Greatness vs. Relevance

Deep have I thought about this matter, in terms of the ultimate destination of human existentialia.

Do we fundamentally seek greatness or is it relevance that really drives us?

People like Gandhi and Martin Luther found something relevant to struggle for and change and then greatness ensued for posterity. They will also be the first people to admit that they did not get it done alone but many a soul joined them on their eternal quest. The brand was theirs that got used in the follow on promotion behind the said initiatives and goals that they achieved.

Bill Gates found fortune and fame in a domain that grants him a place in a certain pantheon dominated by industry stalwarts, but I guess even he was missing the relevance of the human dimension at which he wanted to make an impact and hence his present day quest to make an impact with the work of the Gates foundation.

My thesis and personal experience is that something relevant and meaningful provides a deeper sense of satisfaction at the core of human existence and most likely leads of greatness in the longer term than the road traveled in any other direction.

The upshot of this is that if you are looking for greatness then find something relevant and make a meaningful impact in undertaking the road to solving the said relevant problem.

On ties that BIND et al...

This is an observation piece from a passionate life lived, loved and really enjoyed along the journey so far.

Driving up to the burn, me and my friend Matthew go into the thick of it about the fleeting nature of time and the importance of the moment.

Burning Man itself is a good reflection of life, from dust to dust. The place comes together and falls apart in a space of a couple of months, all said and done. The desert comes to life and then goes back to being a desert for and after the time that burning man needs from the desert.

With that perspective in mind, the thesis we worked out was, things being so fleeting and temporal, how does it impact our relationships and ties that bind.

I had to leave my little child and wife behind to attend the event and it had it’s share of heartburn and emotional upheaval to deal with, I realized some of the emotions that Buddha must have felt when he undertook his journey to enlightenment a long long time ago.

The net of the argument was that our relationships with things material and immaterial should have a healthy distance between us and the said things. Try not to be “consumed” by any such relationship. There is the healthy distance and then there is unhealthy distance, both too close and too far. Too close and you will be consumed, too far and you will be lost or whatever you have a relationship with will be lost to you.

In my journey this has been a truism about any and everything that I have touched and actively cognized once I reached a state of maturity where I understood how the world works and more importantly how I worked and what made me click as an individual and a human being.

Hope this little piece helps the reader in understanding the notion of healthy distance.

Thank you for your time.

On breaking rules et al

In my life experience, the most fun and periods of growth I have had are when I have broken the rules within ethical and moral considerations of appropriate boundaries.

The notion was to go as far against the program as possible.

The thing with breaking rules is that it makes you vulnerable, and leaves you on your own, inherently making you a better and stronger version of yourself, if it does not break you. (yes, Nietzsche!!!)

The important aspect is having a sense of personal responsibility about this whole thing. In your quest for growth, remember to be respectful of other sentient beings along the journey (moral and ethical constructs)

Breaking rules allowed me to:

·         Live life in multiple cultures and places

·         Milk the above places for everything that the said places held in terms of wisdom to be gained about the environment and more importantly about the self

·         Have a child and propagate the species with a girl I wanted to, not had to, because back in India, arranged marriage is the safe bet

·         Marry the mother of my child on terms amenable to my self

·         Experience Europe in a way, shape and form that can only be described as sublime

·         Manage to get to Burning Man on a lark and love everything that it represents

All in all, life has been about growth and learning from the time that I made the crucial decision to try break all manner of rules be it in personal life, professional life and any undertaking that appealed to my heart.