Factory of The Mind

Did we take on this road less travelled because we were dismayed and wanted to escape the beaten path or were we enchanted by a new way of life? Partly both. What proportions? I don’t remember; also, it is irrelevant now.  Nonetheless, there was a willingness to explore and do it earnestly.  We did not begin by being members of an alternate lifestyle group/community. We were not opponents of the existing system of education, farming, construction, economy, governance, etc. We have no ideology or a spiritual guru. As we moved along, we got acquainted to many people, who had also chosen to tread off the beaten path, but most of them had affiliations to certain ideologies or beliefs. The common thread that bound most of them is their disapproval of status quo.  Rekha never really felt at home with most of these ideologies and beliefs. But I did share their thinking and hoped that an alternate is workable. But now, I don’t have much of that hope left. The wife is ...

Groups are fun, energising. A group is often more than the sum of all. But there's more than that to  truth. Affluence has gone up. Characteristic of friends and relatives change with raised affluence. The bubbles around them enlarge. Smiles become wider and laughter quiter. Head gets precedence over heart. A group seeks conformity. I felt unwelcome in groups where I didn't conform. One-on-one, everyone in the group likes me, but when together, I had to resemble them.  In a group, fear multiplies and risks assume larger proportions. When they evaluate my off-beat decisions, they expect me to prove robustness in scenarios, which aren't even probable. When I can't defend, they feel vindicated.  A group abhors one-to-one dialogue. It is treated as contempt of group etiquette. So, it is imperative while discussing in a group, proceed at the pace of the slowest and do not raise the content beyond what the dumbest and the least interested can comprehend or sh...