occurrence because the inflated form helps me further my agenda of getting the idea transmitted 'effectively' and ‘undisputed’, or say, to downplay the aspect of another grey-area occurrence, thereby bypassing the ordeal of dealing with the repercussions which it might entail shall it go out unchecked, unfiltered, uncensored – and many more of my such little deceitful streaks of human fallibility. All of them will come out full blown and in vibrant colors – Tom-tom-ing only the 'positives', either real or manufactured. Everything guided by the fear of the unknown. Quite frequently, it’s a contrived effort to mask the myriad dysfunctions that exist in our lives by airbrushing off anything remotely afoot. (Think here: Why 'Facebook' is actually such a big hit.)

Just look at what happens then, there's now 'motive' behind everything. Everything I write, I speak, I do, I ignore. Everything. Nothing is done for the sake of just doing it, but it is done so that in the next 50 steps of cause-and-effect carousel, something 'works-out' for me. Something. This spike in snobbery, disdain, hypocrisy, and narcissistic behavior out of ye many reasons discussed above, when extrapolated to the matter of bullying someone/some group into accepting what ‘I’ feel is correct, makes tremendous sense.

This need to carve out a new pathway on which a new personality can be based onto, leads to people over-promising and under-delivering. Most of the time if not always,. It is what is at work when you see someone curse and cuss because they are ‘cool’, 'the in-thing', and ‘hip’. It is what is at work when see someone not attend show up at a place to where it assumed they would or at times, expected of them to, because  "look at me, I am the bad-ass, the anti-establishmentarian, the destroyer of the 'authority figure', the disregarder of societal formats.’Like' me already on my FB Album!" . This is what is work when you see people half filling rectangular pegs in round cavities at work, just to generate a fake status report which depicts a fabricated 's' shaped progress curve, so that "I 'get' the ‘incentives’. The quality of the work be dammed. I need the dough to acquire materials and participate in the pop-culture of consumerism. Thereby ‘own’ stuff which’s termed ‘Owner’s pride and neighbor’s envy’. That I am better than someone else and that that someone secretly envies what all I seem to have, is the only reassurance I need to get by the day."

But, society ‘wants’ you to ‘need’ things. So, yeah, I guess…

But, this phenomenon is just so everywhere in our 'people-like-us' bubble. Isn't it? People fail to realize that constantly impressing others is not only exhausting, but also costly, time-consuming, and off-putting. In the foray to get ahead, people are increasingly sacrificing integrity and compassion for a life of sham and a false sense of respectability. Overall, the riptide of social consciousness is making the inhabitant of this 'people like us' bubble fearful, self-absorbed, ostentatious, and disengaged from ‘inner’ reality. This inner reality, which when lit up and strived upon to get to, is what generates the 'greater-good'. To forgo it just because we want to portray ourself as someone who is too cool for the mainstream – not in a 'maverick by virtue' kind of a way but a 'fake hipster' kind of a way, unsure of one’s own actual capacity – seems mind numbingly stupid.

Of course, this all is just putting on all fours what slowly will develop into something called 'mankind behavioral pattern', something to be looked at in retrospect and be dissected to hilt to derive an understanding of how one's culture shapes one's behavior. Stuff of academic interest for some, and things to be amused by for others (me).

But should we? Should we keep continuing this relay of back-slapping? Or, shall I say, should a part of the 'people like us' bubble not turn around and question, ‘why is this happening?’ And, ‘why should it keep happening?’ I mean, I sometimes wonder what are we human beings if not some resource hogging, perennially cribbing, ‘the other’ hating, lying, corruptible blobs of imperfection. But then, I get the answer: This deep seated imperfection is such an important aspect of the larger-than-the-self perfection which warps the whole existence. It this streak of imperfection that is present here to dole out required amount of moral and ethical dilemmas which we should encounter, ..as we wade through this brief window of sentience which we have being offered by some over-riding potent power which we'll ever understand. All our lies, our dishonesty, our lives fraught with hypocritical thought-streams, xenophobic instincts, greed, laziness, short-cut-ism....must be put to use. Or else all we'll be involved in doing is increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the air as we exhale....and systematically notching up the per-capita fraud of this blue-green-dot floating carelessly around a center of the many centers.  Hence, all these aspects should co-exist for all these aspects to evolve in good time. Just as what an Earthworm is to Agriculture so is this reversibility inducing, proverbial opposite opinion, so to say. As Swami Vivekananda once said, "No one goes from the ‘false’ to the ‘truth’; all just go from one ‘truth’ to the other’ truth’." Everything is necessary. This potential difference is what makes the world go round. This Universe – of which I too am an organic product – has an embedded self-correcting/self-balancing, neutral, unbiased mechanism. Hence, regardless of me getting all worked up about pointlessly reflecting upon it or not, everything is already alright. And will continue to be so.

I know, the utter of pointlessness of it all. Sorry for wasting your time.