An Ape who can communicate!

Man is a social animal.
I remember reading this is in my social class as a child and was confused that how can we be animals. Then i was told by my teacher that homo sapiens have evolved from apes. Great! i have ape genetics, but have i evolved is the question i was not prepared for at that age.
As i grew up , i  could not help but smile at this, as we humans ourselves say this with dignity, the irony never left me that we still consider ourselves Animals. In the food chain , are we on top? or do we fear someone who is above us and we have very diligently   made them instinct. It was definitely the animals who came before us, therefore its easy to believe that our primate functions are still based on our animal instinct or have we actually evolved? I have never heard anyone say i have human instincts. Its a question which i am not sure i will get the correct answer for.
Yes we have created a way of life; our code of conduct to be social animals, we live in houses than in caves, we wear clothes, read and write and some of us work. Yet in our nature how much have we evolved?
Across cultures we have a hierarchy system, which exists in our personal and professional lives , religion, even in politics and lets not forget the caste system. Somehow so similar to animal kingdom, rules of the jungle apply to modern civilisation.
I hear many times people motivating their teams and saying its a jungle out there and you have to be ready for everything to be the market leader. So if i have competition in the market, i assume my market is my jungle and i need to be prepared with all i have to become the market leader?
What makes me laugh is you see people with degrees from reputed institutions and yet when you start talking to them you realise we have only learned the art of communication but our innate inner essence is still that of an animal. "I am more educated, i understand the world problems better, i am a better leader, i can provide better solutions, this culture is stupid, what does your religion know about mine" etc etc etc..... this is what we hear in every conversation. Who is Better and more Powerful?Sometimes all these people remind me of hyenas than a lion in the jungle. Damn so our evolution has led us where in the food table in the animal kingdom?
If we evolved from animals, than why are we so anti- nature? We cut trees in acres every day for what purpose of technology? We leave carbon footprints, making air we breathe in toxic for our own health. We have tried nuclear tests in ocean, have had huge oil spills and killed many species for?Forget anti- nature, if we have evolved, why can a human not stand together with other humans? Why are we always pushing the weak down? I have yet to meet a community which stands together as one, helping each other, not trying to gain from some one's misfortune. Strange this sounds as i see herds of cows, zebras, deer, elephants, hyenas and lion who move together as one. Yet some how survival of the strong has taken a different turn in our human evolution. We create war for what? Resources, ammunition industry.. what? World dominance and apartheid for what? Does this makes us better human beings? I cannot answer any of these questions which arise in my mind, because to understand a Human mind which is still evolving and is less logical, it seems it is still ruled by our primate genes of evolving from an ape.
Therefore one thing which hits me is -  Has our evolution led us to be losers than we were before our evolution?

Simplicity, the most misunderstood word

Life is simple, don’t complicate it.

Simplicity the most used word yet very misunderstood in today’s world. What does simplicity mean to any of us? Our mindset gives us different view points on this word. Someone being nice to people, down to earth, polite, humble, caring , philanthropist,  not being flashy etc. Each culture and society has a different meaning for one word. How simple is this?

My search for the meaning took me to different people and views. Each differing in nature at some point but the basics being the same. It was a task to find one simple human being. Surpised!! Well so am I, simplicity used everyday in our sentences for processes and describing our way of life, used to have a good image of an individual or company yet when you go searching for a simple human being its tough to find one.

So what is Simplicity or Simple living ?

From Wikipedia meaning of Simple living;

Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in quality time for family and friends, work–life balance, personal taste, frugality, or reducing personal ecological footprint and stress. Simple living can also be a reaction to materialism and conspicuous consumption. Some cite socio-political goals aligned with the anti-consumerist or anti-war movements, including conservation, degrowth, social justice, ethnic diversity, tax resistance, and sustainable development.

How many ticks do you have on the above? 

Our thought process is such that we think too much on simplicity, therefore we loose the essence of being simple somewhere in our life. If I look at it spiritually, human beings have a purpose in life, that purpose could be anything. My Nature is my Purpose. If I say my nature is my purpose, then how come we are not even 1% close to nature in its natural habitat? We see a jungle, open space, we want to convert that into a beautiful landscape for living purposes or for beauty purpose. Everything by the end of our purpose is materialistic opportunity. We have NGO’s who are supposedly trying to put a check on our environment, yet our nature is to fight them at any given time. Our progress is our innate DNA evolution, instead of evolving as simple human beings we are progressively evolving as a technology breed.

My wants are many and my nature wants me to excel to get these wants for me to showcase my simplicity once I have everything I want. It’s a joke and we all live it every single day of our life. I did a net search on this topic, as we are children born out of technology, don’t forget the test tube and IV fertilization. There are many authors and their methods for us to have a simple living. Imagine we have reached to this level that now we have to have external help for us to understand and abide by these ways to try having a simple living. Where is the simplicity in this thought?

I have been baffled by the very spirituality of many people, we want to find peace, we want simple life, yet we complicate it further in our quest for simplicity.

Maybe a change in this mindset might trigger the simplicity which we all are looking for. Maybe letting go of our fears and addictions might help us to strengthen our desire to try walking down the path of simplicity.

I admire people who create empires of wealth which probably 99% of people on this planet can only dream of. They are focused only on making money, but the fact is they are feeding so many families in their innate desire to be the wealthiest people on this planet makes them worthy of their desire. They have a purpose, even though spiritually many people might not agree with my this statement, but then instead of venting our frustrations in act of spiritualism, environment, social justice etc, these people are creating something. Yes there are lots of side effects to this and we can debate all our lives about them but the point is they focused on their goals. They don’t need motivation, they are the motivation.

So is simplicity , in plain simple words sticking to your Goals? I find people who are hard to persuade from their goals very objective and simple. They have a vision and they don’t let any external forces or influences effect their goals. They constantly keep changing their strategies all with the objective of meeting their goals.

Focus on anything is simple. I have never been a writer and one can see my writings are ramble thoughts of mine. I wanted to take a journey within to find out my purpose in my life. This I can only do once I can understand myself. I have desires, I love luxuries, I like being myself. Will I be happy if I had to sleep on road? No I don’t think so. Would I have had the same mindset and thoughts if I was born in poverty? Obviously not. As I have lived in luxuries, therefore its easy for me to say yes I can let go of buying a designer dress and give that money to help save a child today. So in my understanding as we are born humans, We will make all the mistakes possible before we embark on being simple. 

We have a habit of always putting things in categories. Our whole view is as per what people say and think. therefore to be simple, maybe our first mindset change needs to be towards this view. There is a definition of Simple and if we need to meet these criteria's even though i don't want to be subjected to certain points, i am forced because i want people to say what a Simple person i am. Being oneself, and living with a purpose not for self but as a whole is the closest to a definition i can come to.

We have to find our own simplicity and our own simple living.

My experiences and expectations will not help you find yours. But yes there is a start if you are interested in reading my experiences and my journey within that you are ready to take your journey within.

Judging people and situations is not being simple, accepting everything as it is , is what makes Life Simple.

So is Simplicity,  individual's view to Life?

Silence

There is so much of noise every where and we are in the middle of this circus which we have created. 

Ever wondered what does silence sound like? Yes no typo error, what is the sound of silence? 

I got a first hand experience of this recently. Sitting at the Indian ocean shore, with no wifi or connectivity, all i could do was look at the serene ocean. The silence was a music, of the waves lapping on the tide and coming to meet me on the shore. The tune of my heartbeat and breathing were creating a melody with these waves, and the energy was exuberant  far more musical than all the noise which i have heard all my life.

The absolute disconnect with the world was more magical and mystical in nature than i could have imagined. As i did not have an option to get on my smart phone for anything other than listen to music or take pictures, therefore the complete disconnect to me was a blessing in disguise. Many a times i have tried to discipline myself to not check my messages, or  notifications but still some where i have always cheated and managed a peak into the outside world. But on this trip i had no choice, and the effort to check whether i had the signal or data connectivity lost its battle once i experienced the total silence.

I felt as if the world had stopped and i was one with nature and for the first time i felt i was in Now. There was no thought which crossed my mind and i was in a meditative state without making any effort to meditate. This is when i realised the true sound of silence. 

Nothing creates everything and in this nothing is what everything is. 

The sound of Silence is more intoxicating than any sound we will ever hear in our lives. My inner journey took a different turn with this, i experienced bliss as it is said in books and by many spiritual people. When there are no thoughts, no fear, no past, no future but just you and this moment. In my meditation i have come across this feeling many times, but to experience this state without any effort was the first for me.

We have heard "Silence is golden" in the context of speaking less and let the other person talk in a conversation. or not making a fool of oneself by speaking too much. To me Silence is Music and this is what i will like to rephrase as when we find ourselves, we don't need to challenge ourselves to listen to people who we have no interest in. Yes we learn from people, but then what is it that i want to learn from someone is the most important question. With so many people making their voices heard and numerous discussions which we all do on daily basis, yet no one understanding each other. This is the price we are paying by creating so many noises, who is actually listening?

I was once very angry at an incident and wanted to write a stinker mail to the concerned person, but was advised by my colleague to not write a mail but talk it out. Reason, once its written there will be a ripple effect but if spoken, people forget. Strange is this not? If i want to say things to you then its better to say them than write them. But i wanted to give a warning to the person for not doing the job as expected and wanted no repetition of the same mistake again. So my question, we create so much noise every minute of our lives, who really listens to us?

There is a meditation i teach, 'still your mind', and in this meditation the only effect i ask the person to remove is the noise and thoughts. Let the clutter go away for the mind to be still. Once we achieve this still state its easy for us to be objective and logical in our thinking. A fresh mind thinks faster than an overloaded mind.

To maintain even an hour of silence, disconnecting from the world for 60 minutes everyday, one will see how the brain wiring will change over time. Many people cannot meditate, they have a mind block or are hyper active and its a belief for many therefore instead of forcing them to meditate i usually ask them to disconnect themselves from the world for 60 minutes. What is it one going to do, read a book? think about their work strategy? think of a new technology? what is the question many ask and all i tell them is Nothing ! do nothing.

Imagine to do nothing for 60 minutes. No work, no computer , no phone, no music, no thoughts ..... simple plain nothing. How many can actually attain this 60 minutes of bliss? 

Think about it, Silence calls us and we don't hear it in this clutter.