law of least effort

Excerpt from the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and loss. Laziness is built deep into our nature.

~~

I cannot agree more!

Cheers! :)

Srik

Tweet

associatively coherent

Excerpt from the book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Each element is connected, and each supports and strengthens the others. The word evokes memories, which evoke emotions, which in turn evoke facial expressions and other reactions, such as a general tensing up and an avoidance tendency. The facial expression and the avoidance motion intensify the feelings to which they are linked, and the feelings in turn reinforce compatible ideas. All this happens quickly and all at once, yielding a self-reinforcing pattern of cognitive, emotional, and physical responses that is both diverse and integrated - it has been called associatively coherent. 

~~
Well, I go through this most of the time during my daily bus journey to office. I read something and I get into this mode of thinking (associative thinking?). Two words (at times even one word) can trigger the whole process and I can feel am going through many changes in within a few seconds. Its a very interesting phenomenon and after reading this chapter 'The associative machine', its even more interesting!

Like what they (Cognitive Scientists) say: You think with your body, not only with your brain.

Srik

Tweet

nothing is permanent

Excerpt from the book The Wayfinders by Wade Davis

In the mountains of Japan, outside of Kyoto, Tendai monks sleep for two hours a day and, with only a bowl of noodles and a rice ball for food, run through the sacred cryptomeria forests seventeen hours at a stretch for seven years, covering at one point in their Kaihigyo initiation 80 kilometers a day for one hundred days. As a final ordeal they must go without food, water and sleep for nine days, even as they sit in silent meditation, their bodies exposed to the roaring heat of a bonfire. Tradition dictates that those who fail to complete the training must end their lives. Beneath their white robes they carry a knife and a rope. Slung from their back are rope sandals. They wear out five pairs in a day. In the last four centuries only forty-six men have completed the ordeal, a ritual path of enlightenment that brings the initiate closer to the realm of dead, all with the goal of revealing to the living that everyone and everything are equal, that human beings are not exceptional, that nothing in this world is permanent. 

~~

I am speechless. Wonder if we take our lives this seriously (and train ourselves for what?)

Guess there is a lot more to reflect upon.

Srik

Tweet

dance of creation

Excerpt from the book The Wayfinders by Wade Davis.

A moment begins with nothing. A man or a woman walks, and from emptiness emerge the songs, the musical embodiment of reality, the cosmic melodies that give the world its character. The songs create vibrations that take shape. Dancing brings definition to forms, and the objects of the phenomenological realm appear: trees, rocks, streams, all of them physical evidence of the Dreaming. Should the rituals stop, the voices fall silent, all would be lost. Everything on earth is held together by Songlines, everything is subordinate to the Dreaming, which is constant but ever changing. Every landmark is wedded to a memory of its origins, and yet always being born. Every animal and object resonates with the pulse of an ancient event, while still being dreamed into being. The world as it exists is perfect, though constantly in the process of being formed. The land is encoded with everything that has ever been, everything that ever will be, in every dimension of reality.To walk the land is to engage in a constant act of affirmation, an endless dance of creation. 

~~

I read this paragraph at least 4 times this morning. It is a great feel to read about the life and beliefs of aborigines.  They are complete, connected and content with Nature.

Sigh... its an endless dance of creation. 

Srik

Tweet

sacred geography

Excerpt from the book The Wayfinders by Wade Davis

When men and women meet on a trail, they pause and exchange k'intus of coca, three perfect leaves aligned to form a cross. Turning to face the nearest apu they bring the leaves to their mouths and blow softly, a ritual invocation that sends the essence of the plant back to the earth, the community, the sacred places, and the souls of the ancestors. The exchange of leaves is a social gesture, a way of acknowledging a human connection. But the blowing of the phukuy, as it is called, is an act of spiritual reciprocity, for in giving selflessly to the earth, the individual ensures that in time the energy of the coca will return full circle, as surely as rain falling on a field will inevitably be reborn as a cloud. This subtlety of gesture, in its own way a prayer, is celebrated on a grand scale in annual community-based rituals of commitment and engagement.

~~

It is very interesting to read about these ancient cultures and their beliefs. Every community in the southern Andes is still dominated by a specific mountain deity, an Apu that directs the destiny of those people born in its shadow. 

And everything around them, the mountains, landscapes, the trees, every step of their walk ~ they believe to be sacred.

Srik

Tweet

of experiments and elephant attacks

Ah! there were some interesting visitors at the farm on Friday. They were so playful that the veggie patch we had created became their good mattress to sleep, roll and snore.

well, more fun to watch!
Cheers :)

A corner of the farm pond leveled by elephants climb

Veggie (corn) patch mattress 

those big foot steps, playing in the tomato and brinjal patch

hmmm

They walked around this patch

Some flowers to smile

Some colorful guests to admire

Organic one

Now they are enjoying rains

Well, elephant visits will be beneficial too!

Elephants poo

Brinjal patch

The white one

flowers are nice too!

Tweet

it's raining

ah, I hear it coming
with thunder and lightning
oh! monsoon has arrived
magically how season changed

breaking from the summer heat
umbrellas are out, getting wet
rain coats hanging on the walls
from the roof, water just falls

I am sitting quiet, in the dark
seeing the clouds turning black
there is silence everywhere
and moon is found nowhere

fallen trees on the flooded streets

blown away by crazy winds

rain drops on the window glass

first glimpse of evening moths

its interesting how seasons switch
transforming the landscape, rich
tomorrow will be a new day
and yet another rainy day

Srik

Tweet