Sometime ago, life didn't seem like a munshi in disguise...asking for an account of every action, every word and every thought. Frankly, I thought I could get away with a lot of shit, completely unscathed (and I did.) But suddenly there's the imperative to think of everything in terms of consequences (and how I hate that boring shit.) Every action, every thought/half-thought, expression is attributed to a personality trait. Now, seriously, if my personality had to be based on anything/everything I have done/said in the past, I would be a threat to the idea of sanity as medicine knows it (its funny how life-changing revelations come to you when you're least expecting them.)
Anyway! Coming back to life, and its irritating calculative habits - the only thing that society doesn't give any gyaan about, is how to deal with pain (they have buckets full of moral bullshit otherwise.) For pain, they only have the cliche` stuff...the kind that just doesn't make a difference when you're in pain. Then again, maybe that's the good thing about it. Since no one can help you through it, all your lessons are only your own to learn from, and claim maturity for. Maturity is another thing I'd like to discuss. But some other time.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Mediocrity, huh?
Several times, I hear several 'brilliant' people discuss mediocrity, and how there's so much of it around. That brings us back to the fundamental premise of mediocrity, and therefore brilliance.
Brilliance could broadly be defined as the ability to observe, comprehend, analyze, synthesize and apply (and maybe some more words from psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience, used randomly.) Brilliance is what brilliance does. And to be of any utility to anyone, leave alone all of mankind, an ability to empathize, understand and feel for everything in the environment is of utmost importance.
But funnily, here's what is noticed about the most brilliant people of our times. A complete lack of empathy, coupled with the a pompous, elitist self image. A complete lack of sense of humour, coupled with an unnecessary arrogance. The belief that they know it all, coupled with the inability to acknowledge the fact that everything around us has something to teach. An endless ability for abstraction and application, but minimum awareness of the world they live in. I could go on and on, but more than anything else, I should give myself a break. Besides, it is the prerogative of the brilliant to ramble away so that no one around understands. Then again, isn't that the point of brilliance?! When you can convince them of it, why confuse them?
It's funny how our definition of brilliance has nothing to do with people anymore.
Brilliance could broadly be defined as the ability to observe, comprehend, analyze, synthesize and apply (and maybe some more words from psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience, used randomly.) Brilliance is what brilliance does. And to be of any utility to anyone, leave alone all of mankind, an ability to empathize, understand and feel for everything in the environment is of utmost importance.
But funnily, here's what is noticed about the most brilliant people of our times. A complete lack of empathy, coupled with the a pompous, elitist self image. A complete lack of sense of humour, coupled with an unnecessary arrogance. The belief that they know it all, coupled with the inability to acknowledge the fact that everything around us has something to teach. An endless ability for abstraction and application, but minimum awareness of the world they live in. I could go on and on, but more than anything else, I should give myself a break. Besides, it is the prerogative of the brilliant to ramble away so that no one around understands. Then again, isn't that the point of brilliance?! When you can convince them of it, why confuse them?
It's funny how our definition of brilliance has nothing to do with people anymore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
