There is world within us. A world around us. And a world beyond us. What matters is not what we HAVE. But what we ARE. Often people make assumptions based on the 'possessions' of capacity, power-position, status, money, degree, language competence. and material manifestation of wealth and power. And a large number of the people make their world within based on 'what they have' rather than ' what they are'.
It is often the world within us that influence our engagement with world around us and world beyond us. It is often our own attitudes that make us or unmake us. It is our ability to constantly unlearn and learn that drive us forward. It is our ability to constantly shed the old baggage and move own with with a lightness of being that take us to the places beyond our own imagination. What matters is what 'you are ' rather than ' what you have'. What you are is often defined by the values deep within you, the sense of dignity within you and the sense of freedom within you and the light of creative spark within you. If you respect yourself, you will respect others. If you have dignity within you, you will value the dignity of others. If you know how much you don't know, we will not boast about our knowledge. If we know how vulnerable we are within, we will understand and appreciate the vulnerability of others.
In fact, in a large world of time and space, in larger flow of history, each of us are 'small beings' with very limited amount of time in the world with an unlimited potential to influence the world around us and beyond us- both in time and space. The more I learn the more I understand how much I don't know. The more I have the more I know how much I don't have. The more I think of my achievements, the more I know none of them are a big deal. Because towards the end of the day all human begins often live on their own vanities.
Once in a while when I get a bit carried away by my own sense of vanties , I read two books of the Bible. One is the book of Job. The book of Job begins with the line that I always remember " In the land of Uz, there was a man called Job'. There is another book called Ecclesiastes . These two books give a sense of the futility of our own vanities. None of us indispensable. All mortals who sought immortality simply vanished in the labyrinths faded memories. Cemeteries are full of skelton of those were considered to be indispensable
I was fortunate to live in remote villages of India and many countries and in the biggest cities of India and the world. Lived in different parts of India and the world. I was fortunate to travel across the world for twenty five years. The more global I feel, the more local I am . The more local I feel , the more global I am. Because these geographies of the world no longer affect the geography of my mind. Having traveled through history of the world and traversed through the geographies of the world, one realize how people are more less the same in terms of their attitude, behavior and potential for change.
World is a diverse and big place with wide range of people with very different kind of attitude at all levels everywhere. In the course of my exploration of the world from villages, towns, cities and from countries to countries, I have learned few things. The first thing was there is a great opportunity to learn from everyone in multiple ways. I also learned that different kinds of people will have different set of experience, knowledge, perspective and skills . And one can learn a lot from everyone every day. So I am equally comfortable with a persons who never went to school and with the best of professors in the world .I am equally comfortable with the President of a Panchayat or local community and the President of a country. I feel equally at home in a community meeting in a remote villages, or slums or a big regional or global meeting or UN Conference. I am both local and global at the same time. I write about my experience in my village or other and on global issues as well.
In the context of communication and social media revolution, the notions of distance have collapsed. One can engage with any speech community from anywhere in the world at any time. What I write from London, New York of Bangkok can be seen within seconds by someone from any parts of the world. And with the huge shift in technology and transport within few hours I can move from Metropolis or megalopolis to a remote village . The key issue is our own attitude to all these things.
It is our hierarchies in the mind often privilege those who are 'formally educated' , those who have 'big job' or those who live in 'big cities' or those who 'rich' . Once we have a horizontal mindset we begin to learn to treat every human begin as equal and with respect , irrespective of what they 'have' or where do they live or what kind of language they speak or what ethnicity /caste/race/gender they belong to.
The more we travel the more we begin to appreciate the beauty of diversity of different kinds of sounds and sights, music and musings. The more we travel, we begin to learn to outgrow our own pride and prejudices. The more we travel the more we discover the world within us and also the amazing human creativity and enterprises everywhere. The more we travel the more we outgrow our own cultivated identity ,ideology and pet notions. The more we travel around world, we learn to become more patient and less prejudiced. We learn to became less judgemental and more humane.
I am a traveler in this world, an explorer ; a learner willing unlearn and to make a difference in whatever little one can make. I like the excitements of experiments . Some of the experiments can open new pathways. Some of the experiments may fail. It does not matter. Success and failure are often illusions of the self. Your job or your money or your power can simply be illusions of the self in relation to to others. We need to engage with this world, as per its norms, to be practical. But we also need to explore the world beyond to understand the immense potential and possibilities of alternative ways of living, thinking and doing: from bring to becoming.
There is a saying in Africa, when you are nude , you are real. It is our own nudity of the self that reminds us what we are and realizing not so beautiful side of our body or mind. That also makes us to reflect our own limitations. Help us to be honest within.
Because, often it is the attire, it is the language, it is the posturing that make life a 'performance. The tragedy and comedy of modern life is that everything becomes a 'performance' to confirm, a 'performance' for institutions or society. Think about it. Ninety five percent of our communications are a 'performance'- using a set of formal,polite language to confirm to the schools, churches, temples, political parties, work place and even families. In the art of 'performance of the self' - projection of self- through language, we often lose our own sense of self-awareness and self reflection. We are often shameful of our own nudity. We are also sometime afraid of the nudity of our own world within.
World is an exiting place of wide diversity- where there are too many people of all kinds. Because every human being is unique. If want everyone to behave the way we want, we will be unhappy. We simply can't expect all others to confirm to our own sense of how the world should be. The less we are prescriptive, the more happy we will be. The less we blame on others and point fingers on others, the more light we will spread. The less we get carried away by our own vanities, the more influence we will have on people and the world. The less we are consumed by vanities, the more lives we will touch. Our life is so short. And life is all about making a choice to be happy or unhappy. It is choice to impose or imagine a new world. It is a chose to a prisoner of the past or shaper of the future. It is a choice to whether complain about darkness or to lit a candle.
The more geographies I traversed, the boundaries of geography dissolved in my mind. It no longer matters whether I am in the biggest city or the smallest village. What matters is the world within me- and the ability to engage with the world around and the world beyond. To touch, sense and feel the sublime beauty of life in its millions manifestation everyday.
In every word, there a world. I am simply a traveler in search of words and the world, excited about experiments; experiments with life and work- though for me work is a creative expression of life and living. I try to be a learner, unlearning and learning in the process of travel within my world, around the world and beyond the world: making change happen within and beyond.
In every word, there a world. I am simply a traveler in search of words and the world, excited about experiments; experiments with life and work- though for me work is a creative expression of life and living. I try to be a learner, unlearning and learning in the process of travel within my world, around the world and beyond the world: making change happen within and beyond.
JS adoor
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