An interesting after-thought to the theory of elimination

One of my friends had an interesting after-thought to the previous blog titled "Theory of elimination". The human psyche is inclined towards comparing things. Enter the theory of relativity. According to him, it's about thinking things could have been worse when you feel like being at the bottom of the pit. That imbibes a new sense of courage and momentum in you to handle what's at hand, so that you reach a point where you finally see the so called "Silver Lining". This is how you turn the zeroes into ones, which in itself might be a process involving fractions, instead of a straight jump from o to 1.

Theory of elimination

Two of my friends used to say life is binary ... there's just ones and zeroes in it. But wouldn't that mean if one's not happy, then one's sad. Everything is always either good or bad. On the contrary, maybe there's worst, worse, good, better, best. Maybe, there are gradients. Infact, there are deltas. Things move from worst to best over time. Actually, perspective dances it way down this slider.

If one starts to search the "betters" and "bests" in , they are not all that hard to find. One learns from everything that happens. And learning makes us better equipped to live life. There is nothing that we should/need not know. There's never enough learnt. So, in that sense, we are always growing.

Things might seem to be on the darker side of this slider initially, but over time, they turn out to be better/best. Although, one takes time to find the silver lining. And the faster one finds the silver lining, the more fun life is. Its like a game and games are fun. And the better one gets at it, the more one enjoys it. And somehow if I'm not able to find the silver lining, I tell myself "Picture abhi baaki hai ;P (the movie's not over yet)".

I still remember, as a kid, I used to play this game "Who's dunnit", which I had won from Nestle. It was about four detectives trying to find a stolen treasure hidden in one of the seven wonders of the world, with the help of hints given through cards throughout the game. The detective who found the treasure first was the winner.

I feel I am one of those detectives. I may not win over life every time; I might not be the first to discover that lesson which life is hinting at, but sooner (rather than later) I find my treasure.

And if I don't know what I'm looking for, the game can become a bit twisted, but all the more thrilling. In that case, I try to let time guide me. Time yields a clarity, which nothing else ever can. By themselves, quite a handful of options get stream-lined, and in the end, you are left with only two options.

Now if one observes closely, the pattern on which these choices are based is almost always the same. One is what we should (could) do and the other is what we should not (could not) do. I shall, hereby, like to stress upon the parenthesization. When I say, should (could) / should not (could not), I am talking of passion coupled with pragmatism. Passion tells me the "should", and pragmatism tells me the "could". For others, it might be the other way round. But I think from the heart first, so this is the case for me.

Well, maybe, here my friends were right. Life just became binary. Go on , take your pick. And another one of mathematical theories applied to life here is the theory of elimination. Well, living life is, thus, an intriguing game. However, learning this game takes time and practise.

Flock of birds

Today, I saw a flock of birds meandering its way through the sky, sweeping clean of the treetops very neatly. But, not once, did any of them disperse from the flock.

It's funny how the most intelligent species on earth has unlearned nature's lessons over years. However, nature still finds it own funny ways to teach us.