Wishful thinking

A person sitting in a train, going to another country, coz of war in homeland, hoping for a wonderful place - that's wishful thinking

A person who's sitting in a cubicle and dreaming/visualising about being the CEO or something - that's wishful thinking

A person waiting to 'fall' in love - that's wishful thinking

A person going about doing his daily routines waiting for something cool to happen in his life ... (movies like matrix, wanted etc. earn heavily on this feeling) - that's wishful thinking

A person going through rough times 'knowing' that things will become better - that's wishful thinking

Wishful thinking is anything that 'avoids' work .... and gives a feeling of comfort

It can be very useful in 'difficult' situations but one who constantly dreams like this is just trying to repress his own feelings and powerlessness and justify his own sloth ....

Excessive dose of wishful thinking can be curbed by courage ... wishful thinking of 'making your life a way you would feel alive' would need perhaps the highest does of courage ....


Courage

Once out in the battlefield with a sword and shield, it doesn't need courage to fight - it's kill or be killed.

Once in the possession of things; it doesn't need much courage to 'risk' losing those things to try to get better things -- like it's doesn't require much courage to risk you assets to acquire other companies even when the risk involves being bankrupt ...

It doesn't require much courage to kill yourself either -- depressed ones just kill coz their life is not one to be lived, some sacrifise their life for their loved ones ...

if mainly driven by anger and frustration; it doesn't require much courage to fight a very powerful enemy ...

Courage is not taking 'risks' where chances/probabilty of success can be atleast vaguely calculated

Courage is not a strong person risking hurting himself trying to defend a weak one

Courage is not sacrifising your luxuries for the welfare of the society

Courage is not even a warrior's defense of his pride (in form of clan/nation of just his 'manhood') by fighting a strong enemy with whom he's most likey lose his life ....

(ok too much exaggeration; now getting to the point)

courage is a weak poor man trying to defend his 8year old son from the bullet of soldier's gun

courage is a warrior giving up his pride (like in sacrificing his life for 'proving' or other stupid reasons) for the better of his clan/nation/family/himself especially when everyone around his will joke at his 'non-manliness'/cowardice

courage is the weak staring the eyes of powerful (i wanted here to write God but couldn't sepearted the omnipotent part from other 'attributes') and saying 'no'; knowing that that will be his doom (the powerful can be the society which set the norms for 'respectable' doing -- like sacrificing life for country - not that that's bad ... but maybe the courage of martyrdom is actually just fear of bad-will among society or something)

courage is looking inside your own self and accepting your (real) self (the most courageous thing of all i guess)

courage is like fighting the tornado when all you have is a stick ... (although it might be the stupidity)

found this quote on http://www.quotegarden.com/conformity.html which i read after writhing the 'know thyself' below while searching for a completely different quote :) :

"Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause." ~Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil


Know thyself

If you know your own self then, i think, courage will come automatically for doing other things - coz there will be no conflict between 'what should i do -- this means that thing goes wrong and that means the other thing goes wrong' -- it will not be a 'this' or 'that' choice that you weigh and choose (like weighing life and pride) - it will be saying 'no' when you know something is against what you essentially are ... even when that thing is God himself ... (replace god by any other superpowerful or fearful thing that makes this more effective)

But there's plenty of courage required just to accept yourself :

Your shortcomings obviously
but much more than that what 'you can do' coz you will be afraid of doing that ... coz ... you are used to the way you are living now ... how will you live otherwise .... how will you manage doing this and that ... how will you be acceptable to the society ...
and there will always be the lucrative option of 'compromise', which generally is nothing more than a sort of surrender from your part

Real compromise is accepting hardships to 'be yourself' not sacrificing the alive/humun part to 'ease' your path ...

(wanted to write more ... therefore did not post it the same day (sunday) ... but i think that should not be the way (or no more than one day delay :) ) will write next on 'courage and narcissism' i guess :) and 'the tragedies of life'

Money, philosopher's stone and homunculus

Money is power and the way the economic world system is today it's power is inherently based on exploitation ... or in other words - on the grief of millions of people of the planet ... fma's philosopher's stone has same thing ... a very powerful thing ... that violates law of equivalent trade (like money :) ) ... and get's it's power from the grief of people (alteast in fma1) ((for creation of philosopher's stone ... many cities are destroyed for live humans form the main ingridient of philosopher's stone) ...

in fma2, homunculus (soul-less being with physical composition same as humans) can be 'made' by injecting a live human with some philosopher's stone ... general response as in the anime is that the human will not be able to bear the changes that the philosopher's stone brings about in the body and dies... but once in a while a human will survive ... and he will have great power .... (in the anime the first time the story is told by Wrath, a homunculus thus made, and who's the head of the country :) )

homunculus are described as soul-less and the philosopher's stone is their core ... now replace philosopher's stone by money and what do you get ... modern man :)

devoting yourself to money makes you a lot lot lot more powerful but takes away your soul ....

"The less you are, the less you express your life, the more you have, the greater is your alienated life and the greater is the saving of your alienated being." -- KARL MARX

but those who have money make the whole world go round (like wrath in the anime) -- very powerful beings ...

I feel like someone who's about to be injected with the philosopher's stone ... coz i am not able to see a visible way to 'live' life ... and might soon take on the visible 'traditional' paths (mba/ms/phd) (most likey mba .. if i am to boldly take in the philosopher's stone :) ) ... it's a tragedy of today's world that people have to work so much just to be fed (below poverty line); those who have enuf are powerless if they try to find their identies outside of their 'work'; it's a world in which you are either exploited or exploit or both ..... and to exploit ... either you take in the philosopher's stone ... or are naive enough or prevent your thoughsts from recognising the exploitive nature (directly or indirectly) of your 'work' (as is clear in the simple 'innocent' phrase -- 'i am just doing my job')

Money : the true fiction

take a 500 rs note in ur hand (or any other note for that matter) and think what gives this piece of paper it's value ... does the government ... no ...

1. you can take this note; give it to a shopkeeper in exchange for 'goods' -- why will the shopkeeper do so ?? -- coz he can again do the same ...

2. If you sell some thing for 500 and i sell same for 400 someone with knowledge of both will prefer 400 one ... this keeps value of money in regulation (kinda)

will elaborate on the 'keeping in regulation' part later

but it's clear that money has value coz people BELIEVE in it


Money as the new religion

If tommorrow all people on this planet were to think of the cash as pieces of paper (which they are) and the money in their accounts as electronic bits (again they are :)) THERE WOULD BE NO VALUE FOR MONEY ... so this is a system of FAITH

Money is the new GOD; it is omnipotent at least :), it exists only because people believe in it and it provides as an object of DEVOTION (people spend their entire lives building their careers, houses and capital)


Money as power

This people's faith is the VALUE of money and this value is it's power : you can give out pieces of paper or transfer bits and you get a car using fossil fuels to pollute the planet just so that you can feel proud to own a car (and you can justify it by saying it's used for travelling distances); you can get food preparations of the seven continents ; you can enjoy art music opera; you can buy a gun and shoot people


Money's power as refuge

Today a man doesn't have much in control. He HAS TO go to school. He HAS TO take employment in some form or the other under some mega machine (corporation/business) (small businesses, if they survive, still follow market laws more than one's own life/lifestyle - which btw has reduced to 'making profits'). He HAS TO be ambitious and try to be successful.

Man has lost so much control over his life that he has become passive :

-> His work is something that happens to him (although he is apparently doing it) -- may be more clear wud be if i said -- his job is something he GETS -- he pleases his boss - becomes 'creative', 'hard working' bla bla ... ... the only relationship to his work is money (well u can argue about 'enjoying' your work - well so can a prostitute ... a different wording of this point wud be ... well are all prostitutes (well most of us) although non-sexual -- and that reminds me - if sex wasn't supposed to be 'bad' or guilt-arousing maybe this comparison wud be easily digestible and u wud see people as prostitues :) :)

-> he 'falls' in love (like being struck by a lightning -- you have like no control over it )

-> he 'has fun' -- watching tv, drinking booze, drugs, sex, even travel is supposed to 'provide' you with the neccessary 'entertainment' or 'differentness' ('having fun' provides justification for work which with time becomes obsessional work)

-> etc. :)

Having money provides with a sense of power (and having a family too) which helps, together with 'having fun', in repressing the powerlessness one feels - so much so to be totally unaware of it.

Man today is a slave of his own wants (which he calls needs), wants which exist solely in (desparte) attempt to please him and repress his state of powerlessness
and

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Money's value

Let's suppose everyone has some money that they have and it's neither created nor distroyed ... only 'circulated' -- the cost of things wud be 'simple' demand and supply based and assuming non-varying demand and supply, no change in cost -- and not a very 'growing' society; but self-sufficient and also happy (actually not very unhappy :) ) assuming everyone started with almost same amount ...

Now suppose that a very rich guy now has an extra 1000 rs outa thin air; where does that get it's value ; assuming 'fixed' value pool; it derives it's value from that so let's say M money has value V so (M + magic 1000) also has value V so the value of money associated with M decreases (the rich become more rich) - but V can also increase proportionally provided people do more work :)

So what's happening ... is there magic money ?? ... YES ... loans ... that money is created outa thin air ... and both things happen ... decrease in value of 1k rupis (inflation) and people working more and more ... omg ... there's the problem of socitey hunh ? ...

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." -- (Mayer Amschel Rothschild ??)

and if this is not enuf there always interest to repaid for loans .... interest for money created outa thin air ... kool ... let the poor work their ass off just to earn living and the rich get interest on their money .... and best of all earning interst thru mutual funds, real estates and all ... one doesn't even notice the inherent exploitation of the poor (poor just here invokes pity :), everyone is exploited ... even the rich .. coz as i said ... the power of money just represses ... )

Ok, so much for the new GOD; i must now become an atheist sufi :) .... (want to put some rumi's poetry in but don't think anything with money/poverty)

“Poverty is my pride.”

- Prophet Muhammad