If we were all naked

- People interest in sex would diminish since we always seek only what we lack
- Strip clubs would close down, we might instead have a dress club where women put on seductive clothing
- There would be a dramatic shift in identity, whos popular, whos not
- body image would be much more important
- We would freeze in winter and get burnt in summer
- Body art, plastic surgery, shaving, hair styling business etc. with soar
- People may start looking more into the minds of others as an erotic turn on
- People would exercise more
- Either one of these would happen - Drastic Increase or Decrease in Population
In first 5 years the crime rate will increase and unwanted pregnancy will reach more than 300%. In the succeeding years the people would stop having sex with partners or with the opposite sex...they will get sick seeing naked people in public or in conventions..."lose of appetite"

Time - An illusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wb9By-lODgk
https://sites.google.com/site/abriefhistoryoftimelessness/advanced-timelessness/prof-hawking-s-mad-scientist-paradox

An interesting quote I found:
'Time' is the word we use to describe the fact that matter 'exists and moves' - then, when we say 'matter exists and moves... over time' - we are really saying 'Matter exists and moves... matter exists and moves'"

So time just indicates the rate of change. It is not a solid dimension by itself. The past is like recalling stored memories in the present and the future is our imagination working in the present. So everything is happening now. Everything is present and changing all at once from moment to moment. The next moment is the same raw material in a different form and structure.

Time is something we use to record, predict and analyze and predict change. In the larger concept of cause and effect, time is as a parameter to understand their relative rates. But all of those are intellectual constructs/concepts like we have the concept of numbers. It is a mental layer which keeps on evolving depending on our breadth of experiences and awareness.

In the physical world, everything is continuously changing at different rates. Similarly even our 'perception speed of these changes' change from event to event. But all this is actually happening just now. So everything that exists is here in the now. Nothing absolutely new is going to come up in the future. The total amount of energy in the universe is constant. Things only differ in form and diversity. The same group of atoms may take a different form in future or split to form double the number but nevertheless nothing new is added as time passes. All the raw material is constant in the absolute sense. Its just their properties, form etc that change.

Love, compassion and joy, the things that really matter are timeless: exist beyond the mind.
Everything is continuously changing in form depending upon cause and effect laws which is what Hinduism and Buddhism refer to as Karma.

The way cause and effect manifests can be linear or circular. Patterns need not always be new in the future. The future can also be a past pattern repeating itself and its cycle. We cannot hold on to either of these concepts. At the highest level, time is neither cyclical nor linear. Every moment the form structure of the universe is unique. On what basis do we construct a linear graph from this? Linear time is a predictive control imposed on the infinitely complex changing of forms. Things can be controlled and predicted only if you choose some variables and create an optimization problem for yourself. Linear time assumes goals and tracks their progress in time. At the 'God perspective' level, there is no duality: Good, bad, right,wrong. All that is relative and these entities do not have any absolute essence by themselves. God perspective would be the perspective of infinity.

Is our mind capable of really grasping this concept of infinity? The biggest mystical moment I think would be when the realization occurs that, I am everything and everything is in the now and changing (at different rates). It would be an infinitely expansive and timeless state.

Interesting blog comment:
Lets say a person is 49 going on 50 years old. In no time at all the wedding anniversary, the vacation, football season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a birthday, come and go again in what seems like no time at all.

Now, think of a child of 4 going on 5 years old. The child is in school for the first time. Everything is new. The child is learning numbers, letters, how to interact with peers, teachers etc. The first hour seems like a day, the first day seems like a week, and the first week seems like its going to last forever.

This phenomena is what I call the “Esker Effect”*. When a person is 50 years old and goes through all the experiences during a year, there are not to many things that happen that are new and unique. In fact a year is only equal to 2% of that persons entire life to that point. All future years become a smaller percentage of the life experience. However when when a person is five, almost everything is still new and a year is 20% of that persons life at that point.

So at 50 years of age, a year is equal to 2% of a life, and time flies; but at 5 years of age, the same year is equal to 20% of a life, and time drags.

Great comments on this article:
https://www.socialtext.net/wired-mag/is_time_an_illusion

Mind tricks with masturbation frequency

Just after masturbating, or while doing it many days in a row, a small amount of those pleasurable still remain in the system. I think this is what causes the intense craving to do it again and again. Its like you get a continuous taste of that feeling, but it is very very mild. So you feel an intense craving to revive that peak feeling and do it again and again with much higher frequency. This sometimes leads you to think you sex drive is abnormally high. But on many occasions when I have abstained from it for sufficiently long, this mild trace also stopped. In fact this state scared me. I was afraid to lose this pleasure and again resumed it.

Surprisingly, I have heard drug addictions too work in a very similar way. The drug takes quite a while to fully exit the system. So when there is a trace of the drug in your system, there is a very strong craving to get the peak experience back. The more I explore, I realize that drugs reveal a lot of esoteric deep secrets about life.

Real knowledge

When it comes to REAL knowledge, I can only tell you something you already know within. All knowledge that matters is already known to us within. Sometimes while hearing some teachings, I realize that whatever they say is already known to me somewhere deep and this resonance is what gives it profound meaning.

Identity is a prison

Identity is a prison. All our vulnerabilities lie in this very definition we create for ourselves.
For example:
A girl may identify with her good looks during teenage years. However the effort required to maintain this identity would progressively increase as she gets older and gets subjected to various external events such as child birth, stress, hormonal shifts etc.

If a girl's looks were average to below average during formative years, she may adopt a different identity which may be based on goodness, humor, wit, performance in school or work, popularity, social likability, selfless service, power, influence etc. She may increase her attractiveness quotient by being very nice to people, seduce, flirt, smile a lot etc.

Beautiful girls identifying themselves with it would go to great lengths to maintain it. Similarly if a person identifies himself with his health, he too would put a lot of effort in maintaining it.

We generally quickly identify with all the aspects in which we feel we have an inherent advantage. Since each identity definition faces threats we identify with multiple aspects of ourselves. For eg: A person may consider himself a musician, writer, good father, good family man, moralistic, faithful etc.

Certain definitions last much longer than others. For example, if we identity ourselves with principles then it is at a higher level than identifying ourselves with our individual actions. Higher the definition of this identity, more the freedom.

Each identification makes us correspondingly vulnerable in those aspects and there are different levels to these identities. For example: Social validation might be creating most of your motivations. So the motivations you have currently may not have any essence, you may just be doing all those things to satisfy a higher need such as social validation.

If we dis-identify with everything then we would have the most freedom. We can progressively dis-identify, move to higher levels and gain more freedom.

Baseline mood enhancers

- Cool air (6 - 12 deg C)
- Fresh air
- Humidifier and dust filter for dust/pollen free environment
- Medium strength - Intermittent or Continuous breeze (in a beach, building terrace, traveling in a vehicle next to window)
- Physical comfort with strong and balanced posture (not lying down or slouching)
- Attractive visual setting with emotionally pleasing items and arrangements OR pleasing scenery (like sightseeing, natural beauty or novel environments)
- Comfortable soft fur/feather jacket that fits well
- Clear lungs - steaming + neti pot
- Cold water dip or shower - around 25 deg C or even colder
- Smooth unobtrusive effortless breathing
- Yoga and breathing exercises (eg: Pranayama)
- Meditation on pleasant sensations
- Hearing favorite music through excellent headphones or earphones
- Interesting stimulating social setting - friends/family/significant
- Intellectually stimulating conversation or reading material

Mental pleasures

Learning, Exploration, Mastery, Teaching, Creating, Intensity, Concentration, Focus, Fulfillment, Satisfaction, Freedom, Accomplishment, Success, Understanding, Integration, Connection, Truth, Beauty, Love, Knowing, Control

Random thoughts - 3 Dec

My energy levels are somehow much higher when I am engaged in some social activity like group meetings, informal meetings etc vs me staying at home. Today I spend 6 hrs outside the house with no lunch (just cereal inbetween) on a design group meeting where we had to go to the university and a friend's house for filming a video. Somehow after getting home, it feels so good to put on the music I hear everyday. The same thing used to happen when I used to get back from office and play the same music.
Why does the music sounding so much better and fulfilling after some intensive social activity/environment(work, outings, meetings etc.)?

Thinking/Learning styles

Learning styles:
Visual - lectures
Auditory - diagramming
Kinesthenic - learn by doing

Thinking styles:
Linear - Mathematics, accounting
Global - Literature, Philosophy

Plan to add on this list.

Random thoughts - 30 Nov

Food: looks vs taste: Totally different facets of experience

Today while I was eating my favorite, I closely observed how the food looked and then took a morsel in my mouth and felt its taste. On paying close attention, I discovered something strange. The visual part of food and the taste part of it are like 2 different worlds. There are some relationships, like something black indicates its burnt etc. but taste and visual appearance are so different in qualia. As a metaphor, I thought about how some people looked average but yet they can make you feel so good.

Wonderment food: Ancient man from villages or visits today's city

I was just imagining...what if I was a man from ancient times, say 3000BC, living in a simple village and I visit my current city for the first time.

What are the things I would wonder about?

• I would be surprised by all the mega organizations like food outlets, the standard look of buildings, infrastructural complexity, the common language of rules which people followed, superstructures that enabled coordination - in small villages, everyone may know each other and speak the same language with very basic infrastructure
• automobiles for transport - it was only horses or bullock-carts in the villages
• the kind of music in eating joints - the whole speaker technology would strike wonderment, its ability to re-create a vast array of sounds from just a small magic box and induce great pleasure....the village may just have live instruments
• Foods like ice-creams and the sheer variety and complexity of food available should strike wonderment - villages may have staple food made from only a few ingredients
• Artificial lighting with its reliability, brightness, consistency and longevity would astound - villages may just use daylight, fire and candles.
• The paving of the ground for roads, sidewalks with decorative tiles would be something to marvel at
• Planes in the sky would look like giant birds
• The variety in people's clothes, its quality and workmanship would induce wonder - villages may just have clothes covering basic parts. In cold regions, they may use coats from animal skins with workmanship just to fit the requirement
• I would feel so alien - since there are huge number of people following the invisible rules and fiercely moving about with purpose but I do not know anybody
• Typing on a computer keyboard would feel so unnatural and the screen technology would amaze. It can create representations of the real world, virtual imagined worlds. In fact it would take some time to get used to the flickering LCD screen and perceive the depth and 3-D perspective movement from the images on the flat screen
• Sitting in front of the computer for 10+ hours a day would look like a very strange and uncomfortable thing to do

There is so much to admire and wonder about even in today's world. We fail to see these perspectives. If this world can induce so much wonderment if you are coming from the past, imagine what the future would be like? Wouldn't it be as astounding for a present day man?

Deconditioned and inspired action: Taoism philosophy

I wish I could give up all my obligations, liabilities and responsibilities and stop this compulsive action from external force. I want to be totally at rest and all my actions should be out of inspiration  and not because I am forced by external stuff.

What would you ask?

If I could ask for a wish from a God, I would choose one of these:

• The most magical and euphoric experience ever and a strong memory of that so that I would stop craving for it and be satisfied even from just recalling it
• A glimpse of the ultimate truth so that I can reorient my life
• Kill me once and make me come back with memory of this experience throughout the process
• Bring me into the present moment, de-conditioned completely for a good amount of time