Mind-Mail: Comparing thought processing Mind with Email

Humans are made for thinking. We think lots of things: past and future and sometimes present. We are thinking machines that never pause expect in deep sleep. We even think when we yawn, “OMG what I am doing, stop it, stop it” but it wont stop. So, are other things in life. We cannot control all things in life yet we waste time thinking about it. Maybe its our default nature. We tend to think too much into past, regretting things we could have done but couldn't do. Also, we think a lot about future that has yet not presented itself. So, our mind is stuck processing two kinds of thoughts that constantly bombard our mind, past and future. Whats more interesting in them is that they generate two possible results. Some make you happy while some make you sad. The ones that make you happy are ones related to your achievement, your loved ones, your belongings, adventures, etc. And the ones that make you unhappy are ones related to lost things (people and money at top), fear for something that may get wrong, etc. So, our mind is constantly tacking various threads of thoughts that enter like stream, result of which are happy or bad mood.

So, our mind can be looked as your email box. Every thought that enters it is like an Email. That thought can be independent (like thought that comes when you get promotion for first time) or that are recurrent(every time your alarm wakes you from sweet dream on cold morning). The former is like independent mail and latter one is like email thread having same topic. In Email, there are two kinds of possible outcomes of when you open them. One is good one because you get some useful information like you got your promotion. Obviously, it starts a thread of congratulation emails in same thread for you. But, other type are spams that when open can do malicious things to your system and even to your personal life. They can crash your hard drive, or drop in some male-ware that starts sending personal information to remote server which can lead to anything. So, what is difference between both type of emails, nothing. They are just emails with subject, body and possible attachment. Since I developed email client myself at one time, I know there are lot more thing in it apart from obvious things listed. Yet, they look apparently the same in structure.

Fortunately in case of Emails, we have developed many anti-spam system that use various ways to automatically filter good genuine mails from spams. Its like filtering wheat from chaff. So, we have two place in email, one called the inbox where you normally focus your time while checking in email and other called spam where all those spam mails go in. The email server does no bad to spam mails but is generous enough to give it some time (like a month or two) before deleting it forever. You can have look at it if you want during that period and can even turn it back into good mail(move it back into inbox).

Unfortunately, In case of mind, there is no such thought filtering system. We do not filter our thoughts the same way as emails are. They always end up getting processed by mind resulting into various moods. The good thing is that there are indeed two folders inside our brain for every thoughts just like email, inbox and spam. They behave same way as do emails. But, problem is we don't have filter system in place. Every thought that enters ends up into mind 'inbox'. Result is that we end up processing malicious and wrong thoughts that not only depresses us but encourage us into wrong actions. Just like there email counterparts, they are uncertain and take up huge amount of your minds time. They may fill up your life with regret and lead to your down fall. Worse part is that we tend to process them in real time without giving them time to settle i.e. we think while they are still immature meaning their outcome hasn't manifested itself yet.

We could filter every thought that comes by sending the malicious/depressing ones into spam. Once inside spam that thought gets locked up without getting any attention from mind. After some time just as in case of email, that malicious thought disappears forever. Our mind has very powerful weapon for deleting unnecessary thoughts through process called 'forgetting'. Our brain are made of neurons that die and generate all the time unlike silicons. We could just store such malicious thought in one of those dying neurons. After sometime, we may realize that the filtered malicious thought wasn't actually bad (like thought of your recent breakup which later helped you get into better relationship or pursue your lifetime dream). We may now be store it as good one and cherish it for life time. Its like moving mail marked spam back into inbox. Good thing is we have prevented that thought from affecting us while in immature state. We gave it some evaluation time when we detected its malicious behaviour. If it was unable to get into good one (remained sour for long time), we deleted them forever and once that turned good later, we store it back as good memories. Result is that our mind is full of good thoughts that enrich our lives. As Buddha says, thought reflects our action which in turn reflects our life.

So, next time before thinking about any thought, try taking some time out filtering it and deciding whether its worth your precious time. If its not, just ignore it and put it into mind 'spam' folder and let it die its natural death. You should lead a better life in that way.

Mind-Mail: Comparing thought processing Mind with Email

Co-Existing dual nature: Individualism and Humanity

Everybody is born different and unique. Yet in difference there is similarity which software engineers called Abstraction. There is no way to group different people. There are only extremes. The one end is called humanity where everybody is human: no race, no country, no language, no religion, no profession, etc. The other end is called individualism where everybody is special and unique that goes into DNA structure with other feature stored in brain. Every intermediate level is born out of lack of proper understanding of human science. They can be religion, country, language, profession, etc.

Today in Nepal, there is continuous ongoing talk about groupism and representation for it. There simply seems no end to it. The conflict that arises due to that is hampering daily life and overall development of nation. It is affecting lives of simple people who accept themselves as part of common whole. The result is mess which leaves nobody in good position. If we satisfy the condition where a unique group is properly represented with a fixed location in map of world, then that would come down to level of individual (if not now but later when two subgroups in one group realize that they are not same and need further division which goes recursively till we get to individual level). So, 30 million population would need 30 million different divisions. That can be impossible to generate physically because that would leave one area too small to do any basic job for survival.

The solution is simple. We as individual only own that small area of land that our body covers. Even that area diminishes once our life looses this body. This could be understood from Alexander the great who realized the futility of world conquer idea during his end days. So, when you think from individualism perspective, the idea is simple. You are responsible for that small area you cover at one moment of time, nothing else. You own it and no body has right to displace you except the mighty nature of whom you are part of and who has every right to punish/reward you. At the same time you have to respect the area that other individual around you cover. From the global perspective, nothing is yours. You are just block of a big wall that forms world. Everybody has its part to play. I am surrounded by fellow Nepalese with whom I have cherished a wonderful life. My school and childhood friends all from India represents all my childhood that are ones who understand me very closely. I also work with American people who help me at every step and have learn a lot. I feel as a block that appears at one point in time, plays his part and later at some other point diminishes. During that period of time, many other block also appear while some other disappear whose subset I deal with. From that perspective, You don't have singular representation but have global representation that you form part of. You remain for small part in time however that global body remains forever. You play your part, other play their part. It however appears as though that global body is acting. That global part for me is humanity and not any country or religion or any profession. We are now entering knowledge world from information world where everything will be represented generically. As I said earlier, everything will be abstracted right from top.

At individual level, We are already given freedom by nature to represent ourself. Nature never interferes with it. At global level, We are connected through technology that helps us understand each other at every possible way. It has helped us solve big problems globally as a team and share our sorrows and happiness making it a global event. The greed for representation and right will never end until everybody has killed every other weak person and world is full of exhausted devils who will have land and resources to enjoy but no friend to share that happiness with. Nepalese politicians desperately need to understand this truth and understand co-existing dual nature of being and stop childish fight for right and land of representation. That is only going to sow seeds of destruction.

It reminds of Words from Gita:

I exist in every being, yet I form a global whole

Co-Existing dual nature: Individualism and Humanity