Page 2 of http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Vinay_Deolalikar/Papers/pnp_updated.pdf
To be human, a limited, interconnected being, at one's highest, is to offer something to this ephemeral world, knowing that death awaits. And to offer it gratefully, as if the opportunity of creating something wonderful is something which only a few receive.
The furthest reaches of our potential lie not in abhorring our limitations and living in a void away from suffering, but in creating happiness, joy and fulfillment.
Not in pessimism and negation ("I am not", "I will not", "I must not"), but in affirmation and creation ("I am", "I will", "I must").
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23 comments:
"To be human, a limited, interconnected being, at one's highest, is to offer something to this ephemeral world, knowing that death awaits. And to offer it gratefully, as if the opportunity of creating something wonderful is something which only a few receive."
Do you realize even a jihadi thinks exactly like this? Even he thinks "I am", "I will" I must" stop the suffering,the injustice, the pain and bring everlasting joy, peace and happiness for myself and my people. By offering myself, my deeds to this cause gratefully as if it is an opportunity only a few can receive...........
@anonymous: you are a worse cynic than me. congratulations. :-)
No dear Harman, I am not trying to be cynical...
only trying to make you think about what is the border between the individual and the world.
As I said before, it is all about understanding the "border"...............
Does not matter what path one chooses to understand it - spiritualism, actualism or any thing else...
As long as you understand that Understanding the "border" is what a seeker seeks to accomplish or a true Guru seeks to explain and not "Everlasting Bliss" as the only ultimate goal.....
Maybe then you would stop writing as if all spiritualist were narcissists, after all what is the purpose of propagating such a narrow understanding of spirituality?
Harman,
This post's optimism increases my pessimism.
-MM
How is this "ephemeral" world? Life span of a human may be fleeting ( if 80 years or so , on an average can be called that) but Universe is vast, expansive and eternal...
When I click on the link, it says page not found.
Anonymous to harman..."what is the purpose of propagating such a narrow understanding of spirituality?"
my guess is its got something to do with spirituality being rooted in a *feeling* of being a 'being', which evaluates all objective and subjective experience from a *feeling* level as either 'I' like ( *feel* attracted) or 'I' do not like (*feel* repulsed). with all this self-righteous border patrol going on how can a spiritual 'being' not be narcissistic? its mimicking its belief in a 'supreme being' i.e. playing god with sensate life.
The instance of offering is an attempt at proving a long-standing problem in Computer Science and Mathematics, one considered almost impossible to solve.
The researcher dedicated the solution to those who had brought him up, and invoked a verse from Gita to express that he does not expect any reward from this effort, even though there is a million dollars prize for this problem.
You might also know about Mr Perelman, a Russian mathematician who solved Poincare's Conjecture and refused to come take the Field's medal and the million dollar prize which went with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman
The paper has been taken offline by the researcher at the moment, presumably for refinement.
A copy of its second draft is available at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1674845/pnp_updated.pdf
How is this "ephemeral" world? Life span of a human may be fleeting ( if 80 years or so , on an average can be called that) but Universe is vast, expansive and eternal...
Knowing that ultimately nature is tending towards chaos and disintegration, to still offer something beautiful and orderly is a heroic act. A smirk and a wink to the "Gods", as Camus would say.
Harmanjit Singh said...
"Knowing that ultimately nature is tending towards chaos and disintegration, to still offer something beautiful and orderly is a heroic act. A smirk and a wink to the "Gods", as Camus would say."
knowing? we know nothing. beautiful and orderly offerings? heroic acts? ours? bah. what vain human concepts. for all our smirking and winking nano-brains know, this may be but one cosmic pulse amongst infinite pulsations of dis-integration and re-manifestation and we are just one species of microbes fantasizing about Gods as the universe lives itself regardless.
knowing? we know nothing.
I disagree. We know a great deal, but we are also learning more and more.
beautiful and orderly offerings?
Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_identity
this is how our mathmatically beautiful identity treats other 40 million year old self aware identities.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p008x76w
i was particularly struck by his realization after spending half his life with this species that our idea of intelligence was just a concept.
So.....
Harman created this blog: An offering to this "ephemeral" world,offered gratefully as if the opportunity of creating a blog for pessimists is something only a few can achieve. Not by being negative "I am not", "I will not" ....., but in the optimistic refrain of "I am", I will", "I must" be a pessimist and create or meet more beautiful minds like me who can denounce any school of thought that exists be it spiritualism, actualism,meditation - ism or any more isms except cynicism???
Bravo and Gracias!!!!
Speaking of Mathematics, Pythagoras & 'Offerings':
Resistance is futile
.........who can denounce any school of thought that exists be it spiritualism, actualism,meditation - ism or any more isms except cynicism???
Bravo and Gracias!!!!
When a cynic has gone to the end of the world and checked out everything that is on offer, it is then that he realizes what is the best possible solution though obviously it won't be perfect.
I am not evil. I am not a Nazi. I will not stone an adulterer to death. I must not be barbaric.
What's wrong with that? Don't get caught up in semantics and grammar too much.
What's wrong with that?
I think some people just want to pick a fight with me here. :-)
What I meant was, since this has escaped you, is that to *only* focus on what is wrong with the world and on what I must abhor is a pessimistic way to live one's life.
It is fine to understand what causes pain to others and avoid that, but, in my opinion, and you may disagree, it is much more important to seek to bring happiness to others.
A stone lying on the beach doesn't cause any suffering to others, and to just have that (and individual bliss) as a goal of one's life is such a waste.
Aman said... "When a cynic has gone to the end of the world and checked out everything that is on offer..."
..it will have no effect. because merely checking out whats on offer is just examining it as a philosophy.
to go to the end of the world regarding a human potential requires actually 'experiencing' it.
Harmanjit Singh said...
"...in my opinion, and you may disagree,
it is much more important to seek to bring happiness to others."
great! does this mean you'll be bringing some happiness to your blogs sometime soon?
to go to the end of the world regarding a human potential requires actually 'experiencing' it.
Going to the end of the world included 'actually' experiencing it.
Aman said... "Going to the end of the world included 'actually' experiencing it."
come again? because i fail to see any sense or relevance in your reply.
the only subjective experience anyone can confirm with such certainty is ones own and since its obvious the self proclaimed cynic being referred to was harman and the going to end of the world 'actual experience' included actual freedom, just what are you talking about?
@anonymous, a PCE is considered a glimpse into the actual world. I guess Harman has had a PCE and that would make him go to the end of the world including a glimpse of the actual world.
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