Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Quote of the year


This had been an eventful year with some phenomenal happenings around the world and there had been a myriad of great quotes. Nevertheless, being human, we connect instantly to only those words when it nourishes the essence of us.

My first favorite quote is from Meg Daley Olmert's book "Made for Each Other : The Biology of Human-Animal Bond" :

"The satisfaction that washes over us as we watch our pets sleep is the ancient reminder that when all is well in their world, all is well in ours."

If I were put on a ground hog day moment for eternity and if I had an option, I would pick watching Max sleep. It's one the most beautiful scene ever and has such an immense power to rekindle the mind and body. It melts away all the days anxiety, complicated ape algorithms and the mounting apprehensions about the future. In this serenity, he dreams - blabbering, shaking his legs and his whole body shivers and the best explanation I could come up is he is dreaming of catching a ball or frisbee. I wish someday neuroscience can help me visualize his dreams and I do wonder, if I am part of his dreams.

Next quote is by Colin Powell, quoted in Jonah Lehrer's book "How We Decide":

"First tell me what you know. Then tell me what you don't know. Then tell me what you think. These are 3 different things."

It's a simple statement but its very hard to practice. We tend to mix all three (talk about categorical imperative!!) to derive a weird rationalization of our actions and beliefs. Every since I started practicing this trifurcation, I realized practicing it wasn't the hardest part (since it reduces the dissonance and makes the process perspicuous) but the hardest part was to not to get annoyed when others don't trifurcate. Every decibel heard with a note of conviction starts feeling nauseating. So at night, I go back quote number one and watch Max sleep.

1 comment:

mytwobits said...

If thats Max....he is absolutely lovely!!! A chocolate treat....tho minus the glasses!!!!