tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post4952893387009410810..comments2023-12-26T02:13:41.902-08:00Comments on Cynic in Wonderland: Shadow LifeCynic in Wonderlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17544348501114907088noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-8297879555703766172008-07-01T01:43:00.000-07:002008-07-01T01:43:00.000-07:00OMG...when did you get inside my head? it's like r...OMG...when did you get inside my head? it's like reading a bit of myself.<BR/><BR/>Arunima - she's writing about mine :)Aquahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02884584874282115926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-1892747859174538222008-06-29T21:47:00.000-07:002008-06-29T21:47:00.000-07:00vikram you are probabaly right about the desires, ...vikram you are probabaly right about the desires, but i am not sure most of us even know what they are. how many times are you haunted with this vague sense of restlessness when things are going perfectly okay and you wonder and you brood and you dount really know? that causes anxiety. also managing desires of others. that is difficult. <BR/><BR/>a million different people. by all means, there is merit in shrewd mediocrity at an abstract level. but when a talented person who is not manipulative gets shredded - becoz of a temparement flaw(?) thats when there is a problem. <BR/><BR/><BR/>absolutely scribbler - the anxiety comes becoz of that exactly. one has expectations about what one can do and one cannot fulfil those.Cynic in Wonderlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17544348501114907088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-59113877894479632992008-06-27T00:25:00.000-07:002008-06-27T00:25:00.000-07:00I see it somewhat differently and yet very much th...I see it somewhat differently and yet very much the same. We are happiest when we are very young and when we are very old because, for varying reasons, we do not face any great pressures; put another way, because we do not have any illusions of what we can achieve in the world. We do not imagine that we are in control to that extent. This takes away so much of what we suffer when we expect something out of life.<BR/><BR/>In the middle phase, when we are positioned as productive members of society, as human beings with potential and influence (we have more potential but less influence when we are younger -- more influence and fewer possibilities when we are older), we believe that we CAN. The trouble is that sometimes we forget that we MUST and that we CAN, within limits, but that those limits always exist. Such is the finitude of life. <BR/><BR/>Growing up is learning that we can do something and learning how to do it. Growing older is learning that we <BR/>can still do something but that there are many things we could do or could have done that are no longer options. To grow old peacefully is to accept the finitude. <BR/><BR/>I have been afraid of death all my life. Not so much because of the unknown but because of the cessation of possibility for this consciousness I inhabit. I lost the fear on a day when I was alone, in jeopardy, in pain, and immobile, and knew that I had no control whatsoever over my circumstances or the situation. I was quite ready to die, to let it all end, to have not achieved so much that I wanted to achieve--quite ready to be content with whatever I had managed to achieve or not achieve in 24 years of existence. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes I think back to that day and wish desperately for that contentment and that peace.Sanchiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999115030245749245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-58792323917254196192008-06-25T01:26:00.000-07:002008-06-25T01:26:00.000-07:00Written very well and I agree with most of it. Oka...Written very well and I agree with most of it. Okay, all of it. <BR/><BR/>I think we need to give merit to shrewd mediocrity. :) Because I've always thought that it's not what you have, but how you manage what you have that matters. <BR/><BR/>I really like what I read. :)a million different peoplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17997740144859813822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-43062162277772336272008-06-22T12:16:00.000-07:002008-06-22T12:16:00.000-07:00If you see it Cyn, anxiety paradoxically is not th...If you see it Cyn, anxiety paradoxically is not the problem, it is infact a marker to the solution.<BR/><BR/>You are anxious only when you feel something is not going as you would want it to. A desire is not getting fulfilled. And therefore everytime you feel anxious, do a little introspection and you would possible find something that can bring you happiness.<BR/><BR/>The actual problem unfortunately comes because of conflicting desires. The fulfillment of one of your desires thwarts another desire. Your desire to remain ethical and honest conflicts with your desire to win the contract that can be won only on payment of some bribe.<BR/><BR/>And to resolve these conficts of desires, you must know the priorities of your desires (typically know your values) and have the conviction to stay with those values.<BR/><BR/>Easier said than done? Maybe :)VBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14742613060025843240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-12159668435847526322008-06-20T02:59:00.000-07:002008-06-20T02:59:00.000-07:00thank you nowhere man. i am relieved to hear that ...thank you nowhere man. i am relieved to hear that other people also feel this way and its not just my circle of aquiantances. <BR/><BR/>parnika - er ...thank you<BR/><BR/>long time yesbob. <BR/><BR/>lekhini, will do the haiku <BR/><BR/>arunima - hmmmm.. et tu?<BR/><BR/>epiphany - extended mid life crisis perhaps. scary tohave it last so long tho.Cynic in Wonderlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17544348501114907088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-20817327395709548292008-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:002008-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:00Agree with the graph part...I just thought as kids...Agree with the graph part...I just thought as kids..you do not know what is in store for you in your "prime" while as senior citizens you have "been there done that"...It is only in your middle life you have an opinion and try to control what is going on...But I do agree with the reasons you mentioned for the anxiety of life...Epiphanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09299278033220632644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-63004428413758283242008-06-19T22:42:00.000-07:002008-06-19T22:42:00.000-07:00why are you blogging about my life?why are you blogging about my life?Arunimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08528153539195340782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-5453534285721184042008-06-19T12:30:00.000-07:002008-06-19T12:30:00.000-07:00You are tagged! Writing Haiku, no less :)You are tagged! Writing Haiku, no less :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-53440496706773850112008-06-19T10:35:00.000-07:002008-06-19T10:35:00.000-07:00ahoy there too !!strong stuff, this post...ahoy there too !!<BR/>strong stuff, this post...yesbobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07909177142920332650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1985300941233806528.post-61781016475492750992008-06-19T05:28:00.000-07:002008-06-19T05:28:00.000-07:00Brilliant!! Extremely well written!! Nothing new f...Brilliant!! Extremely well written!! Nothing new for the fellow cynics in the wonderland but refreshing all the same :) <BR/><BR/><I><BR/>" ..And accepting the reality of the environment, of a lopsided world, where merit often needs to kow-tow to shrewd mediocrity<BR/><BR/>For many, it is facing upto the unpleasant truth that the professional glass ceiling is not too distant– where the opportunities are scarcer and the competition, exponential. Where the need to hone skills is high, but the drive is fading, and energy often drained away, dealing in a morass of managerial mundanity. " </I><BR/><BR/>Amen to that! <BR/><BR/>You earned yourself a fan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com