“We are inundated with advice on where to travel to, but we hear little of why and how we should go, even though the art of travel seems naturally to sustain a number of questions neither so simple nor so trivial, and whose study might in modest ways contribute to an understanding of what the Greek philosophers beautifully termed eudaimonia, or ‘human flourishing’.” ― Alain de Botton
We live in troubling times, where the brave and noble are stifled merely for standing up for what they believe in. The world is in a state of acceptability where petulant tyranny is allowed to exist. Where good men get put away because they have greater ideologies, where bad men are allowed to run rampant. This is not about the evil that bad men do, but about the good that good men should do, despite the repercussions. Continue reading
There are different expressions of emotion categorised as pain or pleasure. Our feelings provide guides for the survival of our bodies. Most animals are thought to feel pain and pleasure. We also know from behavioural experiments that pain and pleasure is triggered associatively, like the baby that hears a loud crash when seeing a toy. Repeated experience of this causes the baby to cry when it sees the toy again, despite the absence of the sound that time. Given that emotions play such a significant role in our choices and our perspective on things, how should we untangle bias and potentially harmful conditioning? Continue reading
We hear people say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder all the time, and that there is no objective standard of beauty. I don’t think that is true, because if we talk in the “traditional” understanding of beauty, there is definitely a defined standard, however, this is strongly linked to a certain culture. Its like the fair skin / dark skin complexion argument that we hear all the time. Today, I want to address something completely different, unique skin conditions and how we can find them beautiful. Continue reading
As a 20-something in today’s day and age, I move around rather frequently. It was all fun at first, with Disney’s Aladdin soundtrack of “A Whole New World” set on replay. But when I realised well, there’s no magic carpet, just 8 hour back to back flights of try hard, below average food and sitting still in a 17.2” by 31” wide seat pitch space, it was pretty disheartening. Continue reading
Most of us go through our lives coasting, never letting things shake up too much. Of all the important things out there, there is few and far between that are truer than how we choose our friends, and more importantly, why we remain with them. As soon as sociality kicks in as an evolutionary trait, we are taught that we should get along with each other. Because of this primordial belief that we need to get along to survive, we strive to be in groups that we consider important for our wellbeing. This is true… to a certain extent. Continue reading
We as people crave adventure, be it going to the next town or the next continent. I know what you’re thinking, not everyone is an adventurer, but people are much more adventurous than you think. Do you ever get that feeling, that feeling of listlessness, that feeling that your feet are itching, that feeling that you just need to… go. That, my friend, is the feeling of wanderlust. That unbearable feeling, that screaming of your soul in your head, that longing to see the world, that longing to feel the world.
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We live in a world where things are done in a certain way, a patriarchal way. This is the world we are born into, but it doesn’t mean it’s the way things should be. It seems like the notion of equality is starting to gain traction, and most of it happens because people are more vocal about their stand on issues. We cannot just sit back and say the world will sort itself out. It won’t. We have to be the change we want to see in the world. Continue reading
We go through life with many people and issues to deal with, all at the same time without them knowing what we ourselves are going through. I recently came across this quote, originally by Portuguese born José Micard Teixeira, and as all things internet, it got misquoted as a Meryl Streep quote, but I digress. This quote, quite long and powerful, is simply titled “I no longer”. This quote speaks about how we will reach a stage in our lives where we have to let go of the things which make us unhappy. These can come in many forms, but as we all know too well, be it with family, friends or even acquaintances. As we grow and learn more about the world we constantly change who we are, our beliefs and who we want to be. Continue reading
It really seems that there really is only one constant in life – change. Most of us go through life not wanting to face this reality, that we are ever changing and ever evolving creatures. Who we are when we are 30 is vastly different from who we are when we were 20, and who we will be when we are 40 will be vastly different from who we are when we are 30. This is an inevitable fact of life. Time is short and a very precious commodity, and that’s why it’s important to not waste any of it doing things we don’t love. We should never accept the life that is, but strive for the life that ought to be. We should always aim for personal growth. Continue reading
Human beings are such creatures of sociality that we often do not realise how easily affected we get by those around us. Our company is a great indicator of the type of person we are, as the saying goes, you are the company you keep. Why do some of us get easily influenced by those around us, while others are sternly against it? Why do we sometimes do something that we know is against our morality, only to please the crowd? Continue reading