The rising temperatures & sudden changes in the weather patterns become a common phenomena nowadays world over. In the name of development the human species has become so selfish that it has almost forgotten that it is overusing the natural resources which are meant for all the living creatures of the earth.

Age old practices of sustainability has been forgotten & have been replaced by quick methods that are destroying the quality of air,water & soil. For our commuting & travel comfort we invented different modes of transport, each of which mostly uses fossil fuels which are non renewable sources of energy. Indiscriminate use of these fuels have deteriorated the quality of air beyond repair at some places.

Water is another resource which has been exploited extensively. The day is not far that the very existence of human species will be threatened due to scarcity of water.

Quality of soil is also damaged by constant use of fertilizers.

All these things make me think Are new inventions really necessary for today ‘s world? Can’t we focus more on discovering nature’s ways of balancing & sustaining the living & nonliving resources rather than blindly focusing our energy & efforts on new inventions which are merely increasing our comforts & are doing more harm to our health & health of our mother earth.

Each one of us if we start observing the nature closely & carefully, we will discover how beautifully everything is scrutinized & balanced to maintain the natural cycles.

The drying of leaves & their falling on the soil during Summer is followed by monsoon during which the rainwater helps it to get mulched in the soil ,only to be converted it into manure so that the nutrients in the soil are replenished.

The need of the hour I think is “To Discover rather than Invent.”

Learn self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it. As soon as you apply yourself to contemplation, you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together: they seem like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Do not mourn the worldly loss; ask for your soul to be saved. Many delighted in what you hold dear. In the end it left them and became mere wind. Escape from its love before it escapes you.

Rumi.

Daoism is an ancient Chinese nature spirituality–a non-religion, till its decay in later generations. A non-religion of ease, paradox, and energy flow.
You cannot pray to the Dao for favors–it is a subtle force that pervades all things and is unaware of its own greatness.
You cannot beat up or marginalize the Other, because they offend your smelly little nationalism or religious chauvinism. Daoism in its origins has no identity badges that allow you to do that.
–Raj Ayyar
‘When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good, other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.’
–Daodejing, 2.
If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given.’
–Daodejing, 36.
Taken from Tao Te Ching, tr. Stephen Mitchell.

The self-existent Lord pierced the senses to turn outward. Thus we look to the world outside and see not the Self within us.

Katho Upanishad

Well worth a repost: a wisdom nugget from that maestro of Sufi Islam, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi:
‘In Baghdad, dreaming of Cairo’: a Rumi parable.
A man who had no money, who had inherited everything and squandered it all, kept crying out: ‘Dear God, help!’
Finally, in a dream, he heard a voice: ‘Your wealth is in Cairo. Go there to such and such spot, and dig.’
So, the man left on his epic journey from Baghdad to Cairo, and his back grew warm with courage.
But, Cairo is a large city and he could not find the spot. Wandering around at night, he was seized by the night patrol.
‘Wait!’ said the man. ‘I can explain–I am not a criminal and I am new to Cairo.’ He narrated the dream.
The night patrol said: ‘I know you are not a criminal. You are a good man but kind of a fool. I have had that dream before! I was told that there was a treasure buried on such and such street and at this house in Baghdad. But, I didn’t do what the dream asked me to do. And look at you, all fatigued and wandering!’ He named the man’s street and house.
Thanking the cop, he returned to his Baghdad home and dug around–sure enough a huge treasure buried under his own house.
He said: ‘What I was longing for was in my own house in Baghdad.
But, I had to travel that long way to know it.’
—Jalaluddin Rumi: The Essential Rumi tr. Coleman Barks (abridged and edited by Raj Ayyar).
Comment: There is a Jewish Hasidic parable retold by Martin Buber, that is structurally identical with this Rumi post. In it, a rabbi from a Polish village who is flat broke goes to a bridge in Cracow and gets advice from a Captain of the Guards. He rushes back and finds a huge treasure buried beneath his stove. The Rumi story is also very similar to the one about Mulla Nasrudin searching for his house keys in the gutter outside. All the great spiritual traditions of the world teach us that the ‘Kingdom’, the treasure of joy and love, is within, not without. The man who ‘inherited everything and squandered it all’, invites comparison with the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke.
—Raj Ayyar

So often, esp. in South Asia and elsewhere, madness is seen as a stigma, a permanent condition of an unfortunate few that are not ‘normal’.
‘Madness’ as a construct, rather than a hushed-up essential condition of some humans: Michel Foucault, Thomas Szasz, R.D. Laing and the sociologist Erving Goffman have taught us that ‘madness’ is a function of power relations and discourses (Foucault), that it is a ‘deviant’ dramaturgic performativity (Goffman), that madness is ‘manufactured’ (Szasz), that the ‘mad’ ones are the really sane escapists in a schizoid, fragmented world (RD Laing).
The Cheshire Cat in Alice prefigures all these critiques of ‘madness’ vs. ‘normalcy’.
—Raj Ayyar
‘In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’

It is all the same to him. Man or woman, Good fortune or bad, Happiness or sorrow. It makes no difference. He is serene.

– Ashtavakra Gita 17:15

Some rarely used English terms

1. The space between your eyebrows is called a glabella.
2. The way it smells after the rain is called petrichor.
3. The plastic or metallic coating at the end of your shoelaces is called an aglet.
4. The rumbling of stomach is actually called a wamble.
5. The cry of a new born baby is called a vagitus.
6. The prongs on a fork are called tines.
7. The sheen or light that you see when you close your eyes and press your hands on them is called phosphenes.
8. The tiny plastic table placed in the middle of a pizza box is called a box tent.
9. The day after tomorrow is called
overmorrow.
10. Your tiny toe or finger is called minimus.
11. The wired cage that holds the cork in a bottle of champagne is called an agraffe.
12. The ‘na na na’ and ‘la la la’, which don’t really have any meaning in the lyrics of any song, are called vocables.
13. When you combine an exclamation mark with a question mark (like this ?!), it is referred
to as an interrobang.
14. The space between your nostrils is called columella nasi.
15. The armhole in clothes, where the sleeves are sewn, is called armscye.
16. The condition of finding it difficult to get out of the bed in the morning is called dysania.
17. Unreadable hand -writing is called griffonage.
18. The dot over an “i” or a “j” is called tittle.
19. That utterly sick feeling you get after eating or drinking too much is called crapulence.
20. The metallic device used to measure your
feet at the shoe store is called Bannock device.

You prided yourself in your command over English language, didn’t you? . Eat your humble pie and share this, von’t you?