Keeping things simple

After wasting a morning struggling with network and computer problems and incompatibilities, I have reminded myself to keep everything as simple as possible. It’s so easy to become a slave to the machine. For example, at one stage, moving files to another disk, I found myself mindlessly clicking over and over again on a confirmation button. I was sure that that operation would take four or five minutes, but half an hour later, in a half conscious state, I suddenly realized that this had been going on too long and, cursing, pulling at my hair, cancelled the operation. There is no doubt that I felt like a fool, and was a fool. But this is what happens sometimes.

The important lesson to learn is just to keep things simple, so that our interactions with the machine are kept to a minimal. And also to be mindful about the length of time that is being spent struggling against unconquerable technical issues that sometimes arise. It’s so easy to become absorbed in a problem. Often, just getting up and going to the bathroom gives a different perspective, and new ideas, so that I can go back and solve the problem another way. Alas, that didn’t happen today.

Meher Baba; ajapa japa

Only India has been able to produce spiritual masters like Kabir and Meher Baba, whose religious identity is unclear, but whose spiritual stature is enormous. And Meher Baba himself explored and brought attention, more than any other, to the world of God-intoxicated sadhus, whose spiritual stature was also great, but who were not capable of teaching anything to others. Their case is even more interesting, because if no one would pay attention to them in this way, they would be considered mere aberrations, whose experience is of no value to humankind. The changes being brought about by modern India endangers their very existence; and once they are gone, they will quickly be forgotten, with a shudder.

As a side note, it’s nice that those with an interest in Meher Baba have chosen to use Wikipedia itself to record his life and ideas, thus making them accessible to everyone.

Also in Wikipedia, I also found interesting information on the Soham mantra, with mention of all the classical sources, and on the concept of “ajapa japa” – japa that has the quality of persisting without effort. I occasionally experience this, particularly when walking – though briefly.

Frawley, comparing Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo

In his The Creative Vision of the Early Upanisads David Frawley says, “Those who regard the idea of the direct realization of the Absolute as an invention of the Upanisads or Buddhism do not understand the inner implications of Vedic symbolism.. however, the Veda does have, at the same time and with not much sense of contradiction, a more creative side to the Self and a greater affirmation of creation… As we now begin to approach another age of light, that creative truth and way to the Self may again become possible, not in the dualistic fashion of medieval dualistic Vedanta but in the creative vision of the Vedic seers.”

In modern India these two kinds of seers are most represented by the two foremost sages of the time-period, Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo; the former being the supreme of the seers of the uncreate Brahman and the latter the supreme of the seers of the creative Brahman. The former represents the ultimate modern simplification and practicalization of the direct approach to the Absolute, while the latter represents a resurgence after some three thousand years, in a new and modern language and approach of the seers of pure Creation and Divine Life. They were contemporaneous in age, even dying the same year, and resided only a few miles from each other at their Ashrams in South India. Though their teachings seem rather different, perhaps even contradictory in some aspects, they reflect the vast range of the twofold Vedic teaching, as it continues to transform itself according to the needs and potentials of man as it has done so since the beginning of this time-cycle.”

India is building a dystopian reality

The Guardian has this article: “Is India’s 100 smart cities project a recipe for social apartheid?”.

‘The emphasis on surveillance underlines the stratified, elitist nature of smart cities, according to the academic and author Pramod Nayar. “Smart cities will be heavily policed spaces,” he says, “where only eligible people – economically productive consumers (shoppers) and producers (employees) – will be allowed freedom of walking and travel, while ambient and ubiquitous surveillance will be tracked so as to anticipate the ‘anti-socials’.”’

Use of hyperlinks by news sites

The Independent has a report called “Revealed: The shocking amount of resources needed to make products such as mobile phones, coffee and T-shirts “, which says that:
‘The “resource footprint” report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, finds that water and land use can be reduced considerably when companies consider the environment in their manufacturing processes. But all too often, it says, producers pay scant regard to the strain they are putting on crucial resources, putting extra stress on an environment that is already stretched to the limit.’
Great, so why not provide us with a link to the report? I’ve noticed this often: a news site reports on a new study, or other publication of an organization involved in advocacy, and will not give the link to the publication itself. The news site devotes a few skimpy paragraphs to it, and expects us to be content with that or go hunting. Well, the report can be found via a link from the website of Friends of the Earth, UK: here. I wasn’t able to click through to the actual report though, even there: but that’s another problem.

New computer

The Asus X200MA is our new computer (for D and me both). It has a Pentium processor, an 11 inch screen, 4GB RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. I got this mainly for our travels. My Dell Vostro isn’t so much bigger but that thing is hardly portable due to its poor battery life (it lasts about 10 minutes).

The Asus comes with Windows 8.1, but I don’t plan on using that. D can use that. PuppyLinux is the only OS I use these days and it works fine on the Asus – I was sure to check that before purchase. The only troublesome thing is the touchpad. It’s over-sensitive, stupid and I didn’t figure out a way of cancelling it, as the synaptics driver doesn’t work for this one. So my solution is just to keep it covered up. No problems about that!

One thing that surprised me about the Asus is the great sound. It’s better than any computer I’ve recently used, and almost as good as the old HPs we had with the Altec Lansing speakers. This will be a great computer to have with me in India.

Film festival

My main reason to go to the DocAviv film festival, in Tel Aviv, was to see the Snowden film, “Citizen Four”, which hadn’t been shown in this country till now. I also looked for another film for the same day, and so bought tickets for that too. This was “Monsoon”. As it happened, I enjoyed Monsoon more.

“Citizen Four” was much more of a personal film about Snowden than I had anticipated. As the camera rolled on, in Snowden’s tiny Hong Kong hotel room, I began to feel a little cramped and uncomfortable about being in the room with him. I was expecting the film to be more about the privacy and surveillance issue itself and began to wonder if people would understand the value of the revelations and not start to feel irked, as I did, by the amount of time spent on the man himself. But perhaps this was just a case of mistaken expectations. Dorit and Yotam, who had joined me, felt fine with the movie and said that the message came through perfectly.

The full-length Canadian documentary, “Monsoon”, was meticulously made and interesting throughout. It had everything that I could have wanted it to do with the subject. It approached it scientifically, philosophically, had personal stories and beautiful photography. The narrator told the story with sensitivity and humour. I didn’t check whether it has captured any prizes so far, but it certainly deserves to do so.

Identity theft

This Guardian piece is mildly interesting: “White supremacists stole my identity to spew hatred on the Times of Israel: one day I awoke to a barrage of posts from strangers accusing me of racism for an article I didn’t write. Then I learned how to use social media to my advantage” “The Times of Israel” itself expresses a kind of identity theft: a webzine with a pompous sounding title and little substance, which no one in Israel ever heard of. Though its existence preceded Haaretz’s paywall, I’d be surprised if that hasn’t helped it to flourish.