Creating Pandora, Being Na'vi

I am not sure what was paramount in James Cameroon's mind when he made Avatar, the movie. It was probably fulfilling his dream to make a grand epic movie on a scale unheard off. It was probably his version of unlimited human progress and a rendering of a simple story about that. It was probably his fear of the unlimited human greed and a means, a campaign to raise awareness. Or possibly, it was his desire to create an ideal world and an uncomplicated ideal race. The world called Pandora and the race called Na'vi.

The movie works at different levels, but it is this last bit that keeps coming back to me. Considering it has been well over a year since I last saw the movie, it is incredible that it still makes me think about it. Not many movies do that to me. This one does and in a very unconventional way. I think of Pandora, I think of Na'vi, I think about the interconnected world that is created, that is depicted in the movie. I think about "the tree of souls" that shows a sort of neural network of consciousness in Pandora. I think about how the Na'vi leverage this tree of souls and its network to transfer consciousness, transfer life energy from one body to another. I think about how beautifully the concept of "life energy" is depicted in the movie. It makes you wonder if this energy network is real. Does that apply to us as human beings? Is it just that it is easier to accept this living energy network and energy transfer in an alien race like the Na'vi? Is it just that it is easier to accept this concept in an alien land like Pandora?

I was listening this morning to Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, a Sufi practitioner. I discovered him on the internet and heard him on YouTube. He spoke about the same life energy, about how we are blessed to be human beings, about how we have the ability to transmit energy, about how this energy travels and talks in silence. He spoke about energy being negative or positive, about energy being polluting or sacred, but essentially he spoke of us humans as carriers and transmitters of energy. Do you feel this energy in you? Are you doing enough to channel this energy consciously? A few months back, I was forwarded a link on Ted.com where Liz Gilbert, the author of "Eat, Love, Pray" spoke about her creative writing process. She says, "every morning I just show up and after sometime, an energy passes through me, and the writing happens". She speaks of the creative process as a spiritual experience. When I think about it, there are times when you see the joy and unstoppable energy that is channeled through in very real circumstances. Be it a simple game of football or a well-versed paragraph of prose. There are times when it feels surreal. There are times when it feels supernatural. There are times when you feel the energy. Can we tap into this network of energy? Can we bring the positivity this world so needs by transmitting the non-polluting positive energy in our daily interactions? Can we start one small step at at a time? Start with us.....create an energy network. Creating our own Pandora !! Being Na'vi !!

Ref : Listen to Elizabeth Gilbert on http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

The Success Conundrum

Everyone is striving for success. In their own way, each person wants to be successful. You see that at work, in the public arena, everywhere. But, what is success? "Success may mean, but is not limited to a level of social status, achievement of a goal, opposite of failure" says Wikipedia. The key words are "may mean" and "not limited to". It is quite clear that there is no one answer, no clear means of defining success.

Success means different things to different people. Like my dear friend once said, I will feel successful when each day I can decide what I want to do, free of any compulsions. I will feel successful when I can decide to do nothing at all, when I can afford to do just that. I debated if reaching this level of inertia is success. Contrary to this, Simon Sinek in his blog-post refers to success as a feeling of momentum., of progress, of taking a step forward. He puts forward a case for momentum being a measure of success. Read him at http://sinekpartners.typepad.com/refocus/2010/11/how-to-measure-success.html .

Inertia versus Momentum? Where does your vote go? Look at it in a corporate setting. Is it the big conglomerates like a General Electric which continue to do well with minimum effort or the new age companies like the Google which need to show technological progress everyday that catch your attention? Is it the relative inertia of the big corporations or the progressive momentum of the new age companies that qualify for success? Apply that same logic to your personal lives on what success means to you. When I look at it personally, success means reaching a state of happiness, where there is progress and momentum, but at the same time you don't feel the strain because it is not an effort. So, it is momentum and inertia together. It is enjoying what you do. It is being positive about what you do. It is being purposeful about what you do. And then, making progress and gaining constant momentum. Relative Inertia and Progressive Momentum, hand in hand, does this solve the success conundrum?

Two of us : Me, Myself !!

Today, my family is away and I am alone at home. Wait! Am I really alone? Who is this I keep talking to? Me? Myself? Hmm...do you talk to yourself? How many times in a day do you talk to yourself? How long do you talk to yourself? And how many times does "yourself" talk back to you? Well, doesn't that make two of you. One identity but two of you? If you are feeling that way, that makes two of us now!! Confusing as it sounds, when I look at this experience, it really intrigues me.

Alright, now if we agree that I am not completely nuts, and that we do talk to our "selves", let's look a little deeper. I did that with the help of a coach. I have a coach outside work who gives me a "non-work" and "third party" perspective to my actions at work. He is the one who introduced me to this concept of "self-talk". Here is a nice bit of statistic that I picked up in my discussions. We have an average speed of speech close to 200 words per minute. That is the speed when we are talking to others. When you talk to yourself, it is about ten times faster. So, what you tell yourself is important, it is very important!! If it is a negative, and you repeat that to yourself at the speed of self-talk, you will be digging yourself into a hole. Now, if that was positive self-talk, you might end up with a bloated self image of yourself unless you are careful. But, a realistic yet positive self-talk helps. That is what can get you in the zone. If you need an example, that is what helps the really big sport stars get in the zone. Self-talk, positive self-talk...give it a try. And then, observe and detect the negative self-talk and don't let that grow.

Now, let me push this a little further, if you subscribe to "self-talk", you are also subscribing to the "self". There is the self that talks and there is the self that listens, that observes. Can you do both at the same time? Can you train yourself to do both at the same time? Can you detach and observe your own self? I hear that the world's best negotiators do just that - participate and observe at the same time. And observe not just others, observe your own self. It is hard, but it is surprising to experience "Me" and "Myself".  Two of us : Me, Myself. At times.....Like two birds of golden plumage, inseparable companions, the individual self and the immortal self are perched on the branches of the same tree. One bird tastes the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree and the other calmly observes. These words from the Mukunda Upanishad say a lot....Think about it!!!

What are the blackbirds dying to tell us?

Media hype? Paranoia? Portends of Apocalypse? Thousands of blackbirds are falling from the sky in America and now Sweden. I wonder what this is all about. It looks like it is right out of a Neil Gaiman story. What are the blackbirds dying to tell us?

Looking for answers, I hit a multitude of possibilities, all through my limited research on the internet. National Geographic like publications saying that birds or wildlife dying in groups is common occurrence. The only thing unusual being that these blackbirds happened to fall close to habitation. There was nothing more to read into it. Conspiracy theorists stating that this was the beginning of bad things to come. No debate, I told you this would happen. Nostradamus fortunately did not seem to have anything on this in his prophecies. And that was a relief. But, of course, there is the pole shift hypothesis and these were the first signs of that according to some. Finally, the fun loving cynics asked us to bake the blackbirds into a pie and eat them without thinking too much. But, think, I did. What are the blackbirds dying to tell us?

Animal Totem literature indicates that the blackbird refers to consciousness and awakening of the mind, it indicates being more self-aware. And this is what struck me the most, the blackbird teaches the use of intuition to understand nature and the connectedness of all things. In this context, I wonder if the dying blackbirds were passing on a message? There are signs around us. And I debated if this was one. Is the dying blackbird metaphorical to the slow death of consciousness? Is it the unidimensional materialistic mind overriding the balanced self aware mind? Is it telling us that we are killing the interconnectedness of this universe? Does it show us the current state of nature and that we have broken away from the wholeness? These will remain questions unanswered for a while. But, it at least gets us to introspect. Are we too self-centered, are we forgetting the interconnectedness of this universe, are we killing our own conscious state for superficial impermanent pleasures? Are the blackbirds dying to tell us just that?

I chanced upon this poem by Steven Wallace..."Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird".
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
Water symbolizes life and the blackbird symbolizes consciousness. If water moves, nature lives and the blackbird flies.....by the same logic, if the blackbird dies? What are the blackbirds dying to tell us?

Half a Heart

This New Year, I resolve to....The resolutions are many, each of us has our own. As the year wears on, some of those resolutions fall by the way side. There are very few folks I know who stick to their resolutions and make a habit out of it. You might be one of them, I am certainly not. And I realize that making resolutions really don't make sense, especially if they are half-hearted attempts at getting something done. So, this New Year I have only one resolution. The resolution is that I don't live the daily routine with half a heart, I don't walk the path with half a heart, I don't follow that resolution with half a heart.

I read this interesting newspaper column about the Theosophical Society and it was called out there that the biggest impediment to spiritual progress is halfheartedness. And when you think about it, it applies to all aspects of life, not just the spiritual. And, of course that includes one's New Year resolutions too. Leading life halfheartedly is certainly not leading the full life. And so, think about it....what is heart? Is it purpose? Is it passion? Is it intensity? It is certainly all of that. Look at your resolutions and ask the  questions - Do you buy in to the purpose? Are you intense and passionate about it? Else, don't go down that path with half a heart to eventually quit. I am putting myself to the test and I am backing myself to survive. Yes, it is about faith too.

Build purpose and passion in everything you do, that is the recipe to wholeheartedness. Half a heart is not the life to lead. Stay the course, make your resolutions come true !!

Indelible Indomitable Spirit

"I was with God, and I was with the devil. They fought, and God won". These are the words of Mario Sepulveda, one of the 33 Chilean miners who was trapped underground for 69 days at San Jose Copper mine in the Atacama Desert.

As we wind down 2010, many of us reflect on what the year has been about for us personally and for the world in general. I was searching for the world story that would underline the year for me. As I looked back through the newspaper pages, it was beginning to strike me as an ugly year. Some stories made me hang my head in shame. Some made me worry for the future. Most stories showed how conflict ridden this world had become, how mean and petty we had become. And then I regained hope as I remembered this remarkable story of Super Mario and the 32 other miners, of their resilience, of their defiance, of their indelible indomitable spirit. Mario said " We were swallowed into the bowels of hell but we have been reborn....." And then I realized, that this is what 2010 has been about in many ways. It has been about the indelible indomitable human spirit!!

So, I would easily vote for this Chilean story as my world story of 2010 that I want to remember and keep alive. This story of rescue that has many stories within. Stories of love, stories of hope, stories of leadership. The story of love is of Esteban Rojas, the eighteenth miner to see the light of day. He proposed to his sweetheart of many years from the mine below. "When I get out, let's buy the dress and we'll get married". The story of hope is of  Ariel Ticona Yanez, the thirty second miner to come out from darkness. His wife had a baby girl when he was trapped in the mine. A baby girl who he saw after one month of her birth, a girl who he named Esperanza. How fitting that "Esperanza" means "Hope" in Spanish. The story of leadership is of Luis Urza, the last miner to reach safety. Urza was the shift foreman and he had to keep the 33 miners together through first 17 days of darkness with absolutely no contact to the outer world. He had to lead in extraordinary times. And like a true captain, he was the last man out. And not just these, there are many other stories of courage, stories of teamwork. Of Mario Gomez, the oldest miner at 63 who suffered from silicosis. Of Jimmy Sanchez, the youngest miner at 19 who is claustrophobic. Most of all, of "Los 33" who worked together as a team. Quoting Mario again, " Each day a different person took a bad turn. Every time that happened, we worked as a team, to try to keep the morale up. It was important to keep faith".

Most importantly, this is a story of the human spirit, of perseverance, of resilience. Underlining this is Edison Pena, the twelfth man to come to the surface, who ran the New York marathon within a month of his 69 day ordeal. Each coming back to life in their own different way, "Los 33" is my world story of 2010. Keep the faith, be resilient and shine in the glow of the indelible indomitable spirit this coming year. Happy 2011!!

A Speck of Cosmic Dust

I am fortunate to be the alumnus of a prestigious business school in the country. As you might imagine, folks land up in business school so that they can become the CEOs of the future, so that they become the hot shot investment bankers, so that they can become. Most folks who come to business school have big ambition. Most folks are extremely driven towards success. And yes, there are some folks who already feel successful even before they have started. Some folks are already acting like CEOs. Some are already the hotshot investment bankers they intend to become. The place is full of ambition and achievement.

Going back to the time, we were in a frenzy to achieve our potential and to make it big in life. Between classes, library, project work, group assignments and house parties, we didn't have much time for anything else. But thankfully, the house parties gave us time to let our hair down and do the many foolish things that we would remember, laugh over for years to come. It gave us the time for unadulterated friendship, unadulterated by anything significant other than some spirits. It was also in such settings that some of the most heated debates on life and its significance took place. And it is here, in the midst of all this, that friendships were formed that last a very long time. Isn't it funny that you go to college to make a career, but more than anything else, you typically end up making lifelong friends.

I remember, today, one such friend. A friend who with one simple statement provided the antithesis to the whole ambition and achievement frenzy. It was in one of these house parties where the world was a haze. A complete haze of unclear and anxious ambition, at least for me. Everyone seemed to know what they wanted to become...everyone but me. I had to make up my mind because I need to be counted,  and you need ambition to be counted. There were probably a few others like me hiding behind their "I know what I want" facade. So, in the midst of all the budding CEOs and investment bankers, the mist of uncertainty began to rise. And that was around the time, that my dear friend imparted his Sufi wisdom and I was his ardent disciple.  He said to me, " We spend our time worrying about what we will become, about our future, our dreams. But really, while we might love to believe otherwise, in reality none of that is in your hands completely. Do your best and go with the flow. The world is not only about you. You are but just another speck of cosmic dust!!". While we treated that as comic relief to the stress of living a forced ambition, it was a statement that stayed through with me for a lifetime.

Every time I got a promotion, a newer bigger job or a simple pat on the back, it reminded me to not let it go to my head. Every time I got the blues, a problem at work or a talk-down from the boss, it reminded me again to not let the situation affect me. It provided and continues to provide perspective to most things. It shows your place in the grand scheme of things. It lets you take your ambition and your achievement a little less seriously. It reminds you that you are significantly insignificant or insignificantly significant, and either way that is not much of a difference. It helps you remain grounded. Thanks to my friend and philosopher for his all enduring perspective on life - a perspective that lightens the burden that ambition places on you. Yes truly, what are we but specks of cosmic dust?