Vinaire's Blog
These sections are taken from PRIMARY ELEMENTS OF ALGEBRA by Joseph Ray, first published in 1866.
.
I would like to have an honest discussion on this subject. No doubt America was great once. What has happened to that greatness?
.
Meeting Ashok Dhawan, a friend through High School and room mate at IIT Kanpur
.
Meeting Suphal Agrawal, a friend through High School and IIT Kanpur
.
Vishal and Vibha posing for Dad
.
A moment of relaxation for Jyoti in Buddha Gardens
.
A beautiful place
.
When there is an immediate response in the mind to looking, there is satisfaction and one moves on. But, when there is no response, anxiety may take over, and one may find it difficult to move on. The immediate reaction is to start searching for an explanation.
A better thing to do is to stop searching and just keep some attention in the area of interest while going about one’s daily routine. As one waits patiently without searching, figuring, digging, expecting, etc., the mental fog may ultimately start to lift from that area and bring to view long suppressed material followed by realizations. Sometimes things may take days to sort themselves out before the realization appears.
Relief comes from looking patiently and not from searching anxiously and trying to be in control. Actually, hectic digging into the mind for explanations has occasionally driven people toward madness.
It is completely safe to look at an area of the mind for as long as one wants, provided one does not start searching for explanations.
Here are some observations about the process of looking at mind naturally without trying to control it.
(1) When a person looks at an area of the mind, the mind starts to un-stack itself. As the top layer comes fully into awareness it dissolves giving way to the next layer. And so it continues.
(2) These layers are connected by significance in a certain order. A person is much less likely to be overwhelmed if these layers are brought into awareness and dissolved in the order they are presented by the mind.
(3) This natural process of un-stacking is interrupted when one anxiously starts to ask questions and search for explanations.
(4) One exposes oneself to overwhelm only when one interferes with the way the mind wants to un-stack itself.
A person who is routinely digging into his mind searching for explanations is definitely exposing himself to harm. He will do himself a big favor by learning to look patiently in and around the area of interest and letting the mind un-stack itself, rather than straining to figure things out.
The exercise to help rapidly un-stack the mind is provided here.
.
One can do this exercise up to a couple of hours at a stretch, but how long you do it is up to you. Do this exercise as often as practical until it becomes a second nature to you.
.
.
When mindfulness is practiced, thinking becomes contemplation. Problems are solved by looking at them closely and obtaining the relevant data. There is no random figuring out.
Inconsistencies are things that seem out of place and do not make sense. We naturally question such things. But often, as children, we are told to shut up because we are too young to understand. Our questions tend to get suppressed.
A child who has been discouraged from asking questions, and punished in his attempts to find answers, may grow doubting his opinions and judgments. He may think that he is not a good student. He may be afraid of speaking in front of people. He may suffer from a sense of inadequacy.
The remedy is to practice mindfulness and become aware of those questions that never got answered, and to become aware of the inconsistencies, which surround one even now.
When we observe an inconsistency, the complete understanding is not there. Either some relevant information is missing, or false data is being added. There are assumptions in play. Any explanation forwarded needs to be closely examined.
When one becomes aware of an inconsistency, it is better to acknowledge it and pause for a closer examination.
Contemplation is patiently looking in and around the area of inconsistency without assuming anything. One looks for things that have been put out of sight or suppressed. One examines relationships that are out of sequence or misplaced. One separates what is actually there from what is being assumed to be there.
Narrowing down is separating what makes sense from what does not make sense. Inconsistency is something that continues to be puzzling. One follows the trail of what continues to be puzzling.
Follow the trails of inconsistencies as far as you can. If a trail dead ends then take another broad view of the inconsistency and find another trail to follow.
As you become increasingly familiar with the area around the inconsistency, you will start to get a better definition. There will be increasing clarity about what does and what does not make sense. The key is to stay alert to assumptions.
It may come as a bright flash of insight. Suddenly, there is complete understanding.
.
.
One can do this exercise up to a couple of hours at a stretch, but how long you do it is up to you. Do this exercise as often as practical until it becomes a second nature to you.
.
.
