When you breathe in smoke that comes from the end of a lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe ( often described as ‘sidestream smoke‘ ), or when you breathe in smoke that is exhaled by a smoker(often described as ‘mainstream smoke’ ), you are exposed to the risk of secondhand smoke. You will be inhaling almost the same amount of chemicals as the smoker breathes in. Tobbaco smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemical compounds, and more than 50 of them are known to cause Cancer. Some of these known carcinogens are Hydrogen Cyanide, Benzene, Formaldehyde, and Carbon monoxide. Involuntary or passive smoking can kill. There is no amount of exposure to secondhand smoke that is considered as a safe level of exposure. The more secondhand smoke that you breathe in, the more your health risk increases. Secondhand smoke exposure causes nearly 50,000 deaths per year in adult nonsmokers in the United States. 3,000 deaths are from Lung Cancer, and 46,000 deaths are from heart disease. Nonsmokers increase their risk of developing Lung Cancer by 20% to 30%, and heart disease by 25% to 30% when they are exposed to secondhand smoke. The risks of Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer and other types of Cancer are also higher. Women who are exposed to secondhand smoke face a 69% higher risk of heart disease and a 56% higher risk of Stroke than those who are not exposed to smoke. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke because of their bodies are still growing and they breathe at a faster rate than adults. The effects of smoking can be very significant especially for those who live or work with a smoker. In reality, most of the smoke from a burning cigarette doesn’t get sucked down into smoker’s lungs- it simply escapes into the air where it can be inhaled by anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. Living under the shadow of a great person may give some benefits, protection, and a sense of security. But, life under the shadow of secondhand smoke is a prescription for death. There was such an unfortunate victim who had lived under the shadow of a great leader known as Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Qaid-e-Azam, the great leader and founder of Pakistan. What is the risk of Living under the Shadow of a great leader?
Jinnah, Indian Muslim politician was the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (1947-1948). His parents arranged for an early marriage for him before he left for England at the age of 16. While in London, Jinnah suffered the loss of his wife and mother. In 1895, at the age of 19, he was called o the Bar on completion of his formal studies to become a barrister. He had supported the election of Dadabhai Naoroji, a Parsi leader, a leading Indian nationalist who ran for the English Parliamnet. Naoroji became the first Indian to sit in the British House of Commons. In 1896, Jinnah returned to Karachi and then moved to Bombay to start his legal practice. He met Ruttenbai, the daughter of Dinshaw Petit, a Bombay Parsi millionaire. Jinnah had married this young and beautiful lady over tremendous opposition from her parents and others. The great love and the marriage withered and proved to be an unhappy union. The stress imposed by exposure to secondhand smoke was not known and was not recognized those days. Jinnah’s addiction to Tobacco and the price paid by his wife describe the other side of Jinnah which many people in Pakistan and India tend to ignore.
The Other side of Mohammed Ali Jinnah :
Jinnah, a great leader with a simple addiction to Tobacco.
This young and beautiful lady had great feelings of love for Jinnah and those tender feelings withered while she had lived under the Shadow of Secondhand Smoke.
I would like to share the very interesting and powerful story about the life of Ruttenbai who had lived under the shadow of Mohammed Ali Jinnah . Unfortunatley, this story posted below my post fails to mention the nature of cancer that had killed this beautiful lady at such an young age. I am very sure about the nature of her illness. She died of Lung Cancer. She developed Cancer because of inhaling tobacco smoke and it is a very well recognized risk factor now. Secondhand Tobacco smoke kills people and even now the chances of survival are not good. I had personally witnessed a similar case and had narrated that story at my Home page of BhavanaJagat and the story is titled ‘Living Under the Shadow – A Prescription for Death’. A young, beautiful lady, the first wife of Chief of Army Staff (under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi), General K S Sundarji ( who is well-known for Operation Blue Star ) died of Lung Cancer in Army Hospital, New Delhi during 1978. The connection between smoking and Lung Cancer was well understood but at that time the risk of Lung Cancer due to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke was not properly recognized.
The Chief of Army Staff, General Krishnaswamy Sundarrajan, PVSM - I had served under his Command while he was the General Officer Commanding of the First Armoured Division during 1976 to 1978. His first wife, Padma Sundarji had lived her life under the shadow of Secondhand Smoke.
More than 61 years have passed since the death of founder of Pakistan , Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But even today, nothing about Jinnah seems ordinary —not his legal career, politics, personal life, his legacy and even the property he left behind.
The great South Asian intellectual Eqbal Ahmed once described Jinnah as an enigma of modern history. His aristocratic English lifestyle, Victorian manners, and secular outlook rendered him a most unlikely leader of India ’s Muslims. Yet, he led them to separate statehood, creating history, and in Saad R. Khairi’s apt phrase, “altering geography”.
Much has been written about Jinnah’s legal career, politics, his role as a founder of Pakistan and his vision, but even today, very little is known about Jinnah’s personal life. This was probably because Jinnah never had time to write a diary or an autobiography and whatever little he wrote was formal and matter of fact. For most of his life, he remained reserved, taciturn and secretive. He wrote his will in May, 1939, but it was only after his death that Liaquat Ali Khan, his close associate and the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, came to know that he was its trustee and executor.
His only child, Dina Wadia, has hardly ever spoken about her father in public. So furious was Jinnah with Dina that he disowned her after she married a Parsi man against his wishes, and yet he left two lacs for her in his will. Akbar Ahmed’s movie Jinnah had just ten to fifteen minutes on Jinnah’s personal life, which are nowhere near enough.
Life Under The Shadow – Ruttie in Jinnah’s Shadow
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Jinnah’s first wife, fourteen year old Emibai from Paneli village, died just eight months after he left for London at age sixteen in 1892, to join Graham’s Shipping and Trading Company, which conducted business with his father in Karachi. It was a forced marriage, as Jinnah’s mother was afraid that if he went to England , he might end up marrying an English girl. He barely knew Emibai.
Jinnah’s second marriage with the most beautiful girl of Bombay – Ruttie: The Flower of Bombay – was like a fairy tale. It began in the summer of 1916 in Darjeeling or “Town of the Thunderbolt” (how appropriate considering what was to happen there).
Jinnah had established himself as a lawyer and a politician by then and had become friends with Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit, the son of one of the richest and most devoutly orthodox Parsis of the 19th century.
The Petit`s chateau overlooked Mount Everest and it was there Jinnah met his only daughter Ruttenbai Petit or Ruttie as she was popularly called. Merely sixteen at that time, Ruttie was a charming young girl. Stanley Wolpert writes in Jinnah of Pakistan :“Precociously bright, gifted in every art, beautiful in every way. As she matured, all of her talents, gifts and beauty were magnified in so delightful and unaffected a manner that she seemed a fairy princess”.
A dazzling beauty and full of life, Ruttie had exquisite taste and affable manners. Quick-witted, she was easily one of the best dressed and most popular women among the elitist circles of Bombay . She was intellectually far more mature than other girls of her age, with diverse interests ranging from poetry (Oscar Wilde being her favorite, whom she often recited) to politics. Her large collection of books, which remained in Jinnah’s possession after her death, reflected her deep interest in poetry, literature, history, occultism, mysticism and sorcery. She was an excellent horse-rider. She attended all public meetings and was inspired by Annie Besant’s Home Rule League.
A fierce supporter of India for Indians, Ruttie was once asked about rumors of Jinnah’s possible knighthood and whether she would like to be Lady Jinnah. She snapped that she would rather be separated from her husband than take on an English title.
Jinnah on the other hand also had a special interest in acting and in Shakespeare’s dramas. While in London , he had acted in some Shakespearean plays and even considered seriously taking up acting as a profession. It was his dream to play Romeo at The Globe in London . Khwaja Razi Haider thinks it was probably Jinnah’s deep interest in Shakespeare that gave him insight into the intricacies of the human character, which he was to use for grasping the essentials of Indian politics. Jinnah was thirty-nine and Ruttie sixteen, but the age difference proved no obstacle in their love. Love has no logic.
He was enamored by her beauty and charm and she was awe- struck by “Jay”, as she called him. Jinnah asked Sir Dinshaw for Ruttie’s hand in marriage, who became furious and refused. Jinnah repeatedly pleaded his case but Dinshaw never gave in, as Jinnah had a different faith and he was more than twice Ruttie’s age. Their friendship ended and Dinshaw forbade Ruttie from meeting Jinnah while she lived in his house. He even got a court injunction restraining Jinnah from meeting her (a pity no biographer has yet traced the court papers).
The couple continued to meet secretly, and patiently waited for two years until February 1918 when Ruttie turned eighteen, and was free to marry. She walked out of her parental home to which she was never to return, and converted to Islam at Bombay ’s Jamia Mosque, under the Muslim Shiite doctrine, on April 18, 1918.
The very next day, Jinnah and Ruttie got married in a quiet ceremony at Jinnah’s Malabar Hill house in Bombay . Located in a most highly-priced area today, with Maharashtra’s Chief Minister as its next-door neighbor, Jinnah House remains a dispute between India , Pakistan and Dina Wadia. Jinnah owned another house at 10 Aurangzeb Road , Delhi , which he sold just before Partition for Rs 3 lacs. The Dutch Ambassador to India lives there now. The Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad, who signed as Jinnah’s witness, and a few other friends, attended the wedding. Maulana Muhammad Hasan Najafi was Ruttie’s witness. Jinnah presented the wedding ring to Ruttie, a gift from Raja Sahab, and paid Rs 125,000 as haq mehr . Nobody from Ruttie’s family attended the wedding. Interestingly, the Nikah Nama stated “Ruttenbai” as the bride’s name instead of Marium, her Islamic name. The honeymoon was first at Raja Sahab’s Nainitaal mansion, and then at the Maidens Hotel, a magnificent property just beyond the Red Fort.
Quaid’s Nikahnama
Quaid’s house in Bombay
Gandhi’s grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi writes about the wedding in his book Understanding the Muslim Mind: “For the first time in his life, a girl had absorbed Jinnah’s emotions. Living for sometime now in a large but somber Malabar Hill house, bowing to ladies (on occasional parties) and praising their sarees but otherwise keeping a distance from them, (he) fell in love with Ruttenbai. Joy and laughter entered Jinnah’s life. The Malabar Hill house became brighter.’ She presented him with a daughter, Dina. But, ‘Alas the happiness was not destined to last; Sarojni’s veiled prediction of trouble came true”.
Sarojni Naidu was a huge admirer of Jinnah, wrote several poems and prose pieces on him, and many historians believe she was in love with him.
She wrote this about the wedding in a letter to Sir Syed’s son, Syed Mahmud: “So Jinnah has at last plucked the Blue Flower of his desire. It was all very sudden and caused terrible agitation and anger among the Parsis; but I think the child has made far bigger sacrifices than she yet realises. Jinnah is worth it all – he loves her; the one really human and genuine emotion of his reserved and self-centred nature. And he will make her happy.”
The first few years of the marriage were a dream for Ruttie and Jinnah, the happiest time of their lives. They traveled across India , Europe and North America together. Ruttie watched with a great sense of pride the feverish political activity of her husband. She would be seen in the visitors’ gallery when Jinnah was due to speak, accompanied him to the High Court, and even attended the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920.
According to Wolpert: “They were a head- turning couple; he in his elegant suits, stitched in London , she with her long, flowing hair decked in flowers. There was no limit to their joy and satisfaction at that time. Their only woe was Ruttie’s complete isolation and ostracism from her family.”
Kanji Dwarkadas, a veteran leader of Congress and a close friend of the couple, who looked after Ruttie during her last days, wrote in his book Ruttie Jinnah: The story of a great friendship: “For Jinnah, who was not generous in many matters, no expense was too great to satisfy the extravagant claims of the baronet’s spoilt child. During a visit to Kashmir , she spent Rs 50,000 in refurnishing the boathouse and Jinnah gladly paid all the bills. He treated her wonderfully well, and paid without a murmur all the bills necessitated by the luxurious life she led.Ruttie’s fabulous beauty, spontaneous wit, and immense charm have been praised to the neglect of her serious interests.”
Even though Ruttie was much younger than Jinnah, she made him a very happy man. They had no separate existence and Jinnah found her a great source of inspiration.
He resigned from the Orient Club where he used to play chess and billiards. He was so deeply in love with Ruttie that he would return from the law courts on time each day and talk to her for hours on end.
Unfortunately, their happiness was short- lived and the marriage started to crack after 1922-3. What caused the ruination of the Jinnah-Ruttie marriage? Was it Jinnah’s busy political life and his inability to give enough time to Ruttie, their age difference, or their incompatibility of temperaments? He was cold, introverted and domineering. She was young, extroverted, glamorous. There is no clear answer but the fact remains that Ruttie and Jinnah still loved each other despite the rift in their marriage.
It is evident in every letter Ruttie wrote during that period, and every book written on their relationship. She moved to London with Dina in 1922 and from there too, her heart was still set on her life with Jinnah.
She wrote in a letter to Kanji in India :“And just one thing more – go and see Jinnah and tell me how he is – he has a habit of overworking himself and now that I am not there to tease and bother him, he will be worse than ever.”
After her return, the couple tried one more time to save their failing marriage and took a five-month tour to Europe and North America together. But the rift grew and by January 1928 they were virtually separated, when Ruttie became seriously ill with cancer. Shortly before her death, she wrote a letter to Jinnah from Marseilles , France where she had gone for treatment. It turned out to be her last letter to him (larger view of original hand-written letter with typed text here
Life Under The Shadow – Ruttie’s Letter to Jinnah
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S. S. Rajputana,
Marseilles 5 Oct 1928 Darling – thank you for all you have done. If ever in my bearing your once tuned senses found any irritability or unkindness – be assured that in my heart there was place only for a great tenderness and a greater pain – a pain my love without hurt. When one has been as near to the reality of Life (which after all is Death) as I have been dearest, one only remembers the beautiful and tender moments and all the rest becomes a half veiled mist of unrealities. Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon.
I have suffered much sweetheart because I have loved much. The measure of my agony has been in accord to the measure of my love. Darling I love you – I love you – and had I loved you just a little less I might have remained with you – only after one has created a very beautiful blossom one does not drag it through the mire. The higher you set your ideal the lower it falls.
I have loved you my darling as it is given to few men to be loved. I only beseech you that the tragedy which commenced in love should also end with it.
Darling Goodnight and Goodbye Ruttie
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It is a pity that none of the letters that Jinnah wrote to Ruttie have ever been made public. M.C. Chagla, a former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and a diplomat at the UN, has described the last days of Ruttie and Jinnah’s marriage in his book “Roses in December”. Chagla knew the couple very well, as he assisted Jinnah at his chambers during that time. He idealized Jinnah but severed all ties when he began working on the idea of an independent state for the Muslims of India. He writes: By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated. Ruttie’s health deteriorated rapidly in the years after they returned from their final trip together. Ruttie lived at the Taj Hotel in Bombay, almost a recluse as she became more and more bed-ridden. Kanji continued to be her constant companion. By February 18, 1929 she had become so weak that all she could manage to say to him was a request to look after her cats.Two days later, Ruttie Petit Jinnah died. It was her 29th birthday. She was buried on February 22 in Bombay according to Muslim rites. Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept. That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness. It’s not a well publicised fact that as a young student in England it had been one of Jinnah’s dreams to play Romeo at The Globe. It is a strange twist of fate that a love story that started like a fairy tale ended as a haunting tragedy to rival any of Shakespeare’s dramas.”
The second time Jinnah ever broke down was in August 1947 when he visited Ruttie’s grave one last time before leaving for Pakistan . The architect of Pakistan paid a high price for Partition by leaving two of his most beloved possessions on ‘the other’ side of the border, the Jinnah House on Malabar Hill where he had the happiest moments of his life, and his beloved wife Ruttie who remains buried in Bombay. Jinnah left India in August 1947, never to return again, but he left behind a piece of his heart in a little grave in a cemetery in Bombay .
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: A Pound of Foolishness is better than a Penny of Wisdom. Irrational Belief in Flat Earth is better than Rational Belief in Earth’s Shape and Real Motions in Space.
A Pound of Foolishness is better than a Penny of Wisdom:
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: What is Reality? The Golden Gate Bridge is real, Pacific Ocean is real, Sun is real. The Sunset is not real. Can man experience the Reality? How would Reality impact man’s existence?
The social scientist Bruno Latour, from France’s “Institut d’ Etudes Politiques de Paris” was in New Delhi, India and spoke about what it means to be modern with Deep K Datta-Ray of Times of India. In essence, I support his view and there is a need for a new approach; the use of irrational belief and not that of scientific rational belief.
Can Science provide the Experience of Reality?
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Pencil in Water Illusion. Can Science influence the nature of Perception? The Perception of bent Pencil is caused by the properties of Light rays. Science can only explain the reason for this Optical Illusion. Science has no Power to eliminate the Illusion. The only way man can experience the Reality of this Pencil would be that of changing the State of Pencil’s Conditioned Existence. It is easy to remove the Pencil from Water and experience the Reality. But, can Man remove himself from his State of Conditioned Existence and experience Reality?
It would be totally irrational to believe that Science could provide the experience called Reality. Science is not Power/Force/Energy which operates in the natural world. Science provides information to understand things and it has no power or force to influence things. Science may reveal understanding of the nature of Reality and such revelation could be of no use in the context of human existence on planet Earth as man lives because of illusional experience of the world and the universe in which he exists.
The Reality of Earth’s Motion:
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Science can explain the Motions of planet Earth. Science can not provide the experience of the Speed of planet Earth’s Motions. The Reality of Earth’s Motions is known and is understood. But, man exists only if this Reality is not directly experienced. The physical and mental experience of the Speed of Earth, the Angular Speed, and the Linear Speed would not permit man’s physical existence on the surface of planet Earth.
The speed of earth’s motion can be described in two ways; 1. The Angular Speed: The earth rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours and the speed is 1,000miles/hour. 2. The Linear Speed: The distance earth travels is 584 million miles per year. The Linear Speed of earth is 66, 660 miles/hour.
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Science may explain the fact of the speed of a point on the surface of the earth but cannot force man to experience the Reality of that Speed.
Science may explain the fact of the speed of a point on the surface of the earth but can not force man to experience the Reality of that Speed. Man exists on the surface of the earth without ever experiencing the Reality. There is no physical experience of this basic Reality. There is no direct mental experience of this fundamental Reality.
Man may intellectually visualize this Reality by understanding the facts explained by Science. If the human brain and body is constantly engaged by the fact of earth’s motions, the Reality of earth’s Angular Speed and Linear Speed, man would immediately experience a mental breakdown and would not be able to function as a living organism. Just think about the sense of fear, anxiety generated by a brief event like earthquake.
The Subjective Reality of man’s Physical Existence on the surface of earth is sustained, is supported, and is protected by a Fundamental Force called Gravitation. Because of the operation of Gravitational Force man is virtually saved from any experience of Earth’s motions. Man only experiences the environmental changes caused by Earth’s motions. Further, this Subjective Reality of man’s Physical Existence is governed by a Force/Power/Energy that causes an illusionary experience of Sun’s movement across the sky. Science would explain the Reality of Sun’s motion at a speed of 155 miles/second. But, man exists on the surface of earth with no physical or mental experience of Sun’s true or real motion. What man experiences is the apparent motion of Sun and experiences Sunrise and Sunset. Science may explain the Reality and teach us the fact of Sun shining with brightness all the time. Man has invented stories and has created folk tales about Sun’s Journey in the Sky. The Reality described by Science does not govern human existence. The biological activities, the Biological Rhythms (Circadian/Diurnal/Solar Rhythms) are synchronized with the experience of illusion which helps in the measurement of time and not that of Scientific Reality of true or real motions of this restless universe.
Whole Dude – Whole Spin: Biological Clock and Man’s Life Journey:
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Man’s existence on the surface of planet Earth and the duration of his life’s journey is measured by the internal Biological Clock. The time duration is measured by the alternating periods of Light and Darkness, the experience of Day and Night, the experience of Sunrise and Sunset which drives the Biological Rhythm. In Reality, the Sun is shining with brightness at all times during the entire length of man’s life journey. Man gets no chance to experience that Reality and the Biological Clock is not influenced by that Reality of Sun shining at all the hours of man’s earthly existence.
Biological Clocks time the Solar Day, the period of Earth’s spin or rotation relative to the Sun. While Earth spins or rotates, man experiences the illusion of Sun’s apparent motion across the path called Ecliptic and exists on the surface of Earth in a state of blissful ignorance of Earth’s Angular Speed, or Linear Velocity. The daily rhythm of about 24 hours’ duration makes it appear as though the organism is keeping track of each day and behaves as if it is a Living Clock.
Light appears to be the dominant Phase Setter or Synchronizer of activity pattern during the 24-hour cycles. The 24-hour rhythms are called Solar Day, Circadian, Diel, Daily, Diurnal (day-active), and Night-Active rhythms. Plants show their daily rhythm in sleep movements such as the daytime raising and nighttime lowering of their leaves, and the timing of flowering activity. In man, the daily alternation of sleep and wakefulness is accompanied by many chemical and physiological changes that include the activities of the nervous, endocrine systems, and the liver and kidneys. Daily variations occur in body temperature, in heart and respiratory rates, and in blood pressure and composition of blood. There are daily variations in chemical syntheses and in cell divisions.
Living systems display a timing capacity and behave as if they contain a highly dependable clock. The specialized properties of this clock suggest that it involves some unique biological mechanism indissociable from life itself.
Man can not exist on the surface of physical earth if he has direct body or mental experience of the Reality explained by rational Scientific Belief.
The very nature of human existence in this vast universe can not be rationally understood. There is no evidence to suggest that Life could be discovered in other parts of our universe.
There is no chance that man could find an opportunity to leave the Solar System and find a Home in a different part of the universe. Man has no control over the structure and organization of the universe. Man has no choice other than that of accepting the conditioned nature of his energy dependent existence with no other place to call as Home.
Rational beliefs have no role and do not define the status of man in nature and in the universe.
Man’s existence can get support by an irrational belief in Ultimate Reality, which operates the Power/Force/Energy which delivers Mercy/Grace/Compassion/Providence to spread a veil of Grand Illusion to defend man from the direct physical or mental experience of Reality of the Universe in which man lives.
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Man can only exist in this Universe if he does not directly experience the Reality of this Universe. Man’s earthly existence is defended by ILLUSION and Science has no Power to provide man a chance to experience Reality which is hidden by the ILLUSION.
The social scientist Bruno Latour , from France’s Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), was in New Delhi and spoke about what it means to be modern with Deep K Datta-Ray .
Why do you argue that Western Europe has never been modern?
The only shibboleth the West has is science. It is the premise of modernity and it defines itself as a rationality capable of, indeed requiring separation from politics, religion and really, society. Modernisation is to work towards this.
A move away from the pre-modern, which is a period of embroilment and entanglement of everything but when one looks at the practice of science in a laboratory, as I did, this division is revealed as false.
Scientists are very much entangled in their culture and this culture is not pristine, untouched by other cultures and practices. The real history of Europe therefore is one of a constant interaction, a mixing of peoples, various cultures and the material.
What does this mean for our understanding of what the modern world actually is, how institutions thought of as quintessentially modern function?
There’s very little on how today’s world actually functions. Instead there is the official story of modernisation. Meanwhile, there is a prominent discourse in India about modernisation.
My argument is that the baseline for understanding modernity requires interrogation, which destabilises expectations of what a modernising society should do.
Traditionally, the moderns criticised the supposedly archaic, symbolised by the East. Everyone wanted to become modern – but my work demonstrates that being modern was never as clear as presumed. So, when India begins to modernise what happens?
There is a double instability – of an uncertain baseline and then what happens when that is implemented in a society far away and especially in an institutional setting and in an area so close to the state such as governance. So there has to be more work on this.
This is especially important because there are so many more people here, it is possible to have institutions of a different complexion altogether, of alternative ways instituted here. India is a reservoir of alternative interpretations of what the global is and these ways of viewing the world need to be exposed.
Could it also be said that the idea of a universalising ‘modern’ rationality is not necessarily European but became dominant in Europe?
For that there has to be more work on the non-western world. Regardless of place, there have to be thicker descriptions of practice, of what the modern world actually is, how do banks work for instance, because all we have is utopian description of how modernity functions. The dream of utopia killed descriptive work because the focus was on a universalising rationality, not how rationality actually plays out in practice. It should be clear that i’m not saying the East is somehow different, exotic. If one looks at the works of Newton to Einstein they were never scientists in the way modernity understands the term.
What are the implications of this type of work on politics?
Well, politics cannot keep to the scientific ideal quite simply because science in practice meant our moving from the country to the city and getting progressively disconnected from nature. But now one cannot discuss anything without thinking of the whole. Science was supposed to take us out of the cosmos and into a universalising rationality but that has produced all sorts of problems which are being corrected today by new approaches which are reminiscent of the non-modern, such as the politics of nature. This is a cosmological approach, one that ties in everything to make a decision.
Whole Dude – Whole Rational: Man can exist in this universe only if he cannot experience the realities of the universe revealed by Science
Whole Concept: How does Time Flows? The illusion of Flat Earth is a must to experience the illusion of the Cyclical Flow of Time.
Yes indeed, Life is Complicated. The complexities of Life involve exploring the phenomenon of Life in which the events called Birth and Death occur during the Cyclical Flow of Time and Life whereas in reality Time moves forwards in a Straight Line like an Arrow. The Study of Life must include the concepts of Past Birth, Present Birth and Rebirth.
Understanding Time and the Concept of Unchanging Reality:
WHOLECONCEPT – TIME AND REALITY: Happy Sankranti Greetings. Man has no true ability to formulate mental concepts unless the reality of the World is modified by other forces on which man has no control or power. Even if man knows that the Sun does not rise in the East and does not set in the West, his mortal existence is governed by this singular event.
The word ‘Concept’ describes a thought or an idea about a thing or event. Man exists on the surface of planet Earth and formulates his ideas or concepts about the reality of his existence and the reality of the world in which he exists. These mental concepts will not be possible unless the reality of the world is modified by other forces on which man has no control or power. Even if man knows that the Sundoes not rise in the East, and the Sun does not set in the West, his mortal existence is governed by this singular event.
I use the term ‘WholeConcept’ to describe the relationship between man, world, Time, and Space that is established by an Unchanging Reality which is unaffected by the dimensions of Time and Space.
Earth’s Rotational Spin provides the experience of Time by causing changes in the environment which Man perceives as Day and Night. This cyclical change of alternating periods of Light and Darkness is synchronized with Man’s Biological Rhythms.
Time is defined as the period or interval between two events or during which something exists, happens, or acts; the duration is a measurable interval. Indian thinkers have described ‘Time’ or ‘KAALA’ as a Power or a Force that is eternal suggesting that ‘Time’ existed before the formation of this created universe, Time operates during the existence of this created universe, and Time remains after the total dissolution of this created universe.
‘Things in Nature change with Time’. Does Time exert a force entirely of its own to change things in Nature? If Time is viewed as a Power or Force, who controls this Force and what are the Laws that operate this Force?
The Subjective Reality of Man’s physical existence is operated by the Biological Clock which may have a plan for Dissolution.
Everything that is born, everything that has come into existence, and everything that is conditioned arrives with its own plan for dissolution. Whosoever had arrived on this planetEarth, is sure to depart. Time operates this plan for dissolution. Time has the power to cause dissolution of the animate as well as the inanimate world and the physicaluniverse.
Whole Dude – Whole Concept. Time has a plan for dissolution of both animate and inanimate world.
Whatever qualities, or attributes such as material wealth, social status, social position, and physical state of well-being that man cherishes and desires most would be dissolved and would be rendered useless by the effects of Time. Humans lack the material, and the biological abilities to transform their physical beings into sources of perpetual enjoyment.
Time with its Power of Dissolution would eventually compel us to investigate and to explore the concept of Absolute and Unchanging Reality. This Subjective Reality of Man’s existence on this planet Earth which is a member of the SolarSystem would be dissolved by the influence of Time. The dissolution of Sun and the Solar System would not result in the dissolution of this universe that we currently know and understand. When man has been dissolved, the conditioned reality of this physical universe will continue and remains as before as earth and sun do not describe the total reality of this conditioned universe.
The Perception of Change and Human concepts about Time:
The Moving Train and the Perception of changing landscape. Photo Credit:Indyeahforever.
Many of you who learned Physics understand the term Speed and Velocity. A person riding in a train or any other moving object could perceive a change that is caused by the motion. The nature of this perception depends upon the Speed or Velocity of that moving object. If the person jumps out of the train, the change that he has been perceiving immediately stops. There would be no changing landscape. If the speed of the train is increased, the perception of change also alters and at very high speeds man actually loses the ability of visualperception. The visual image becomes a blur. If man is viewing a Motion Picture, his visual ability to view the Picture could be destroyed by simply increasing the speed of the Projector. Any given point on the surface of the Earth moves with the Speed of the Earth. Earth is moving at a great speed and man has no ability to perceive this motion or the speed. Man perceives a change in his environment and calls it day and night. We run our lives by numbers on clocks and calendars. The clocks and calendars create the illusion that we live in a world of mathematically measured segments of time.
Whole Dude-Whole Reality : Stimulus Distortion Illusion. This visual, optical illusion is produced by the refraction or bending of light rays as it passes from one medium or substance to another medium in which the speed of light is significantly different. A ray of light passing from one transparent medium(Air) to another transparent medium(Water) is bent at the surface where Air and Water meet. The Pencil standing in water appears bent at the Air/Water interphase.
Time is looked upon as a flow like a river. Sir Issac Newton (1687) stated that the flow of Time is absolute; “It flows equably without relation to anything external.” In 1905 while postulating the Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein observed that Time is not absolute and the measurement of Time is affected by the motion of the observer. The Relativity of Time becomes significant only at great speeds. Gravity affects both Light and Time. Gravity bends both Space and Light. Time is affected by the gravitational field of each celestial body. Time is unique to any one spot in the universe. If you and me do not exist at the same spot in the universe, our experience of Time is conditioned by the place or the position of that particular spot in the universe. Thus, the experience of Time on this planet is an illusionary experience and is not an absolute experience.
Kaala Chakra or the Cyclical Flow of Time:
The Cyclical Flow of Time brings Cyclical Changes at expected Time intervals. Life exists because of the Cyclical Flow of Time.
Herman Minkowski, a mathematician, added Time as the Fourth Dimension of Three Dimensional Space. Time is seen as a Dimension as it gives meaning to events and the order in which they occur. Physicists describe Time and Space as the building blocks of this universe. Biologists see Time in the internal clocks that keep all living entities in sync with Nature. Human existence and the existence of all other living entities depend upon this illusionary experience of Time. Life exists and operates only if Time flows in a cyclical manner just like a wheel that moves, rotates on an axle or axis. Man needs this experience of day and night during his entire life journey. Man needs the changing Seasons with its cyclical regularity. Just imagine the consequences to human existence if Spring Season does not arrive at the Time it is expected. You have correctly pointed out that planet Earth is not at the same location or place in Space as Time flows. Last year, we had experienced the Spring Season while Earth existed at an entirely different location and we look forward for the arrival of a new Spring Season in spite of the Change in the position. In spite of Changes in location or position, in relative terms, the Spring Season is the Unchanging Reality of the Conditioned State of Human Existence. Because of the Conditioned nature of Human Existence, Man always looks forward, and hopes that Time would flow in a cyclical manner bringing cyclical changes. Biologists describe Life in terms of Life Cycles.
Whole Dude – Whole Concept: SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – THE ART OF KNOWING: WHAT IS THE MYSTERY OF LIFE? CAN MYSTICISM HELP TO KNOW THE HIDDEN TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE? WHAT IS THE MYSTICAL INFLUENCE OF TIME THAT DRIVES THE AGING PHENOMENON?
All living functions have a rhythmic or cyclical quality. The exchange of gases during a cycle called Respiration involves the cyclical events of Inspiration and Expiration. The vital functions sustained by Circulation demands cyclical flow of Blood. The Individual and his State or Condition of Individuality remains existing as an Unchanging Reality as long as he experiences the cyclical changes in his bodily functions and in the environment in which he exists.
Whole Dude – Whole Concept: SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – THE ART OF KNOWING: HOW DOES THE HUMAN ORGANISM KNOWS ABOUT ITS OWN LIFETIME? THE AGING PHENOMENON IS RELATED TO MAN’S PERCEPTION OF TIME. HOW IS TIME CONTROLLING OR OPERATING LIFE EXPERIENCE?
I am that Unchanging Reality, the Reality of my Identity and my Individuality remains unchanged as my physical body experiences cyclical changes in its substance and in the environment where it exists. My phenotype or morphological appearance or outward appearance undergoes a constant change and this change is synchronized with the cyclical change called alternating periods of Day and Night. The Biological Clock precisely measures this Time interval or duration of my existence relative to the illusionary change; in Reality, the Sun is shining with all His brightness at all times with no significant change that I can perceive.
The God Connection:
Face Recognition Technology helps in the identification of an Individual. Under the influence of Time, the outward appearance undergoes changes all the time during Life’s Journey and yet the Identity and the Individuality survives the Time’s Power of Dissolution.
My Identity and my Individuality is the Unchanging Reality of my conditioned state of human existence. I had explored the Nature of this Unchanging Identity and Individuality. This Unchanging Reality of Identity and Individuality exists during the Time interval or duration of my God Connection. I know that Time existed before my creation, Time is operating during my existence as a created being, and Time would continue to operate after my physical dissolution. Time with its great power of Dissolution could not change my perception about my Unchanging Identity and Individuality because of my God Connection. It is rational, it is logical, and it is reasonable to reflect upon Absolute and Unchanging Reality as long as I maintain my Identity and Individuality which can not be changed or altered by the flow of Time.
Lovely story and nice response. The story holds a great truth in it. The truth is that change is the law of nature. The universe, which means the aggregate of all things in it, is changing right from the moment of the Big Bang. I wouldnt say that change is constant. Even the rate of change may be varying. Swami Sivananda penned a beautiful poem titled:”Even This Shall Pass” and some other philosophical essays and poems. All these were contained in a book authored by him, which he sent to me free when I wrote a letter to him in my student days but told him that I cannot pay the cost.
I believe that death which is inevitable for everything is only a result of unavoidable change. As far as I can analyse, the only law governing the universe is the law of (maybe changing) change. Even though we think that the earth is returning to the same position in space year after year, astronomers tell us that its relative position is changing. We never go back to the same point.
In this light, I don’t think there is anything that can be called permanent. As we can easily see from a train when we travel, the near landscape recedes in the opposite direction, but it seems to move relative to the far landscape, which assumes the character of being permanent. But after some travel, we find that the farther landscape also has changed, as against landscape which is even farther away. After some more travel the distant hills and dales at the farthest distance also vanish.
So we are changing, everything is changing, but we falsely hypothesise that it is all against the background of something that does not change. I believe that all change is perceived vis-a-vis something that changes in a slower manner, not vis-a-vis something that remains permanent. To crave for something permanent is madness and a wild exercise of a feverish imagination.
My own definition of civilisation is the construction of something which is less impermanent with the help of things which are more impermanent. All civilisations will eventually crumble. There is nothing permanent.
In this context, imagining a permanent god who will receive us into his kingdom permanently after our cycle of births and deaths is also illusory. With a person’s death, nothing more is heard from him. He has existed only once in the universe and it is just not true that his mind (as Buddhists propound) or his soul (as Hindus propound) will go on to take up another body, until finally God receives the mind and soul.
When a man dies, … THE END!
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 8:30 AM, Dr. Rajaram Bojji wrote:
Truth, simple but so difficult to assimilate because, the question, “So, what next ?” arises. The King could have been captured and beheaded too. Yes that too will pass. Bit it gives a chance to the chance of the saying that may be, even the improbable horse may fly after all!
More often than not our own fear defeats us by painting bleak pictures of failure much before actual occurrence.
While doing tunneling, after making all the pep talk to workers and engineers facing repeated collapses, I used to sleep the night in frustration and depression, which you can share with no one. Get up in the morning and with a gusto start with the saying ” don’t worry , the horse will fly” ( reminding one self of another story when a man promises a King to save own beheading for a few days, that he would make King’s horse fly and before he was required to fly the horse some enemy King beheads the King and releases him from prison)… wear a smile and go back to the job.
Yes, as another American writer has said, the only thing you learn from living and observing life is that life goes on.
Story of a King
Once a King called upon all of his wise men and asked them “Is there a mantra or suggestion which works in every situation, in every circumstance, in every place and in every time. Something which can help me when none of you is available to advise me. Tell me is there any mantra?” All wise men got puzzled by King’s question. One answer for all questions? Something that works everywhere, in every situation? In every joy, every sorrow, every defeat and every victory? They thought and thought.
After a lengthy discussion, an old man suggested something which appealed to all of them. They went to the king and gave him something written on paper. But the condition was that king was not to see it out of curiosity. Only in extreme danger, when the King finds himself alone and there seems to be no way, only then he’ll have to see it. The King put the papers under his diamond ring.
After a few days, the neighbors attacked the kingdom. It was a collective surprise attack of the King’s enemies. King and his army fought bravely but lost the battle. King had to flee on his horse. The enemies were following him. His horse took him far away in the jungle. He could hear many troops of horses following him and the noise was coming closer and closer. Suddenly the King found himself standing at the end of the road – that road was not going anywhere. Underneath there was a rocky valley a thousand feet deep. If he jumped into it, he would be finished. And he could not return because it was a small road. The sound of enemy’s horses was approaching fast. King became restless. There seemed to be no way…
Then suddenly he saw the diamond in his ring shining in the sun, and he remembered the message hidden in the ring. He opened the diamond and read the message. The message was very small but very great. The message was – “This too will pass.”
The King read it. Again read it. Suddenly something struck him; Yes! It too will pass. Only a few days ago, I was enjoying my kingdom. I was the mightiest of all the Kings. Yet today, the Kingdom and all his pleasures have gone. I am here trying to escape from enemies. However when those days of luxuries have gone, this day of danger too will pass. Calm come on his face. He kept standing there. The place where he was standing was full of natural beauty. He had never known that such a beautiful place was also a part of his Kingdom. The revelation of the message had a great effect on him. He relaxed and forgot about those following him.
After a few minutes he realized that the noise of the horses and the enemy coming was receding. They moved into some other part of the mountains and were not on that path. The King was very brave. He reorganized his army and fought again. He defeated the enemy and regained his lost empire. When he returned to his empire after victory, he was received with much fan fare at the door. The whole capital was rejoicing in the victory. Everyone was in a festive mood. Flowers were being thrown on the King from every house, from every corner. People were dancing and singing. For a moment King said to himself, “I am one of the bravest and greatest Kings. It is not easy to defeat me..”
With all the reception and celebration he saw an ego emerging in him. Suddenly the diamond of his ring flashed in the sunlight and reminded him of the message. He opened it and read it again: “This too will pass”. He became silent. His face went through a total change – from the egoist he moved to a state of utter humbleness.
If this too is going to pass, it is not yours. The defeat was not yours, the victory is not yours. You are just a watcher. Everything passes by. We are witness of all this. We are the perceiver. Life comes and goes. Happiness comes and goes. Sorrow comes and goes.
Now as you have read this story, just sit silently and evaluate your own life… Think of the moments of joy and victory in your life. Think of the moment of sorrow and defeat. Are they permanent? They all come and pass away. Life just passes away. There were friends in the past. They have gone. There are friends today. They too will go. There will be new friends tomorrow. They too will go. There were enemies in the past. They have gone. There may be enemies in the present. They too will go. There will be new enemies tomorrow and they too will go.
There is nothing permanent in this world. Everything changes except the law of change. Think over it from your own perspective.
You have seen all the changes. You have survived all setbacks, all defeats and all sorrows. All have passed away. If there are problems in the present, they too will pass away. Because nothing remains forever. Joy and sorrow are the two faces of the same coin. They both will pass away.
Who are you in reality? Know your real face. Your face is not your true face. It will change with the time. However, there is something in you, which will not change… It will remain unchanged. What is that unchangeable? It is nothing but your true self. You are just a witness of change.
HAPPY NEW YEAR – THE PERCEPTION OF TIME: Astronomers use Universal Time, this can be taken as the Mean Solar Time on the Greenwich Meridian. The world is divided up into about 24 Time Zones
TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS - DOES IT DESCRIBE THE POWER OF TIME?
THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES AND CONCEPTS ABOUT TIME :
The words of the Preacher, the son of King David, King in Jerusalem, Solomon the Wise.
King Solomon is believed to be the author of The Book of Ecclesiastes, The Old Testament Book of Holy Bible. These are his words from Chapter 3, verses 1-11 :
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under Heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
THE HEALING POWER OF TIME :
Human existence could be challenged by physical and psychological injuries. A physical injury could also cause a significant amount of psychological damage and to a similar extent, unhealed psychological wounds may impair physical health and wellbeing. A psychological insult or injury may impact the activities and the normal functioning of a person who is not otherwise physically diseased. Human body is naturally endowed with an ability to repair damage caused to body tissues by physical injuries and other insults. The Repair process by which body heals itself is described as Inflammation and Repair. Human existence is possible because of this valuable, and protective natural healing process. However, this healing process and mechanisms are not under man’s voluntary control. The inflammatory reaction and the repair process result in scars as remnants. Once inflammation has subsided, the body may heal by regeneration of original tissue or the original tissue could be replaced by fibrotic connective tissue leading to scarring; very often wounds heal by a combination of these two events. Different tissues in the human body have different regenerative capacities. Basing upon the ability of regeneration, three different types of cells make up the human body: 1. Labile Cells – have the ability to regenerate throughout life. The epithelial cells of skin surface are regenerated on a regular basis giving us the ability to sustain our physical appearance as long as we live. Several other cells particularly found in blood, lymph, and spleen have this ability. 2. Stable Cells – have the ability to multiply and proliferate throughout life but are dormant unless stimulated. The cells of liver, pancreas, kidney, smooth muscles such as found in the wall of intestines, and the cells of the inner lining of blood vessels belong to this category. If a part of liver is removed, the liver can regenerate new liver cells and the resected liver regains its original size. 3. Permanent Cells – these cells do not have the ability to replicate and when injured or damaged are always replaced by connective tissue that results in loss of function. Neurons, skeletal muscle cells, and cardiac muscle cells belong to this type. The injury of neurons may cause paralysis. The injury of cardiac muscle cells may cause heart failure or cardiac arrest.
The natural process of Wound Healing is Time related.
The human body’s ability to heal itself also depends upon the nature of the insult and the agent causing the injury. Several physical, chemical, and biological agents have a great potential to cause severe damage and result in structural and functional impairment of the body from which recovery is not possible. Wound healing and restoration of function represent a process critical to the practice of Surgery. Surgeons are able to provide curative and restorative services because of the human body’s natural ability to heal itself.
TYPES OF WOUND HEALING :
The Healing of Wounds takes Time and the Types of Wound Healing is also related to the Time Factor.
Wound Healing is the process in which a physical injury ( like a cut injury ) undergoes repair with restoration of intrinsic tissue strength and function and also with resistance to infection and other external influences. Wound Healing is affected by the type of the Wound. Clean, sterile wounds that are not at the risk of contamination by other body secretions from the gastrointestinal tract, the genitourinary tract, or the respiratory tract heal better. Infected wounds and contaminated wounds heal slowly. If a wound is suspected to be contaminated the wound is often left open to evaluate the problem and to control any infectious agent. There are three types of Wound Healing described.
1. Primary Intention or First Intention Wound Healing – Primary Union occurs when there has been little tissue damage, the wound is clean and is not contaminated by foreign matter, the wound is not infected, and the wound edges are closely approximated and are in proper contact. The edges of a wound should be approximated as early as possible after the injury. The surgical procedure known as Primary Wound Closure allows the wound to heal by First Intention. These wounds heal rapidly with minimal amount of scarring. A Surgeon while operating inflicts clean incised wounds and closes the wounds at the end of the surgical procedure. Nature takes over the process of Healing which proceeds in a timely fashion.
The Natural Wound Healing Process known as Inflammation and Repair involves several different kinds of body cells and chemical mediators. Macrophage is one such cell. It eats up dead tissue and devours harmful bacteria, and engulfs foreign matter present in the wound.
2. Second Intention Wound Healing – It will not be possible to close wounds immediately after an injury if the wound is large, and the two skin edges are not in contact; the wound contains a lot of dead tissue or foreign matter, or is infected. The wound could be intentionally left open until the surgeon could make it clean. Sometimes, the injured person arrives late after sustaining an injury. The time of injury is of critical importance in choosing a course of action for its healing. The surgical procedure known as Delayed or Secondary Closure brings about healing by Secondary Union. Apart from the delay in Wound Healing, the resulting scar tissue is also more extensive.
3. Third Intention Wound Healing – Sometimes, the wound is left open and is observed for several days because of low-grade bacterial contamination. Eventually, when the wound looks healthy and the wound edges are healthy, the Surgeon would close the wound allowing it to heal by Third Intention. Depending upon the amount of loss in skin surface, and the size of the wound, skin grafts may be needed for Wound Healing and the process is delayed until suitable graft material is procured and the grafting process concludes successfully.
Wound Healing is affected by several factors that affect human body. A healthy person recovers faster and better if he is injured. When the health is compromised, the recovery from the wounds would be unsatisfactory. Malnutrition, protein deficiency, iron deficiency, Vitamin-C ( Ascorbic acid ) deficiency, diseases of liver and kidneys delay the natural healing process. Conditions causing poor blood supply( Peripheral Arterial Disease ), diabetes, other severe systemic diseases and infections like Tuberculosis can affect wound healing. After Wound Healing, the tissue never regains its original strength that existed prior to the injury. An uncomplicated wound, six months after its healing has about 80 percent of its original strength. Most wounds continue to remodel for more than one year. First Intention healing would generally produce cosmetically acceptable scars. Some scars are unsightly with a raised surface but the scar lies entirely within the confines of the wound. These Hypertrophic scars eventually stabilize in about six months time and are amenable to further cosmetic surgical correction to improve the appearance and to restore the function of the affected body part. Scars known as ‘Keloids’ invade nearby normal tissue that was not previously involved in the wound. This type of scar continues to enlarge even after six months time and does not usually regress or soften. The Keloids cause cosmetic disfigurement which is not easily treatable. Time plays an important role in all the aspects of Wound Healing and Wound Management and exerts an unique influence of its own in the outcomes.
THE EXPERIENCE OF PAIN AND THE EXPRESSION OF GRIEF :
The disfigurement caused by Leprosy is known to humanity for several centuries. This disfigurement is caused by the involvement of nerves and the loss of sensory functions.
We seek help and medical attention for our physical injuries and wounds because of our ability to experience pain.The experience of the physical sensation of pain is of utmost importance in defending and in preserving human existence. If the neurological function of pain perception is blunted or impaired for any reason, the recovery from physical wounds would be delayed and the body sustains further physical damage. Pain is of utmost importance in Clinical Medicine, both for diagnosing an underlying medical condition, to watch the progress, and in treating the condition. The human body that can not express pain or experience pain is at a great risk of harming itself. Psychological insults and injuries also cause pain and grief. To experience mental pain or grief is a natural protective, and defensive mechanism. Such ability to perceive pain from psychological attacks and insults is important to preserve the integrity and existence of the entire organism. By expressing grief, body initiates the natural healing process. While physical wounds need to be closed to help them heal faster, psychological wounds need to be exposed to bring about their healing. Emotional pain and grief must not be concealed. By properly expressing mental grievances, mind gets a chance to purge the negative emotions generated by the psychological assault. The grievance must be reported to a friend, a relative, a therapist, a priest, or to the Law Enforcement and if no such avenue is available it must be submitted to the God the person believes. Psychological wounds when hidden, fail to heal.
Psychological Injuries and Insults Heal with passage of Time. The Pain is eased as the painful event becomes more distant and the memory of the event starts fading. Apart from memory function, Time may alter our perception of the Psychological Attack and the Injury.
Time exists even when there is no conscious entity with its awareness of past, present, and the future. Time exists not because of human memory of past events, awareness of present, and expectation of future. Time exerts an influence of its own which changes our perception of events and alters the course of consequences. A person with very good memory function would experience less pain with the passage of time after sustaining psychological trauma. The qualities of patience, tolerance, and forbearance increase our ability to withstand physical and mental pain. In the Sanskrit language, the qualities of patience, tolerance, and forbearance are described as ‘KSHAMA’. These qualities not only make the individual Stress Resistant and Resilient, they would also allow the Time’s Power of Healing to come into play. Indians seek the quality of KSHAMA to withstand the consequences of physical and psychological wounds and they believe in the concept of Time as a Healer of all Wounds.
THE DIVINE HEALING POWER OF TIME :
Susruta, Surgeon of Ancient India - Surgical Care and intervention is possible only because of the body's intrinsic ability to heal its wounds. Surgery would be impossible without this Natural Gift of Inflammation and Repair.
By simply repeating and remembering the two letters, "RA", "MA" serves like a Medicine while man confronts the problems of Healing and the consequences of physical and psychological wounds. Indian Culture offers RAMA as a Medicine to all the illnesses and injuries that may afflict human existence and survival. The Indian Concept of Time describes its Divine Healing Potential and Rama provides KSHAMA, the patience, tolerance, and forbearance that is needed for Time to exert its Divine Healing Power.
Human body exists with an ability to recognize its own wounds and initiates its well synchronized response almost simultaneously and this timely response could only be described as a Divine Gift, a gift which humans have no ability to invent on their own.
Please also view my blog post titled ‘Pain and Compassion – Philosophy of Medicine’
Humans have different concepts about time. Physicists view time and space as building blocks of this universe. Time is described as the fourth dimension of a three dimensional space.
Natural scientist Charles Darwin had stated that things in nature change with time. Does time exert a force entirely of its own to change things in nature? If time is viewed as a power, or a force, who controls this force and what are the laws that operate this force? Time influences, changes, transforms, and eventually dissolves both animate and inanimate objects of this universe. Time with its power of dissolution would eventually compel us to investigate, and to explore the concept of Absolute and Unchanging Reality.
The Laws of Conservation of classical Physics explain the Laws of Conservation of Mass, Energy, and Momentum. Mass and Energy cannot be created or destroyed. There is an unchanging aspect of Nature.
Planet Earth is in existence for billions of years and life has been established a long time ago. During this long history of this planet, several life forms lived and several perished. Earth witnessed several major and minor extinction events. While these changes are happening under the influence of time, the living substance known as protoplasm continues to be the same. All living entities have protoplasm which has the same basic characteristics and composition. A living thing has matter and form. The form describes its actuality and the form is recognized because it is shaped by its matter which represents the potentiality.
The potentiality of protoplasm has remained unchanged under the influence of time and it remains constant as long as it can acquire energy from its external environment and is connected to its energy provider.
Whole Dude – Whole Time: SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – ESSENCE – IDENTITY – UNITY – EXISTENCE: MAN’S EXISTENCE IS GOVERNED BY THE ETERNAL LAW OF AGING. MAN EXISTS WHILE HE PASSES THROUGH VARIOUS STAGES SUCH AS BOYHOOD, YOUTH, ADULTHOOD, AND OLDAGE THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN FORM AND APPEARANCE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF TIME.
Under the influence of time, man who comes into a state of existence called life passes through various stages of that existence from that of embryo, fetus, infancy, boyhood, teenage, manhood, and old age. Man’s morphological appearance or phenotype keeps changing because of the effects of time and yet his individuality remains unchanged.
Whole Dude – Whole Time: Sidereal Time is, time measured with respect to the Celestial Sphere.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Once in a ‘Blue Moon’, we encounter a second Full Moon on New Year’s Eve.Whole Dude – Whole Perception: The sensory perception about Moon depends upon the place where we exist on this planet Earth. The visual experience of Moon is not the same, it is not absolute and is only relative.
In the United States, on New Year’s Eve, we had a ‘Blue Moon’ to ring in the Year 2010. As the saying goes, the Blue Moon is a rare event. In any given season, we encounter three Full Moons. Blue Moon is defined as the third Full Moon in a season with four Full Moons. It is also easy to define a Blue Moon as the second Full Moon in a given month. A Full Moon occurs every 29.5 days and most years have 12 Full Moons. An extra Full Moon in a month is described as a Blue Moon. The name has nothing to do with the color of our celestial neighbor. The first Full Moon of the month occurred on December 2nd, 2009. On Thursday, December 31, 2009, the New Year’s Eve, the Full Moon appeared for the second time. An extra Full Moon occurs every 2.5 years. New Year’s Eve Blue Moons are rarer occuring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990, and the next Full Moon comes on New Year’s Eve again in 2028.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: A partial Lunar Eclipse on New Year’s Eve was visible in the East and not in the Americas.
While the United States ushered the New Year with a Blue Moon and in the Eastern Hemisphere, people celebrated the arrival of the New Year with a partial Lunar Eclipse when part of the Moon entered the Earth’s shadow. This Eclipse was not visible in the Americas. As to how we recognize the arrival of New Year depends upon the place where we live on this planet Earth. This New Year’s Blue Moon is unique to the place where we live.
The Perception of Change:
The experience of time on this planet Earth is an illusionary experience and is not an ‘absolute’ experience. In New York City, at Times Square thousands of people gathered on the New Year’s Eve to watch the “Ball” drop to ring in the New Year.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: The Magical Moment in Times Square. The JOY of ushering the New Year.
The future does not exist except in our expectation. The expectation that the Ball would drop at a precise moment is the anticipated future. The future gets transformed into the past in an instant when the Ball drops down. The past does not exist except in our memory. The present represents that instant in the future and past continuum. The New Year has arrived at the middle of the night not because of a perceptible ‘Change’ in the environment. The ‘Change’ is recognized by the use of a clock and the Ball in Times Square drops by perceiving the ‘Change’ in the clock’s time. Time is perceived by the ‘Change’ it brings. Man has invented calendars and clocks to affix numbers to the passage of time. The most a clock can give is the time an instant ago and not even the time ‘now’.
WHOLE DUDE – WHOLE OPTICS: SPIRITUALISM INVOLVES A SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LIGHT OR OPTICS. GOD IS LIGHT, LIGHT IS LIFE, AND COLOR IS THE EVIDENCE FOR THE USE OF IMAGINATION TO FORMULATE SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIPS.
In the Indian Tradition, the New Year is associated with more perceptible changes in the physical environment. According to Indian calendars, the New Year arrives during the Spring Season, and the New Year’s Day is heralded by the dawn with the Sun rising above the horizon.
The History of Time Measurement:
Whole Dude – Whole Perception. Time Measurement.
Earth’s rate of spin is the determinant of our day. The speed of the Earth’s rotation can be described in two ways: 1. The Angular or Omega Speed – the Earth rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, or 15 degrees per hour, or 0.5 degrees of rotation in two minutes. 2. The Linear Speed or Velocity of a point on the surface of the Earth is about 1,000 miles/hour. A clock (from the Latin. Cloca – bell ) is an instrument for measuring time intervals of less than a day as opposed to a Calendar which measures time intervals greater than a day.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Measurement of Time. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) discovered the pendulumWhole Dude – Whole Perception: The invention of Pendulum – The History of Time Measurement.Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Dutch Scientist Christiaan Huygens the inventor of first Pendulum ClockWhole Dude – Whole Perception: Measurement of Time. In 1656, Huygens determined the mathematical formula that related pendulum length to time and built the first pendulum driven Clock.Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Measurement of Time. The Grandfather Clock – The division of the day into hours, minutes, and seconds helps us to recognize the passage of time. We have no sensory perception of Earth’s spin that gives us alternate periods of light and darkness.
The day is measured in relation to the time taken for Earth’s rotation that causes perceptible environmental changes. Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens ushered us into the era of precision timekeeping. During 1884, Greenwich in England was adopted as the zero degree longitude. U.S. time zones came into existence in 1883, the global time zones came into use in 1884, and ‘daylight’ savings time came into use in 1915. However, the Earth is an erratic time keeper. The Earth’s rotation is affected by the tides, changing weather patterns, ocean currents, and polar ice variations. The net effect is that it is slowing, losing a few thousandths of a second per century. Half a billion years ago the planet took only 20 hours to make it through the day. In another 200 million years an Earth Day will last 25 hours. Man has acquired the ability to track the motion inside atomic nucleus. Picoseconds describe trillionths of a second, and Femtoseconds describe thousandths of a Picosecond. To give a better perspective, it could be stated that there are more Femtoseconds in one second than there were seconds in the past 31 million years.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Measurement of Time. Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 developed the Gregorian Calendar that we use today.
The seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn and the phases of the Moon are used to measure the passage of time of a greater duration than a day. The Babylonians, and the Egyptians had used calendars. The Calendar developed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 is accurate to a day in every 3,323 years. The Calendar is related to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Earth’s orbit around the Sun takes about 365 1/4 days. Earth orbits the Sun at a distance of about 93 million miles. Earth travels a distance of about 584 million miles per year at about a speed of 66,660 miles/hour. The Moon rotates on its axis and revolves around the Earth in about 29.5 days and has helped man to devise the 30 day Lunar Calendar. Moon spins with the same period as its revolution around the Earth and hence the same face of the Moon always points towards the Earth.
Human concepts about Time:
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Human concepts about Time. Time flows like a river or moves like an Arrow.
We run our lives by numbers on Clocks and Calendars. The Clocks and Calendars create the illusion that we live in a world of mathematically measured segments of time. Man acquired advanced language abilities to descirbe the past in terms of personal experience. Because of linguistic skills, man is able to communicate his expectations about future and reminisce about past events. Time is looked upon as a flow like a river.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Human concepts about Time. Sir Issac Newton (1687) stated that the Flow of Time is Absolute.
Sir Issac Newton claims that the time “flows equably without relation to anything external.” In 1905, while postulating the Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein had observed that time is not absolute and that the measurement of time is affected by the motion of the observer.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Human concepts about Time. Albert Einstein stated that Time is not Absolute and is relative to the motion of the observer.
The relativity of time becomes significant only at very great speeds. Rapidly moving clocks tick more slowly than clocks at rest. Herman Minkowski, a mathematician, added time as the fourth dimension of three dimensional space. Time is seen as a dimension like height, and width, and it gives meaning to events and the order in which they occur. Gravity affects both time and light. Time is affected by the gravitational field of each celestial body and thus is unique to any one spot in the universe. The physicists tend to view time and space as the building blocks of the universe. However, time is not a substance and it is only a measuring tool. Motion and time are invariably linked. There can be no velocity without the concept of time. While time is not absolute, the speed of light (186,282 miles/second) is absolute. Now, we have the practical ability to actually look at past while living in the present. By looking at light reaching us from a far away Galaxy, or a Supernova, we are looking as it was billions of years ago.
The Biological Clock. The Eternal Flow of Time vs The Eternal Law of Aging:
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: The Eternal Flow of Time vs The Eternal Law of Aging. The Biological Clock is an Internal Clock that monitors time and brings about changes that affect the body and its functions.
A biologist sees time in the ‘internal clocks’ that keep all living entities in sync with nature. The body’s dominant time cycle is called the ‘Circadian Rhythm’ (Latin. Circa – approximately; and Dies – day or About a Day). For most of us a normal circadian cycle is 25 hours. A seven day week could be described as a unit of time for the biological rhythms that regulate changes in body chemicals, the response pattern of the immune system, the rise and fall of heart beat and changes in circualtion display this periodicity of functioning.
Human body undergoes age related changes in structure and function with the passage of time and it is unrelated to man’s ability to measure time or man’s concepts about time. Aging is a time related biological phenomenon on which man has very little control.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: The Eternal Flow of Time vs The Eternal Law of Aging. The Molecular Mechanisms of Aging.
The biological clock measures time and the activity of genes is selectively turned on or off. Apart from cell damage due to the products of cell metabolism, effects of physical environment, and biological agents, cells experience senescence. We are predestined to exist as mortal individuals and the human body experiences changes in its structure and function even if we fail to keep track of the passage of time. Humans lack the biological and physiological abilities to transform our physical bodies into sources of perpetual enjoyment. Time has influence over both animate and inanimate world. Apart from human existence, the existence of this created universe is subject to time’s Power of Dissolution. The White Dwarfs, the Brown Dwarfs, the Super Novae offer observable evidence about the effects of time on physical objects and its power to cause change, transformation, and eventually dissolution.
Where are We Now?
Whole Dude – Whole Perception. Where Are We Now?
Where were we in the year 2009? Where would we exist in the year 2011? In the year 2010, where are we now? Our measurement of time gives the illusionary experience of the material world in which we exist. Our experience of time is illusionary as we do not know as to when time began and we do not know as to when it may cease to exist. Indian thinkers have described time or “KAALA” as eternal and time existed before creation, and would continue to exist after dissolution of creation.
During this middle interval, after creation and before its dissolution, time exists in relation to motion. When there is no motion in absolute terms, there would be no time interval that could be measured, and the stillness arrests the flow of time.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Where are We Now? A Designer Universe is described by a Greek word called ‘COSMOS’ which means Beauty and Order.
Since, time is related to movement, we need a reference point to know our exact position at any given instant. Our position on the surface of the Earth keeps changing as Earth participates in the motions of the Sun as a member of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Sun also revolves around the galactic center at a speed of about 155 miles/second and Earth participates in this motion along with the rest of the Solar System. We need to know the precise location of the Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy at any given time and also know the precise location of the Milky Way Galaxy in the universe in which it exists. Without this information, our experience and understanding of time remains purely a local experience relative to a spot in this universe of unknown dimensions.
Linear vs Circular Time Flow:
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Linear vs Circular Flow of Time.
Is past, present, and future are arranged in a straight line? In the West, time is more often viewed as a one-way track. The “monochronic” perception about time in the West could be related to its cultural beliefs such as resurrection which gives a sense of the arrow of time pointing in one direction. In India, time is viewed as a circle and all things are expected to return to a former state of existence. In nature, the seasons repeat themselves, and the living entities follow this pattern of cyclical growth and regeneration. According to the Indian concept of ‘Samsara’, the individual soul is eternal but is trapped in a cyclical existence of birth, death, and rebirth. The Indian concept of ‘Karma’ also very firmly binds the individual soul to its past states of existence and the individual experiences the past in his present existence, and also in all of his future states of existence. The cyclical flow of time would let us experience the past and lets time to repeat itself.
Time’s Power of Dissolution. The Mystical Power of Time:
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – ESSENCE – IDENTITY – UNITY – EXISTENCE : ADI SHANKARA(c.788 – c.820?), EXPONENT OF ADVAITA OR NON-DUALISM AND THE THEORY OF MAYA OR ILLUSION.
Time exerts a powerful influence over the qualitative aspects of human existence. Whatever qualities or attributes such as material wealth, power, status, and social position that man cherishes and desires most could be dissolved and rendered useless by the effects of time. Indian thinker Adi Shankaracharya has cautioned people to be aware of the powerful force of Illusion called ‘MAYA’ and we are asked to avoid the perceptual problems it generates.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: Time’s Power of Dissolution. The Mystical Power of Time.
Since the manifested world and universe gives illusory experience, we need to be careful about the effects of time that tends to dissolve the manifested universe at an individual level and also as a collective human sensory experience. A philosopher had observed that:”Time is the Best Teacher, unfortunately, it kills all its pupils.” Humans have no choice. Time alters our ability to perceive the sensory experience and enjoyment of our physical body.
Time with its Power of Dissolution would eventually compel us to investigate and to explore the Concept of Absolute and Unchanging Reality. The Strong Nuclear Force, the Weak Nuclear Force, Electromagnetism, and the Gravitational Force operate the Four Fundamental Interactions and the role of time has not been explained by physicists. Natural scientist Charles Darwin had observed that things in nature change with time. Does time exert a force entirely of its own to change things in nature? If time is viewed as a power or a force, who controls this force and what are the Laws that operate this Force? Indian thinkers are of the opinion that Purusha (the Divine Soul), Prakriti (the material Nature), and Kaala or Time are eternal and these three entities existed before formation of this created universe, will operate during the existence of this created universe, and eventually remain existing after the total dissolution of the present created universe.
The flow of time is eternal, but time is not absolute. Purusha or the Supreme Divine Soul is the ultimate Controller of Energy in all of its forms. The Power of Time to dissolve the creation has no effect on the Creator. All the living entities are created by the Superior Energy of the Supreme Divine Soul, and the individual souls have the ability to exploit energy of an inferior source such as Prakriti (material Nature). The physical body experiences dissolution as per a predetermined time (Kaala Sutra), and the individual souls alone survive the dissolution of animate and inanimate world and universe.
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE – CHIDAMBARA RAHASYAM: LORD GOD IS JUST ONE AND THE SAME AND YET MAN KNOWS HIM BY DIFFERENT NAMES. IN INDIAN TRADITION, THE NAME RAMA IS THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH OR THE ULTIMATE REALITY. LORD RAMA IS THE SOURCE OF KRUPA OR COMPASSION FOR HE HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFE JOURNEY IN HIS PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION AS A HUMAN BEING.
Essence and Existence:
Whole Dude – Whole Perception. The Eternal Flow of Time.
Everything that is born arrives with a plan for its dissolution. In the multicellular human organism, each individual cell has its life span and the human individual has his life span. How is the existence of the individual is established in a multicellular organism? Man may choose to define his essence, and the cells need to function to support the existence of the individual. Man’s identity is just one face of the coin, and the second face of the same coin represents the individuality of that person. Man exists as long as the individuality is maintained. Man is not capable of independent existence. The individuality is sustained because of ‘God Connection’; the Connection that connects the individual who is energy seeker with his energy provider. Man’s intellectual or physical effort is not the basis for this God Connection.
As time flows, man lives his life span because of the mercy, compassion, and grace of the Creator, who had caused the existence of this object that has identity and individuality.
Whole Dude – Whole Perception: The personification of the destructive effects of Time. Greek god Chronos clipping the wings of Cupid, the god of Love.
The Temple of Lord Somnath. The Battle between the Power of Creation and the Power of Destruction:
Kindly pay homage to Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister who had recreated the Temple of Lord Somnath and vanquished the evil forces which visited Somnath repeatedly to utterly destroy this sacred place of Hindu worship.
Whole Dude – Whole ConvictionWhole Dude – Whole ConvictionKindly pay homage to Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister who had recreated the Temple of Lord Somnath and vanquished the evil forces which visited Somnath repeatedly to utterly destroy this sacred place of Hindu worship.Kindly pay homage to Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister who had recreated the Temple of Lord Somnath and vanquished the evil forces which visited Somnath repeatedly to utterly destroy this sacred place of Hindu worship.
Whole Dude - Whole Concept 