Friday, August 8, 2008

Two Weeks

This first post of my first blog finds me in a very pensive mood, which, I think, can be attributed to the sheer volume of work that has descended on us, work that is meant to be completed in an impossibly short span of time. The next two weeks will test our mettle, not to mention our very sanity, and, like our Eco Professor said, "Separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls".
At moments like this, which confront all of us sooner or later, we are faced with two choices- Do the work or do the work well.
Renee Descartes said" I think, therefore, I am". This, I believe, is the very essence of what it means to be human, the quality that separates us from the rest of the animal and reptilan kingdoms, the ability to think beyond the satisfaction of our basic survival needs, the quality that makes as our HBO Professor said,an artist, starving and poor, strive to create his magnum opus.
True as this may be, in today's world, how many of us think, really think, in the true and glorious sense of the word? We live our lives from one day to the next, performing myriad tasks on auto-pilot, doing what we do simply because we have to, not because we want to.
This tendency is further compounded by day time television, by music dictated by MTV, by the videogames and mediocre movies that we watch, all the activities that consume any time left over from our busy schedules. Our minds are dulled by media that seeks to entertain us at the most superficial level. How many of us take time out to actively think, think about where we've been and where we're headed?
As a result of this, the work that we do is done because it has to be done, another result of our autopilot selves, work without the depth and quality it would have had had it been a product of our absolute thought, concentration and passion.
So, my friends and my peers, let us strive to think, think and work truly well for the next two weeks, and that will make the difference as to whether we sink or swim.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Very thought provoking .....your first post really made us take time away from the dull, monotonous routine of our daily existence.....
but the point is - do we really need to spend so much time performing the mindless routine of our daily life, or do we really not need to those few remaining hours to entertain ourselves - how do bring on our mental 'refresh' mode otherwise ....
We definitely need time to do things which we are passionate about....
Come on!...the rest of you...the intellengensia! lets blog on this issue and see what change it brings about in all of us

Nandan Bhoopalam said...

which is what i always wanted to do and will do it pretty soon is what i have been promising myself for the past 20 days to a month but have never got the courage to do it, coz of the after effects which will follow in the blink of the eye and i know its very upsetting

Unknown said...

But what's really there to think about? There are 6 billion people on this planet. Even IF you were to make a huge impact on the history of our planet, the earth is pretty much a speck of dust floating around in space. And our lifetimes are shorter than the blink of an eye, in relation to the history of everything. So - if you have a large enough (read:realistic) perspective, the amount of space we control is infinitesmal. The amount of time we occupy is incredibly short. There's no real point questioning anything or having opinions, because they're really worth less than nothing at the end of the day.

The only thing really worth thinking about is whether we have any real importance at all. As the late, great Tyler Durden once said, "First you have to give up, first you have to *know*... not fear... *know*... that someday you're gonna die."

Manu said...

eh, i agree with him.

Shibani Katti said...

@anonymous: if a person were to truly believe that, it would probably be prudent to take a gun and shoot himself/herself in the head asap
Also, a person should have enough conviction is their own opinion to put their name to it.

3rdrocson said...

you write very well...

I have not read a good blog like your post in a long while.

Life has meaning no matter how small or big. It was asked before "Who are we compared to the stars? So small and insignificant?" I will always answer this question "No matter how small we are, because of our "being" we are no less significant than the stars. We are just as important to the universe as anything it has or will ever create."

I have not heard anyone quote Descarte in a long while too. hehe.

Shibani Katti said...

@3rdrocson: Thank you, I absolutely agree with the thought.
Waiting to read some posts from you as well.