Materialism - Have I got it right?

I always thought materialism is being attached to money, I have given a lot of effort to be less and less dependent on it.. However a thought bothers me is materialism only about money? I am attached to how I spend my time, is it not a form of materialism where I am trying to hold to a scarce commodity like money.. Does the spiritual wisdom not say  - All is transient?

It is a difficult attachment which I have and I have a feeling it interferes with my balance of how I need to live the life...

This bothers me... Have I got it right?

Time to Shed the Old Skin

"Even the finest books deserve to be thrown aside" - This is the last line of the book I recently read - How Proust can change your life, written by Alain De Botton, he quotes Marcel Proust here. 

The book overall was heavy for me but this ending line has caught my attention. 

Doing my self assessment as usual with each of these philosophical thought I think I am caught up with the books I have read, the theories, the periodic battle of to be or not to be; it is time that throw all of this aside, there is much to life which needs to be experienced, the books, the theories can only take me to a small distance, beyond that I have to traverse myself.

What holds back that experience is mental conditioning, the fears of different hues, the judgements and the desire of being desirous. 

It is time to shed the skin, and take another leap, wear the new skin...

What made the difference? #2

I was talking about Vipassana to a few colleagues at work. It was an organized session, I thought there could be nothing better I could talk about. HR topics are a minnow in front of Vipassana... 

Vipassana has certainly made a difference to what I am today but what got me doing it and what made me sustain it and benefit from it is because of a basic quality of "determination". I have often heard about determination in many wise speeches, always thought it to be a quality required to make big leaps. Never realized for any degree of accomplishment there is some determination working behind. 

Determination is what brings about a change. I sustained Vipassana albeit headwinds with determination, I gave up my whims which were firmly established in my thought patterns through determination. The mind develops patterns, comfort and is not ready to give up the current state. It lulls you into give up change, the change from current state to a desired state is achieved through this quality.

It is a simple quality of keep going despite all the headwinds, the clever arguments, the laziness. It is a simple quality which can be strengthened with just a promise of keep trying till you succeed. Just being watchful and not let bury the promise. This has made much difference!

What made the difference?

Along with a good friend I was looking back at life... How I was as a teenager and how life has turned out and what I have become what has been the turning points. Quite an interesting journey it has been.

Both of us share in fact I will say most of us share the same story.. The story is of being in a confused state looking for an identity in early years to certain key events which help shape us a belief in oneself and one is ready to take on the world. This belief in oneself however flimsy grounds it may be sitting on has made me look at life with love and gratitude. 

There are few people and events who have touched me, nurtured me and made me grow in this journey, I am thankful to them. That is all has made the difference. 

Random update of my life.. my mind

whenever i sit to write i feel like writing a master piece. I started with the premise of writing blog to clear my mind, delve deeper on various topics which keep running as random thoughts.. i realize each time i sit that need to get over with the feeling to prove myself... it is my thoughts i need to let it flow.. amen :)

last week was an extremely busy one, work seems to be getting busier and busier.... these are the times i think if i really want to chase some big corporate dream. I know i am amongst the good ones but something inside tells me life can be a lot more fun than this.. but somehow it eludes me.. i like my work and i like to be busy and feel important but at the same time there is this prallel thought.. am i missing something.. i never feel content when it comes to life, want to live more... i hope in the philosophical realm this urge, need is a higher order need.. i hope so as i dont want to be another human being driven by materialistic urges alone.. i pride myself in being more evolved :)

this mind and the image as we create for ourselves is such a maze.. i am articulating the above and i am getting more caught in it.. How? well it is a self realization and with this self realization there is a thought which is born, how smart err evolved i am i have self realization :)

this is getting quite random literally... but i am amazed and have come to realize that this mind is the most powerful animal.. i create an image about myself and chase, i believe in some random qualities and feel good... i do not believe that i have some random qualities and i feel miserable... this mind is the key to life..

tame it, discipline it and happiness is yours.. let it lose and you will be walking on a tight rope balancing yourself always so that you do not fall....

my life highway

I have been lately so self absorbed in my own life that i had just forgotten the infinite space we live in. I had made life smaller by being involved in my own life and closing my eyes to all the beauty, depth and breadth life has.


Well i mean i have been working hard, climbing corporate ladder, becoming a good performer and favorites of my bosses when it comes to work. Life revolving around some excel sheets, powerpoints, meeting, plans, deadlines and reviews.

I thought i have stopped learning as a person, stopped growing and i started writing this blog. I did the right thing. Till now my blog was to clear my head and sharpen my thinking in my own way. With some random blog reading, I broadened my horizon and realized how i have been stuck in my own world and my own arrogance of my thoughts (though I don’t think i can or want to get rid of it :) it is my identity). There is so much the world has to offer, there is more to the way i see life and i need to take a detour from my own highway and experience outside.

I know it will be difficult to give much time given my work but let me make a beginning..