LEADING IN CHAOS

The Big-bang was indeed a chaos. Out of this chaos was born planets, satellites and other astral bodies. Every disorder gives rise to a new order. “In all chaos, there is a cosmos; and in all disorder there is a secret order” says Carl Jung. How does a chaos develop or does it develop at all? “We live in a rainbow of chaos” says Paul Cezanne. From a normal perception, chaos is a disruption to an order, which might disrupt, disengage, dismantle or destroy a system. Nevertheless, the system has to recover in another form either at a macro level or at a micro level, with properties of the past or with newer perceptions. It may evolve as a completely new order with a better focus, contextual and sensitive to the current requirements, fulfilling certain needs and objectives which were essentially not embodied in its former status. Helen Harkness observes that “Chaos breeds creativity; chaos destroys the familiar. It is the bedrock that moves you forward creatively into the future.”

The chaos theory has the familiar metaphor that’ when a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it can cause a hurricane in Texas” So it is fundamental to the theory that the entire universe of the system has to be considered while considering the process and the impact of the chaos. Every single ingredient of the system is impacted by the chaos and it is therefore important to understand, relate, correlate, connect and interpret the impact of each on the other while considering the chaos. Says Christopher Poindexter “The thing about chaos is that while it disturbs us, it too, forces our hearts to roar in a way we secretly find magnificent.” Hence any chaos is not necessarily a cause of disappointment nor is a prelude or a message of a tragedy, but it brings in its womb the possibilities for a future, the ideas for a new generation, the opportunities for a new entrepreneurship.

Leading during the times of chaos is just not a simple case of crisis management. It calls for entirely different set of skills. Not all leaders can be successful during the time of chaos, either to sustain their leadership or to keep the followers in a single unit, given the physical, emotional and other trauma and turmoil they might face on such occasions.

1.   The leader needs to maintain calm and composure.

Times of chaos are occasions which will call for action from different corners of the operating universe, multiplicity of demands to be met forthwith, undefined priorities, pressure tactics from people who matter, noise from people who are attention seekers and abuses or fake communications from the opponents. The leader needs to keep his calm. The leader needs a lot of restraint, composure, skills to look 

at, listen to and take stock of the situation before he decides to venture in any action.

2.   The leader should take a holistic view of the universe of operation

During times of chaos, there will be huge dissipation of attention as many would like to set differentiated priorities. The leader needs to take a holistic view of the source of the chaos, the inputs into the chaos, the sound and fury of the chaos, the resource available on hand, the defence systems that are available both human and others, the consequences of the chaos as well as action against it. The leader is likely to be tempted to engage in actions which may warrant re-engineering later, which may not be the right priorities to be addressed to and the like. Hence, the leader needs to take a holistic view of the entire universe of operation.

3.   

      The leader needs to put in place a chaos management group

The second and third line of defence supporting the leader need to be passionate, engaging and willing to take responsibilities. They should be people with independent and pragmatic thinking, who inherit in themselves certain leadership qualities which empowers them to take independent and humane decisions as and when necessary, without looking for approval at every stage of their progress in the operating universe.

4.   The leader needs to respond and not react

As chaos often is characterized by confusion and conflict, there will be innumerable situations which are provocative, unpleasant and unethical. Members in the universe of chaos who are directly or indirectly impacted by chaos may react emotionally, negatively and aggressively. The leader needs to develop the capacity to listen, but indulge in chosen actions based on his own wisdom. He should avoid reacting emotionally to any of the provocations but should certainly respond adequately and meaningfully with maturity and wisdom. It is important to note that even the body language of the teacher has to be dignified and harmonious with the verbal communication.

5.   The leader needs to be optimistic.

Henry B. Adams says “Chaos breeds life when order breeds habit.” So, a leader needs to be optimistic and should be in a position to foresee the aftermath of the chaos. He should be able to envision and put in place an action plan, not only to manage the chaos but to resurrect at the earliest like a phoenix. “Let the chaos rein and then rein the chaos” says Andrew S. Grove, the Hungary born pioneer in the semi-conductor industry. Optimism is not just a desire, but it is assimilation and acquisition of energy and resources for a futuristic action.

6.   The leader needs to be courageous and forward looking

There could be several moments while facing the chaos that the leader may be urged to lose hope. A number of people with selfish interests, a few who are self-defeatists, a few who have lived cancerous within the past system, a few who want to oppose blindly to demonstrate their existence, a few who want to oppose for political or ideological reasons will be constant working directly or indirectly to defeat the leader psychologically. They will try to create a sense of helplessness and inadequacy. The leader needs to demonstrate courage and should be forward looking so that he is not withheld by the negative sentiments that exist all around.

7.   The leader needs to be communicative

Chaos is often characterised by lack of communication, insufficient communication, improper communication and non-prioritized communication. The leader has to ensure the communication channel is robust, active, engaging and empowering. The messages need to be exercises in confidence building, non-stressful, elaborate and accurate. At the same time, it is important that the leader should have the capacity to filter sensitive information from others and ensure that vitality of the system that holds the secrecy is protected.

8.   The leader should be able to sustain the system

When systems experience chaos, the sentiments in the system are totally destabilised. There is every possibility of the people in the system losing faith, losing confidence and losing motivation and energy. It is the duty of the leader to ensure that the motivational level of the people in the system is sustained by helping them to endure the challenges of the chaos. The leader has to facilitate them to keep their faith in the organization strong and breathe the same comfort levels as in the past. This can be done by exemplary personal relationship of the leader with the members of the team.

9.   The leader should engage in rebuilding the system

Chaos is not an end of any system. It is only a moment of physical, emotional and social anxiety. The leader has to recognize the same and await patiently for opportunities for rebuilding the system. This would call for a fresh energy, a new entrepreneurial vision, shared vision of the people, team work and focused engagement. More than all of them, it requires a team of passionate people who have a fire in the belly to demonstrate and parade their skills and positive outlook.

10.  The leader should learn from the chaos

Situations of chaos are very rare and do not occur frequently. But they are like moments of battle, when new experiences are gathered which have a great value. The leader should be able to make a record of such experiences in terms of challenges, strategies adopted, roadblocks overcome and results. Such a record has a great value at the organizational level than at a personal level. This information would help in recasting, energizing and empowering the second and third line of leaderships.

Usually, even competent leaders find themselves at crossroads while managing the chaos. They often feel they have a very limited time to manage or get over the challenges. True. But they should remember the words of Michael Altschuler “The bad news is the time flies; but the good news is you are the pilot.”

HOME SCHOOLING – TEN THINGS PARENTS COULD DO TO IMPACT THE LEARNING CURVE OF THEIR CHILDREN.

” Children are at home; I really don’t know what to do with them” – a number of parents appear to be lamenting. Many consider their presence at home as loss of their own personal freedom and find it difficult to engage with them in a meaningful and purposeful manner. Taking care of them at home, in a few cases, appears to add to the internal stress of the parents simply because of their lack of understanding of the child psychology or their developmental process. They seem to take some authoritarian role to hold them in clutters, restraining their freedom of thinking and action. Such a situation, has largely arisen, because in the last decade or two, the social psyche had become excessively consumerist, both personally and socially, with excessive focus on performance, growth, achievement, attainment and assimilation. On the contrary, they should feel it is an opportunity that they have got to consolidate and reinforce their relationship with their children.

With schools closed due to the pandemic, there is a compulsory home stay for both children and a large number of parents and a lot of opportunities to remain engaged face to face. It is indeed the time for them to understand each other more intensely and engage with each more closely. What could parents do, during such a time to engage with their growing children so that their learning curve is continually empowered?

1. Facilitate informal learning

Schooling is only one facet of learning process. A lot of learning happens outside the school, without the text books, without any designed formal curriculum and in an informal manner. Quite a lot of inputs gained through informal learning are indeed powerful, are transferred to long term memory, sometimes they are experiential and oftentimes it carries with it a lot of emotionally competent stimuli. They help in formulation of opinions, thoughts, concepts and directions for a healthy life. Home provides an excellent environment for such learning, as they happen without any element of stress and in an environment of cordiality. Further, the learners tend to believe in the authenticity of the content of learning because it is delivered and gained from their own parents. They attribute a lot of credibility, reliability and validity to the message they receive from their parents and grandparents. Such learning inputs reach on the dining table, on the reading desks, during conversations and at bed time conversations.

2. Participate and collaborate in learning

At home, there is a lot of opportunity for participatory and collaborative learning. Such learning experiences are largely dynamic, scaffolding, reinforcing and mutually motivational. It is important for parents to ensure that they don’t display any sense of authority, one up Manship, intellectual superiority or an ivory tower priestly approach. Such learning could be by play way methods, sharing of experiences, story telling and by narratives and anecdotes from the past which help to understand legacy, heritage and culture. Very often the children get motivated to see parents are doing the same thing along with them. Such feeling help to effectively mentor the children in the right direction.

3. Introduce and promote Native culture

It is an excellent time to familiarise them with a large number of activities that promote native culture, indigenous knowledge. Helping them to understand the past is very important as many of these native experiences are hardly available in text books or other literature. Playing ancient local games, explaining to them the lives of local heroes, familiarizing them to the evolution of local culture, folk songs, folk dances and the like will help them to reposition their conditioned learning in the schools. Efforts should be made to promote local languages. The richness of their literature, proverbs and saying from the local communities of the past will help them with richness of inputs that are hardly available to them anywhere else.

4. Trigger and Nurture their curiosity

Curiosity is a powerful tonic. It helps in building self-identity, self-esteem, self-confidence and a sense of achievement and fulfilment. One doesn’t need to make a heavy investment to promote and nurture curiosity. It could just start as a play or as a hobby; then it could even develop as a skill, as a profession or as a life-time engagement driven by passion. Allow them to spend their time in drawing, painting, learning music, play on instruments, writing stories and poems. While using the digital mode is the order of the day, it is important for parents to encourage children to engage in real-time and direct modes of experience than through virtual modes.

5. Facilitate in building Relationships

In an increasingly consumerist society, the concept of relationships is getting totally redefined. They are presently driven largely be needs, usefulness, contexts and comfort levels. There is indeed a need to refocus on relationships as necessities of human engagements both at the personal and social levels. Hence, to understand the concept of family, family relationships, family tree and the generational linkages of the families could be helpful to the young members of the family. Though it might look a little dis-interesting for them to start with, its relevance and importance would be understood at a later stage of life. Further, help them to discuss their emotional and other needs frankly and purposefully with the members of the family. This would help them to eliminate false sense of ego, self-pride, misgivings and other emotional infections.

6. Train them in Home-making

Home making is an art and science in itself. It helps to develop self-confidence and a sense of discipline to life and chosen personal style of living. Right from making a cup of tea or coffee, to cooking and home maintenance could help them to develop a self-dependent and self-organized life style. At no point of time in their life, they would feel helpless, low and as one who need to depend on other people or systems. Further, it would help them to understand on understanding the home economics at a preliminary level. It will also help them to understand the different type of produce which are in common use, their modes of growth, acquisition, management and their value in nutrition management. It will help them to understand the cost of home making, the value of money and the need for objective consumerism.

7. Encourage their Reading Skills

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one.” Says George Martin.  “Reading maketh a full man.” Says Sir Francis Bacon.  For those who love reading, it is said that they are never alone. They will always find a company in each character of a story, a novel, a play or any narrative. Reading opens the wings of the mind and allows the reader to travel to any of his chosen geographies, landmarks of the histories or a situation where they can place themselves or identify themselves. Reading helps them to identify a spectrum of emotions and helps them with the ability to handle them with a sense of wisdom and maturity. Reading helps them to connect the inner world with the outer and vice-versa. Reading transports them to delve deep into the experiences of people whom they had never met and thus acquire the essence of all in a very short period of time. Reading enhances the abilities of comprehension, acquisition of knowledge, their logical organization, their analysis and their message for personal utility. Parents should help children acquire good reading habits, possibly, modelling themselves. It is important to introduce them to the classics of world literature apart from their preferences to modern literature and those that excite, thrill or keep them on their emotional launch pads.

8. Assist in building their Emotional intelligence

In the modern world, there is an increasing evidence of aggression, emotional outbursts, insatiable gratification urges and vulgar display of power, ego and authority. The Gen-next is becoming a victim to these modern trends. Parents should find these periods as excellent opportunities to talk to them and prepare their psychological profile to become simple, humble and sensitive citizens. This would indeed prepare them to meet the challenges of life with better understanding, empathy and compassion. The parents should help the children to differentiate between ‘money’ and ‘wealth’. Several facets of wealth like – health, knowledge, relationships, trust, faith, self-esteem and inter-personal relations.

9. Help them to understand their spiritual power

Sri Aurobindo considers ‘spiritual education’ as one of the vital components of the learning process. The spiritual power of an individual is not limited by his knowledge, perception and practices of any religion, but it extends beyond to his relationship with the entire universe. It includes his relationship with nature, with living organisms, with creatures that contribute to the planet earth’s survival directly or indirectly. It helps to elevate the individual from one’s ‘baser needs’ to ‘the divine power’ where ‘the power of giving’ dominates over ‘the power of receiving.’ It helps the individual to relate to the entire cosmos in an integral manner and seek a meaning for the self in the context of the dynamics of the universe. It helps the individual at all times to win over the self, to battle fearlessly against all odds, to forgive others with compassion and conviction, to share the possessions with others equitably. It is best understood as the ‘power of Being’ than as the ‘power of Becoming.’ Parents can use the interacting opportunities to enhance this belief in the ‘power of Being.’

10. Build their social consciousness

Social consciousness is a gratitude we express to the society which lets us to be what we are. The celebration of independence and freedom is a gift of the society to each of us to celebrate our lives. In this celebration, it is important for us to let others have their human rights, basics for living, their freedom to express and communicate, their passion to pursue what they want to do – and all these under the provisions of the constitutional definitions. Insatiable consumerism often tempts us to rob others from what is due to them. Living a life of comfort, when others suffer in pain, poverty, needs and despair is a negation of social consciousness. Parents should take time to develop the elements of social consciousness through appropriate interventions, models and examples so that the development of the learner is holistic.

As such many of the above suggestions can be introduced and can become effective only to a limited extent in a formal school situation. Hence the home-schooling opportunities, as and when available should be used to cater to these essential life skills.

A CHAT WITH LIFE AND DEATH – (6)

With a complete shutdown, the nation has almost come to a standstill. There are no movements, no transports, no journeys, no gatherings, no parties, no celebrations, no games and no meetings. Has Life come to a standstill? No, the wind is blowing, the clouds are gathering; the birds are chirping; the animals are roaming free; and our essentials are being attended to by our organized sectors of establishment.

What do we tell a person who feels life has come to a standstill?

People don’t believe that our mind is the universe. It can travel anywhere it wants. It carries our cosmos within. It thinks. It dreams. It ideates. It articulates. It generates ideas.

“The Mind is its place; and in itself, can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell” says the great poet Milton. It is said “When the mind is weak, the situation is a problem; when the mind is balanced situation is a challenge; when the mind is strong, the situation is an opportunity.”

Therefore, the way each of us handle the mind indicates the way we would live. It would indicate the way how we handle our life. Lao-Tzu, the renowned Zen Master says “To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders.” We need to let the mind be at rest. There could be a number of ways and each way may be unique and special to you. You need to choose what comforts you.

Let us, therefore, realize that life is all about how we handle the mind and its latent universe. The famous Hollywood actress Merlin Monroe said “The sky is not the limit; your mind is.” It is indeed true.

Talking about the nature of the mind, Kathopanishad says that the mind seeks either “preyas” (that which is pleasant) or “Shreyas’ (that which is good). It adds “The good is one thing and the pleasant is another. Both of them serving a need binds a man.” So, the mind has to discriminate between them and chose the best which will help the self to realize higher goals. How do we do it?

The power of discrimination (Viveka) is therefore the dire need for the mind. In the absence of the power of discrimination, the individual is haunted by ignorance. Says, the scriptures “Ignorance is the failure to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent, the pure and the impure, the bliss ad the suffering, and the self and the non-self.” It must be understood that only the power of discrimination helps us to lead a life that is balanced, righteous, virtuous and that which leads to good. On the contrary, most of us pursue the principle of pleasure, the principle of the immediate, the principle of profit and subject the self to a lot of experiences that inflicts pain and suffering. To get away from this situation, the mind adopts either the ‘fight’ or the ‘flight’ mode. We become either aggressive or we learn to be escapist. Both are states of psychological inadequacy and conflict.

Given the current scenario, when several lakhs of people are confined to their own selves and their doors, with inability to move, inability to perform their routines, inability to engage themselves in alternate engagements, seem to be fighting with themselves. “It is boring”; “it is sickening”; “I feel imprisoned”; “I never thought I will have such tough times in life.” Well, there are several modes expressing their anguish, their personal inadequacy, their helplessness, their sense of fear of the self and more. They forget that nothing of the above affects their life.  It goes on. All the above are only temporary manifestations of their conflict between ‘Being’ and ‘Becoming’.

“Becoming” is an excited state. It is not in harmony with the nature of the Self. It is a manifestation of the ego to keep comparing with every other ‘Being’, thereby killing the ‘Self’ – the nature of Being. Its attempts, its success, its failure, its disappointments bring sorrow to the mind. In this process of continuous engagement with external self, we remain continuously in sorrow.

Sorrows are like the darkness

Seen through closed eyes;

When the mind’s eyes open

In the evenness of light,

There is no sorrow!

When sorrows sing their soliloquy,

They become cancerous,

They kill us before we are dead!

When the windows of the mind

Are open and ventilated,

Sorrows come and go.

Sometimes,

Roaring, thundering,

Lightening, and showering

Scavenging the head and the heart!

Don’t let yourself to be succumbed by sorrows… pains... let them come and go. Raise thyself. Accept Life. Life is a celebration. Be a participant!

A CHAT WITH LIFE AND DEATH… (5)

CORONA19… A few thousands have died all across the world. Interestingly, it has not distinguished people because of nations, races, colour, creed, religion, belief systems, wealth, knowledge, power, authority, wisdom, humility, service and name any thing else. It has been a great neutralizing evil, if one could call it. Talking of Julius Ceaser, Shakespeare remarked “Vini, vici, vidi” – He came, He saw and he conquered. It appears to be true of COVID-19. It has come like a viral tsunami, impacting people before one could even take precautions.

 “Death- the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening” says Walter Scott. To this planet, it appears, that covid-19 is the final awakening. An awakening – that could caution us; an awakening that could sensitize us; an awakening that could rehabilitate us to the reality of our existence.”

“The impermanence of the universe is manifest, inescapable. I know that, yet I am immoderately attached to this life, these pleasures, this place.” Says, Stephanie Mills. All religious messages worldwide have culminated on this powerful message of the impermanence of life. So, what are we here to celebrate for? 

How do I matter to this planet? How do I matter to this universe?

I am somebody in my family. I am somewhat visible to a group of people who have been with me over the years. I am no body in my city. In the state I live in, less than 0.0001 percent of people know me. In the country I live, I am absolutely insignificant and just another life in the midst of 130 crore of people, leave alone other organic environment with which I exist. Then, how do I matter to this world? Who knows me or who intends to know? This planet earth is so beautiful, awesome and large, how does it matter to this planet who I am? And, this planet is one in the solar system, and the Sun is a small star in the Milky way; there are nearly 11 billion of galaxies in the universe like the milky way… and the Universe is expanding… Tell me, how do I celebrate my ‘self’?

The great saint Adi Sankara in his bhajan “Bhaja Govindam” remarks about the impermanence of the world in the following lines:

maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam

harati nimeshhaatkaalah sarvam

maayaamayamidamakhilaM hitvaa

brahmapadaM tvaM pravisha viditvaa

Boast not of wealth, of youthful vigor or exalted friendship

These could all come to nought, in an instant

Cut the illusionary bonds, that you in Maya, enmesh

And attain that timeless truth, which remains constant.

While, not allowing myself to be quite philosophic, I want to get to terms with reality. Excessive consumerism, physical, material, emotional or of other kinds has an adverse effect on our existence, simply because we tend to assault on the balance of existence.

Keeping aside any spiritual or religious connotation, there has been a long conviction in the western metaphysics that “Nature balances herself.” There has been a serious debate on this issue among the existentialists, scientists, ecologists and others. The earliest Greek philosopher Herodotus was convinced of a fine balance between the predator and the prey. Cicero, the Roman philosopher added a religious colour calling it as ‘the wisdom of the creator’. Modern ecologists, however, claim the role of human intervention as ‘Nature is dynamic’ and ‘ever changing’; and hence the dire need of the wisdom of the human to ensure the optimal balance between Nature’s dynamism and its evolution. Says Matt Palmer, the ecologist of the Columbia University ““In some ways it argues for a stronger hand in managing ecosystems or natural resources,” he says. “It's going to take human intervention.” I think it is important for the human beings to ensure that they don’t assault the Nature so that it starts bleeding and its adverse effect doesn’t eliminate the human species from the planet earth. What lessons we need to take?

“Sweet are the uses of adversity” said William Shakespeare. We should contemplate on using the onslaught of these adversities to understand the underlying message. We need to become wiser, responsive and respectful to our co-existence. Has the effort to come from the community or the individual?

I think the ‘personal self’ of the people has to play a significant role, because a community is nothing but a harmonious conglomeration of the individuals. “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate action of its members” claims C.S. King. Hence the role of the glorious self, the divine self, which is a manifestation of compassion, conviction and consideration is important for social emancipation. The current status of a sick world is an outcome of our negligence and lack of compassion to our dynamic environment. It calls for change. However, there are a number of people who think that assault on nature is just a part of growth. They have serious doubts about the challenges Nature would pose to the human existence. Voltaire remarked once “Doubt is an uncomfortable condition; but certainty is a ridiculous one.” There comes the intervention of science and its magnificent role in the pursuit of truth.

What are our immediate concerns?

1.      The individual needs to go inwards. Self- restraint is the first step

2.      The individual needs to introspect. Self-analysis is vital to examine the impact of each of us would make on Nature

3.      The individual needs to be self-disciplined. No law of any land can correct or reform any individual unless he respects his own understanding of discipline.

4.      The individual needs to understand that every other species on this planet has as much right to live as he or she has. Hence take personal responsibility to let others live a healthy life.

5.      The individual needs to understand that consumerism is fatal to our existence. Excessive consumption disturbs the balance of the society as well as Nature.

6.      The individual has to adopt a life style that doesn’t harm or injure the existential rights of any other species in any part of the biosphere.

7.      The individual needs to take responsibility for his or her physical or mental health. The way the individual conducts oneself has a serious impact on the life-style of other life systems.

8.      The individual needs to stop exploiting Nature. This could be done only by understanding and appreciating limits to growth.

9.      The individual needs to pursue a positive approach to life. A positive approach to life is ‘Celebration of the Being’. It is living in abundance and living with joy.

10.   The individual needs to understand he lives in an inclusive world. Hence any challenge to this inclusivity would isolate one’s own existence.

Let us understand that life is all about ‘celebrating our existence’ in harmony with other life-systems. Nevertheless, sometimes we need to isolate. It is said, “A season of loneliness and isolation is the period when the caterpillar grows its wings”.  – LET US GROW INWARD; LET US PREPARE OUR WINGS TO FLY IN THE A BEAUTIFUL WORLD THAT THE GOD HAS GIFTED US!!

MR. INFORMATION – IS he A FRIEND OR A FOE?

When someone calls you a ‘well-informed person’ or observes your decision as a ‘well-informed decision’, you tend to put your color up, for ‘information’ today is being associated with a white collar; it bestows on you a privilege of being superior to someone, or as one who stands on a higher pedestal of a ladder. “Information is power” is an age old saying. For several centuries, the human quest for power has been associated with activities and programs that brought more information in the hands of those who matter.  “As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the one who has the best information” says Benjamin Disraeli, an eminent philosopher and statesman. No wonder, in modern times, the focus of education has largely been on the supply chain management of information, its management tools and acquisition, storage and delivery in ever-renewable packages that is decorated with a market value.

“Information is the currency of democracy” says Thomas Jefferson. He is perfectly right, provided that the information that is on circulation is correct, factual, authentic, useful and impactful. On the contrary, if the information is incorrect, provocative, biased and perilous, it has an equally adverse effect in the democracy. History is witness to the fact, how fake information which were provocative and played with the emotions of the people had done a great damage to the social well-being. So long the information is not converted into knowledge, it remains like a body without a soul. “We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge” says John Naisbitt, an author and an expert in Future studies.

From the stone age, the evolution of information, its dynamics, its articulation, its delivery systems, its speed, its purpose and objectives have all been an intense modern of study, not only among historians, but sociologists too. The passage of information through bugles and drums was possibly a primitive step. Communicating personal feelings and emotions as pieces of information to others acquired several new caricatures with the progressive ‘thinking’ society.  Training ‘birds’ and ‘animals’ to convey messages was yet another design of the pre-medieval society. Collection of ‘secret information’ through ‘spying’ acquired a new dimension with social organizations seeking their dominance and hunger for expansionism. ‘Handwriting’ and ‘calligraphy’ added a sense of beauty and value to the passage of information. “Packaging” of information facilitated smart ways of communication and innumerable number of tools developed to articulate ‘body of information’. Tools of technology brought information to a high way so that the speed of information could be appropriate to the emerging impatience of human psyche. “Information” as money gave a new dimension to a society’s competitive storage and processing of the information at ‘cost’ to enhance the personal and social wealth. “The most valuable commodity I know of is information” says Gordon Gekko, the famous film character of the film “Wall Street”.

The late twentieth century emerged as ‘the information age’ with humans’ world over working an extra time on the tools, techniques and on ‘the cyber space’ to create a new universe for information which is largely ethereal. Consequently, the emotional content attached to the information through human delivery systems got sidelined and it emerged purely as ‘fast food’ for knowledge construction with added colours, chemicals and nutrients to create both a market value as well as a consumer anticipation.  “Information Managers” became the ‘Chanakyas’ of Corporate Kingdoms to create new perceptions of handling information and its wealth value.  “The clouds” with droplets of information could gather ‘to rain information’ whenever and wherever there was an ‘area of depression’ in economy, business, industry and other areas of human engagement.

“The fog of information can drive out knowledge” says Daniel Boorstin, the noted American historian. The above observation is so intense that it speaks volumes of the current dynamics of information laden society. The volume and the speed of information at the disposal of individual has been so much that the load of information has become sickening causing unbearable stress, anxiety and challenge to human life systems. “it is not information overload, but it is filter failure” says Chay Shirkey. The flow of information in split seconds has deprived the people even to manage the flow, leave alone adequate time to examine its relevance, necessity, utility and need. In contrast, it has created an insatiable urge to access as much information and store at one’s wit’s end as some kind of wealth, however useless or disastrous it could be.

While the modern society is fighting a failing battle with the overload of information, it also acknowledges its helplessness to fight it as ‘the control of information’ is converting individuals to modern mystics writing new epics of the digital age. “Everybody gets information all day long that they lose their common sense” observes Gertrude Stein, the American novelist and poet.

“Information overload is very real and can have lasting effects. It most definitely has effects on our mental health. The amount of time we spending scrolling through constant flows of webpages of people with ‘glamorous lives’, ‘the perfect bodies’, ‘accessible and beautiful foods’, and all the other things that the surfing the internet provides is targeted right at the core of us and deeply affects our self-esteem, our self-worth, self-image. These images find homes in our thoughts, emotions, and our behaviors. We underestimate the assault that information overload has on our senses. When we scroll pages of content daily, they bury themselves in our psyches and connect with the fears that we are all already struggling with and amplifies them.” Says American Counselling Association.  No wonder, Mitchel kapor, the American entrepreneur and the architect of Lotus 1-2-3 says “Getting information from the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” Forecasting the future of the world in his book “The Future Shock”, Alvin Toffler observed “Information overload will lead to ‘future shock syndrome’ as an individual will suffer severe physical and mental disturbances.”

Taking advantage of the exponential growth of human dependence on information and its associated technologies, there is a huge attempt to create ‘fake information’ both for entertainment, creating fear, anxiety and exploiting social inequities. This industry of creating and spreading fake information has caused ‘information pollution’ even affecting safe and sane thinkers as it has the power of emotional gravity. The role of such fake information players through various instruments of social media has impacted the social order extensively in many countries. While the role of mass information communication systems cannot and should not be underplayed for good and lateral entries, it is equally important to examine the fast impact it could make on human emotions, especially in a negative environment, creating disorder, disharmony and chaos.

The impact the information deluge could cause at the formative years of life appears to be more disheartening. While the info-tech can indeed be a most powerful and impactful enabler for growth, the ‘make- believe’ information styles create a false imagery on healthy minds and triggers not only fast consumerist tendencies, but unhealthy competitions leading them to cutting edge life-styles and experiences promoting defeatism, mental depressions and other mental health issues. People unfortunately believe ‘information availability’ is communication which is totally absurd.

So, Is Mr. information – a friend or a foe?  Do we say “A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy”? Or do we go with what Shakespeare says through his hero Hamlet “: "...meet it is I set it down, that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."

In short, it is important to learn how we handle the information.

EDUCATION FOR EMOTIONAL HEALTH

When I read in the newspaper that a Research scholar of a premium educational institution of the country, had played a prank of covid-19 on a group of bus passengers as ‘fun’, I was first surprised and subsequently felt unhappy over the incident. Though she could have analysed a large amount of data to find a meaning out of it, possibly failed to analyse the human emotions and the impact it would make on a group of people who were travelling in that bus with purposes of their own, carrying with them a bag load of emotions inside their mind and heart. Quite possibly, some of them would have become anxious, a few nervous and others stressed to different levels. Quite possibly, a few of them could have been senior citizens with ailments and a few sufferings from health concerns. The individual who played the fun did not even imagine of any impact it would make on them or how it could have impacted their emotional health. The individual failed to understand that her freedom both ‘physical and intellectual’ ends at the tip of her nose. The law doesn’t provide any freedom to play with the comfort, freedom and emotions of others, especially in a public place. Though the individual tendered an apology, the incident was reflective of lack of wisdom and maturity of the individual, whatever be the background of her intellectual achievement. Such incidents are not far and few. People trying to alert airports, railway stations and other places to achieve some of their personal ends have played with the lives of others.

The information that a few students of the reputed Indian Institute of Technology were celebrating the closure of the institute in view of large-scale pandemic impact of Covid-19 by shouting ‘Jai Corona’ “hail corona’ and dancing in joy did indeed reflect them in very poor light. One of them claimed that ‘they were not afraid of Corona-19, but were afraid of the impending examinations”  One cannot simply say ‘after all their young people’ and ‘were immature’ and ‘it was momentous emotional expression’ – but none of these statements could be accepted, given the gravity of the situation worldwide. As students of a reputed institution known for its high calibre of learners, they should have exhibited better control of themselves, better modesty and sensitivity.

Neither the institution, nor the faculty could be charged for any of these events, but it does reflect on the collective responsibility of a society in generating a set of people who lack compassion, who lack empathy, who lack sensitivity to their fellow beings. I am not trying to escalate a small incident to a larger level, but ‘the sample’ is sufficient to show ‘the proof of the pudding.’ Education, in its attempt to develop intellectual robots is not addressing to developing the emotional health of the learners. Whether, we admit or not, the fact is on the floor.

The extensive focus of the fundamentals of education on materialistic development, its intense alignment with consumerism, its rat-race for empowering competition, its focus on setting the individual superior to the society are some of the challenges modern education system faces. The focus on certification of information as ‘brands of education’ have reset the social dimensions, thereby the collective mind of the society appears to be yielding to the dominant one. “Personal gains” in terms of monetary compensations, its value in terms of the quantum of such growth seems to be defining individuals and their quality as against their ‘social consciousness’ and the interpretation of wealth. “In search of money, we lose the wealth” says Dalai Lama. The several manifestations of wealth are being ignored just for the possession of money and its purchasable products.

“Vidhya dhadhathi Vinayam, Vinayadhyathi Pathratham” – Education begets humility; humility empowers to build the character- are valued more on a text than in practice. “Not the consciousness of Man determines their Being, but their social being determines their consciousness” says Karl Marx. Defining the role of education, John Dewey, the noted educational philosopher says “Education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that adjustment of the individual activity on the basis of social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction.”

How do we deal with the social mind that sets the priority of the social consciousness over the individual’s intellect and achievements? There is a need for social re-engineering. Possibly Corona-19 is an eye opener to the world, wherein it is neutralizing people far and wide, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, the genius and the idiot – putting them on the same platform. “The fear of death is only the consciousness of unresolved conflicts of life” said Leo Tolstoy.

The world needs to realize conflicts don’t help; the world needs to realize that love, compassion and co-existence is the only way to a peaceful living. “The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness to our awareness.” Education has to address to this core issue, be it a primary school or the highest ivory tower of educational excellence.

A CHAT WITH LIFE AND DEATH – (LEAF -4)

I wonder how many times I have sat down in the corner of a room in total darkness cursing myself, sometimes cursing the God, who made me. “Ouph! How I wish everything comes to an end at one stroke”. I asked God “why me and me alone?”. Well friends, it might have happened to you and to many of us at some time or the other of our lives. We felt that the sorrows, pains and disappointments were exclusively meant for us. We compared ourselves with many others, who we believed were the blessed lot on this earth. We never tried to understand ourselves, our universe of existence  and our beautiful relationship with the universe. We thought God had different imprints for us and we were born to suffer. This was an indication of a sense of defeatism with which we suffered and our inability to measure our own potentials. We gave ourselves to “stones” losing sight of ‘diamonds’.

"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is the wisdom.” Says the great Zen Master Lao-Tzu. While we make extraordinary efforts to celebrate the entire universe around us, we hardly take any effort to celebrate ‘the self.’. We least realize, or even if we realize, we consciously ignore the fact that there is no relevance of the external universe, if ‘self’ doesn’t exist. Therefore. it is important to ‘celebrate the self.’

“Your own self-realization is the greatest service you can render to this universe” says the sage Ramana Maharishi. “Knowledge of the self is the Mother of all knowledge. So, it is incumbent on me to known myself, to know it completely, to know it minutiae and to know its characteristics, its subtleties and its very atoms” says Kahlil Gibran.

From time immemorial, the human endeavor has always been ‘to search the self.’. The early scriptures came with the powerful message “Know Thyself.” The entire gamut of deliberations of Vedas, Upanishads and other religious epigrams have debated intensely on this question. They have come with several perceptions, interpretations, explanations and pathways. In doing so, they have walked through many dense forests of ignorance, misgivings, misconceptions and lost their focus a few times. Nevertheless, like alchemists, they did come with a large number of findings which throw light on our life systems, its pathways, its aims and objectives.

One of the interesting answers to their question “Who am I?” came with a reply, which is absolutely profound in itself – “Tat Tvam Asi” meaning “Thou art that”. On its face, the message appears most confusing. But this misconception would be only to an ignorant mind, not to a mind that have evolved through its conscious engagement with the inner self.  The great sage Ramana Maharishi faced the same question when he was hardly twelve years of age. His search of the inner self made him what he became and a perfectly liberated ‘Jivanmuktha’.

Possibly, one has to go back to the same experience of Kabir, who went to see the colours that existed all around him, and found that he was part of the colour. But, every one of us have to make this basic effort of ‘getting awakened’ so that this knowledge of the self is realized. They need to understand that it cannot be taught, it cannot be instructed, it cannot be capsuled into a knowledge pack. There is no kiosk in the universe where you can go and take delivery of it. “You can’t cross the sea by merely standing and staring at the water” says Rabindranath Tagore. One has to make a conscious effort to become ‘aware’ of the self.  “Awareness is like the Sun. When it shines on things, they get transformed” says the eminent Buddhist philosopher Thich Hhat Hanh.

Awareness is an inward mobility; it is a journey where you delve deeply into your consciousness to unravel the unfathomed oceans of existence just to realize that you are unique and an integral part of the macrocosm. Awareness only creates knowledge, yet it remains as a mute witness to its environment. lt has a non-participative engagement with all that is outside and a stress-free engagement with its own self.

Talking to Arjuna, Krishna describes to him his true self in the following words “ You are unconditioned and changeless, formless and immovable, unfathomable awareness and unperturbable, so hold to nothing but consciousness.”  He adds “One should strive and employ oneself to uplift oneself. One should never dishonor oneself. The self is one’s friend as well as one’s enemy.”

The ‘unfathomable awareness’ is the true self, wherein you live in harmony with yourself; you chat with your life and death, as you would chat with the friends who interact with you during the entire course of your existence.

This state of “awareness’ liberates one from birth and death; from fear and despair; from the perceptions of success and failure; from the clutches of poverty or affluence; from the pain or pleasure of all morbid things which goes on changing, their form and shape; liberates from the realms of needs and greed; and you remain a mute witness to all happenings. Just a witness!!

But then, what is the relationship of this awareness to our material existence? Let us chat with awareness!!