What is the core of happiness ,the Road to long lasting well being

 Being spiritual is really fun, best part is you can be atheist and still be  spirit of a higher order. My definition of spiritual individual is very simple, they are sorted out individuals. People like Osho, Allan Watts etc are somewhat really good at conveying there spiritual knowledge  in simple way. Watts comparison of money with latitude and longitude, time etc conveying that it is a  concept evolved out of the need to overcome difficulty of barter system. It is an offshoot of the invention of language by humans to describe the world around. He without wasting any time adds the invention of language is highly inadequate to comprehend a much more complex world. 

So is money just a measure of wealth and not wealth itself. Riches and wealth for him are completely different than money. He describes riches as refinement attained by skilling oneself, intelligence, arts etc also the land, forest, gardens . Basically any act of Creation is an act of wealth making.

 The basic acts of human life like clothing, food preparation, love making, conversations, mediation, fitness etc., are so neglected that it has been relegated to a secondary place. No training is available to anybody to refine on this aspects of living a rich life. Instead what happens is that we as a society are so mad in pursuance of money that we sacrifice the youth and health for it to enjoy the same post retirement. This whole aspect of post retirement life and working life is really denying a whole generation their very right to life. A whole generation is seen running after money, stressed out and with a deteriorated health. 

Why is it that the best moment of creation, winning at something, facing a difficult situation at work place or family and overcoming it gives the kick as in the kick derived out of smoking a cigarette. One needs his/her share of kicks to keep going in life or else I don't see any reason to be alive. Be it sports, performing arts, listening to a scholar, reading a book, watching an excellent movie etc everything will touch you in a way money just cannot. The feelings generated, the state of excitement, the state of flow can't be imitated by any amount of money.

Although the illegal drugs and alcohol are used rampantly just to escape the drudgery of life by the same people who are running after money, terming the same as enjoyment. The pressure of money pursuation blinds such individuals to see and enjoy the beauty on the journey called life. Instead such individuals are so bogged down by there goals wrapped around money making that they forget to live. Such persons are never present in the moment, always in hurry of going somewhere. This permanant state of mind causes a chasm between the mind and the body leading to tiredness and a depressed state of mind. Out of my personal experience  I have learnt, tiredness occurs first in mind and the body just reacts to your state of mind. A state of disarray then produces same effect on the body.  Long term and short term effects such as weight gain and stomach upset, headaches etc. A

 Famous quote regarding life says life  is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans. Therefore it is very necessary to be in present in the moment and understand the reality.

In conclusion I must say the simple joys of life, pursuit of excellence and skills etc., are the core elements of a life well lived.

-Akshay

The Mindless monologue

 As a school going kid I remember how six to eight kids  travelling to school in autorickshaw spoke sparingly because everyone's mind would be occupied or rather tangled by some unknown anxiety and fear regarding mundane chores in school but which felt larger than life then. If one forgets to wear a tie or belt, or doesn't do homework etc., then the whole task used to be save oneself from getting caught. Even till today mind is still caught up in Saving oneself from getting caught on wrong side of the rule. Going to office in morning, mind is still occupied by one thing or the other with very less space to think independently and creatively. Nothing has changed in a way from school to office, mind is conditioned to be prison of its own imagination. This imagination schooled by fear, anxiety and nervousness. I feel it's like that of the elephant in circus who is tied by a thin chain to a hook in ground and the elephant feel it cannot move away from the hook because elephant doesn't even realise it's strength. Is it fault of elephant to not realise it's strength or is it fault of  circumstances that the elephant never realises hook has been tied to its mind by conditioning. I can feel sorry for the Elephant but fail to see the chains my mind has been conditioned to.

 Mind cannot stand void. "I think, therefore I am",by  René Descartes doesn't seem empowering to me. Instead it becomes clearer to me that the thinking voice is not me, but it is occupying me. Infact I am not thinking, my mind cannot stop the thinking voice, I don't have any control over the voice. The thinking voice keeps chatter going on all the time, just that I am able not to show it. The day I show it outside by speaking out loudly with the voice I will be pronounced as lunatic. Although it's not me alone , we all as a society are lunatic just that it is not showing up. I realise I can't even think, I just fill the void by the voice talking in my head.