Faces

This is by Kahlil Gibran.

I have seen a face with a thousand countenances, and a face that was but a single countenance as if held in a mould.

I have seen a face whose sheen I could look through to the ugliness beneath, and a face whose sheen I had to lift to see how beautiful it was.

I have seen an old face much lined with nothing, and a smooth face in which all things were graven.

I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath.


Nice, isn't it?

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Wrong side of the story

What do we mean by a story? Simply put story is nothing but events stringed with respect to time. We try to understand the message conveyed by the story. It depends on our past experience, perceptions, level of understanding, etc. and last but not the least our interest in the topic. What we try to understand out of the story? Understanding may change from one person to other person. And when it changes, it reveals multiple sides of the story.

When it comes to multiple sides, how do we conclude what is right and what is wrong? on what basis? what are the chances that the basis upon which we conclude are right? There are many such questions which finally make several sides of the story doubtful. People interprete wrong side of the story very fast, thats how rumors spread very fast, isn't it?

Mirrors are always wrong.

Your perceptions are always influenced by knowledge which you gain from others. What do I mean by this is what you see? or what you smell? or what you hear? or any other senses you use are influenced by the knowledge which is not yours but by knowledge which is taught to you by others. It is a distant possibility that what you perceive may not be what is been perceived.

"Cognition is what taught to us and recognition is done based on understanding of what is taught."

Does that mean that everything we perceive is wrong? There is no yes/no answer to this question because, it depends on what you are taught and what you have understood. Your understanding is etched as your thoughts. Yes, its *your* thoughts. Its *you* who think, others can influence it but your thoughts are always *yours*. That's the reason I think too much, sometimes to the limit of craziness. Yes I am crazy. Being stupid is the most challenging task, because you do not assume anything. Its your thoughts which enable you beat the system of perception by letting you think beyond your perception.

Exceptions

People always say that every rule has a set of exceptions, but they forget to say set of justifiable exceptions. So the corrected phrase would be

Every rule has a set of justifiable execptions

What is in our control?

This is by Epictetus

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.

Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved.

Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you

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