Do you believe Destiny?

In the opening scene of the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" , a title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? (A) He cheated, (B) He's lucky, (C) He's a genius, (D) It is written

In the end the hero Jamal and his lost love meet at the railway station and they share a kiss. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the opening question is "D) it is written", implying that it is destiny.

This article is not about the movie but about destiny. Do you believe in Destiny?

It is very interesting question, if you completely believe in destiny then everything is written, when I say everything, it is each and every thing.  Whatever you have or going to have, your thoughts, your emotions, your decisions , your moods, what you eat, what you do, your experience is all predetermined  and it is written.  You are just a one character in a movie, everything is planned, you may not be aware of that plan but everything is written, it is your Destiny.

There is another point of view, that is for those who don't believe in destiny, may be we can call them "Karma-Yogis", who believe in taking action , and whatever they have is a consequence of  the actions they have taken.  They  believe in "Best way to predict your future is to create it", they create their own future.

People who believe in destiny, keep doing their work, since whatever they  do is written. They don't think much, keep doing their work and enjoy life fully. They have the experience of tremendous freedom!.

People who don't believe in destiny, keep doing their work since they know they have to create what they need. They don't think much, keep doing their work and enjoy life fully. They also have the experience of tremendous freedom!.

There are many who sometime believe in destiny and sometimes not, they are the ones who have lot of stress, confusion. They are not in action,  they have fear of consequence.

So, either you believe in destiny or not, it does not matter. What matters is, you having the freedom. 

Do you believe in Destiny?

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Objectivism -2

Ayn Rand's philosophy is based on three axioms: the Axiom of Existence, the Law of Identity, and the Axiom of Consciousness. Rand defined an axiom as "a statement that identifies the base of knowledge and of any further statement pertaining to that knowledge, a statement necessarily contained in all others whether any particular speaker chooses to identify it or not. An axiom is a proposition that defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and use it in the process of any attempt to deny it. As Leonard Peikoff noted, Rand's argumentation "is not a proof that the axioms of existence, consciousness, and identity are true. It is proof that they are axioms that they are at the base of knowledge and thus inescapable.

Objectivism holds that reality exists independent from consciousness; that individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perception; that human beings can gain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation; that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest; that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure laissez-faire capitalism; and that the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form—a work of art—that he can comprehend and respond to.

The Objectivist ethic begins with a meta-ethical question: why do human beings need a code of values? The Objectivist answer is that humans, as beings of volitional consciousness, need such a code in order to survive as human beings.

Objectivism maintains that human beings, unlike lower organisms, cannot act automatically to further their own survival. For man, the conceptual faculty is his tool for survival. An organism that possesses a faculty of sensation relies on its pleasure-pain mechanism; an animal that operates at the level of perception can use its perceptions to instinctively go through its essentially cyclic life; but a human being must rely on an integrated whole of his perceptual (rooted in sensations) and conceptual faculties.

(Contributed by Padma)

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Objectivism -1

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

—Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged 35th anniversary edition

Ayn Rand characterized Objectivism as a philosophy for living on earth, grounded in reality, and aimed at defining man's nature and the nature of the world in which he lives. Rand presented her philosophy through her novels The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and other works. She elaborated on her ideas in The Objectivist Newsletter, The Objectivist, The Ayn Rand Letter, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and other non-fiction books.

Objectivism derives its name from its conception of knowledge and values as objective: neither intrinsic nor subjective. According to Rand, concepts and values are not intrinsic to external reality, nor are they merely subjective (by which Rand means "arbitrary" or "created by [one's] feelings, desires, 'intuitions, or whims"; like wishful thinking). Rather, valid concepts and values are, as she wrote, "determined by the nature of reality, but to be discovered by man's mind.

Rand chose Objectivism as the name of her philosophy because her ideal term to label a philosophy based on the primacy of existence,

Existentialism, had already been adopted to describe the philosophy of Kierkegaard and later Sartre. The name is capitalized to distinguish it from other philosophical positions to which the term "objectivism" has sometimes been applied

Rand's philosophy is based on three axioms: the Axiom of Existence, the Law of Identity, and the Axiom of Consciousness. Rand defined an axiom as "a statement that identifies the base of knowledge and of any further statement pertaining to that knowledge, a statement necessarily contained in all others whether any particular speaker chooses to identify it or not.  (…continued Next week)

(Contributed by Padma )

 

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The Alchemist -4

The shepherd's journey towards his treasure continues. In this concluding series I will not reveal whether he gets his treasure or not, please read the book to find out.  I will definitely share some of the important conversations and some more details from his journey.

This is the piece of the discussion between boy and the Alchemist.

"You already know all you need to know ...except one thing"

"People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them. Or that they'll be unable to achieve them...  Tell you hear that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself"

"Is that the one thing I still needed to know?" asked the boy,

" No" said the alchemist answered " What you still need to know is this: before the dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we have learned as we've moved towards that dream.

That's the point at which most people  give up. It is the point at which, as we say in the language of the

desert, 'one dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon' "

Isn't it true for all of us? many times we give up things which matter to us before they are realized, somewhere doubting our abilities or giving up to the circumstances.

• Darkest hour of dawn comes just before the dawn
• One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving
• Men dream more about coming home than about leaving
• There is only one way to learn - It is through action
• It can not be understood by reason alone
• Everyone on earth has a tresure that awaits him
• Finally ...

      When a perosn really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dreams

 

END OF SERIES ON ALCHEMIST

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The Alchemist -3 ...contd

The shepherd leaves the crystal merchant and goes in search of the treasure following his dreams. He comes across Englishman, who was in search of Alchemist, who can purify the metals. The boy will be looking at the volumes of books that Englishman was carrying.   Some of the conversation between them …

"Well, then, why do we need all these books?" the boy asked. "So that we can understand those few lines." the Englishman answered.  …

"Can't you just observe  men and omens in order to understand the language?" the boy asked.

"You have a mania for simplifying everything," answered the Englishman irritated. 

 What I liked in that conversation is, there many things in life that are simple, just by looking at them or by common sense we can resolve it but we make it so complicated and significant!! .  Most of the time, we can't see that the things are simple.

Some of the best lines from the book.

• People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want
• Everyone has his or her  own way of learning
• The closer he got to the realization of his dream, the more difficult things became.
• Eat when it is time to eat. And move along when it's time to move along
• The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes

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