Philosophical-jombie

  I am not… yet I am Suddenly my eyes fixed on the news headline: "Death exposes 57 years old man's 24 years' double life." double life? Perhaps all of us have multiple layers of life and living! So much so that we reveal ourselves in different manners on different occasions whose connectivity exists with a range of people to whom we meet now and then. But we remain very much spontaneous and natural in our relationship. So I was stuck by the news at face value. Despite participating in parallel, mutually exclusive and, apparently contradictory roles, we have intuitive awareness also that we are one unit or a person. Still, I could not resist myself to ask the question: within a very short period, every cell of our body will die and be replaced by newer ones—we do not remain the same person as once were. If this is true, what constitutes our identity? Should we be held accountable for the actions of another person? But do we feel any difficulty about identifying a ...

                                     Responsibility – A Symphonic Suite The judge asked the doctor, "How many injuries were there in the body of the dead?" The doctor answered, "57, my Lord!" "And which one was the fatal blow?" "It is difficult to answer because by default each one was!!! My Lord, have you ever cooked rice? "Yes, sometimes." "Would you please tell me which instant of heat is to be held responsible for the softening of the rice?" After a long pause, "All the instants …, but the last one is the crescendo which carries on its shoulders the responsibilities of the previous moments!" "There you are! My Lord! The cause of the death was not the single or the last one but collectively taken all." So which one is to be held responsible? The classic "lifeboat dilemma", where there are only 10 spaces in the lifeboat, but there are 11 passengers on the sinking ship. A de...

  “In the end, promises are words” (Alice)   “I promise…I will definitely attend the ceremony” I said to my most trusted friend and I was pretty sure in my mind that “I will”, though usually, I avoid such formal ceremonies. But lo! the day came and I was back home so late that I could not dare to go out once again in the thunderous clouds, amidst the sporadic lightning. I, therefore, de-adventured to attend the ceremony and took the risk of her wrath. I had no words to apologize, though I did somehow, I can understand that my words, “I apologize’’ remain mere ‘words’ for my bare bones of promises. True, I was feeling guilty too, because obligation – a part of promise – was not kept. There is nothing new in the phrase ‘I promise’. Time and again we use this phrase for something like promise to wash the dishes or promise to stop smoking etc., because the word reinforces the integrity in relationships and holds a lot of emotional value when one breaks it. Every new promise ...