My Journey to becoming better human being

  Journey to becoming better human being – 13 What stopped me from doing it before?   On returning from the last meeting, I sat down and tried to examine my deep feelings. I realised I wanted to be nice and caring with people around me. Next I thought about my interactions with them and how I could do so. Finally, during the week, I tried to put it into actions in my behaviour with them. That was feeling, thinking and action all aligned in one direction.   It was a wonderful experience to be nice and caring with people around me. It was so easy, effortless and fulfilling. I wondered what stopped me from doing it before. In fact, why would anyone indulge in contradictory actions at all? Obviously, I proposed that as a point of discussion in our next meeting.   “The clue to what you do has to be in the heart of what you believe.” What a poetic prose! But what does it mean?   “Every human being tends to achieve happiness. So, he does things according to what he believes

  Journey to becoming better human being - 12 Can feeling bad be good?   During the week paying attention to internal register was not a great experience for me. Most of the time I had a register of bad feeling. Newspaper came late and I felt bad. While talking on phone the tea got cold and I felt bad. There was rush in the train and I felt bad. Because of rains there were water puddles on the road, and I felt bad. There were rarely any occasions on which I felt good.   I tried to recollect the discussions of the meeting. I recalled learning that contradictory actions make you feel bad. They make you feel bad as there is a divergence between your feelings, thinking and actions. I realised that even at that time, I did not understand this statement well. What does this divergence mean? I tried all that I could to find where was this divergence between my feeling, thinking and actions in all the above incidences but to no avail.   I took up the topic in our next meeting.  

  Journey to becoming better human being - 11 Learning to value internal registers   In Dubai, a speaker in a session on cultural appreciation asked a student in Hijab about why she was wearing it. Whether it is because she was religious, and she wanted to go to heaven? When she nodded, prompt came his response: does it mean that all those who do not wear it are non-religious and will go to hell?   He was making a point that beliefs and rules of behaviour are context dependent.   I started thinking. Is it so? In that case what is good and what is bad? What we should do and what we should not? Does it mean there is no universal code of moral? I decided to take it up in our next meeting.   “It is true. The rules could change from place to place, time to time and are specific to a cultural context. Thus, in India cow is considered as holy and in some other country, beef is a favourite food. Pork is prohibited in Islam but is cherished by many others. Slave trade was a co

  Journey to becoming a better human being - 10 Is lack of Giving the root of the problem?   After the discussion about giving and receiving in the previous meeting, I started observing the world around for these aspects. We were advised to reflect and observe what we had discussed. That would strengthen our learning as well as clarify our doubts.   In a function while chatting with friends, I noticed that the discussion revolved around their concerns about what they eat, what they breathe, what they do for their body, what they buy, what bargains they found and so on. They also talked about their tensions and their stress.   I observed a pattern. It was all about themselves. I shared this in our next meeting.   “Those who only love themselves a lot would also love their problems a lot and soon there will be issues.”   “People are worried about the intake valves. This is logical. The worry is placed on the point of whether what I receive today is more than yesterday

  Journey to becoming a better human being - 9 Giving or receiving – where is the gain?   I was sharing my experiences of the campaign very enthusiastically with a friend. Instead of getting impressed, he was baffled. “What is in it for you?” “Forget about gaining money, I am sure you must have spent your own money on the campaign.”   “Do you think that with your campaign the situation will change?” “With the same amount of time, could you not have done something productive?”   He was a close friend and a well-wisher. He had a habit of being direct. Concerned as he was, he bombarded me with his questions. He was right. I did not get any money. Instead I spent my money on the campaign. I knew the situation is not going to change with our one campaign. And whether I could have done something productive in the same amount of time, perhaps yes, perhaps no. I had no answer. I decided to take up the point for discussion in our next meeting.   We would make a note of points that e

  Journey to becoming better human being - 8 Personal development is in reaching out to the world   “We are going to take a campaign. Education is not a business, no capitation fees, no donation.”   “We will make posters and banners. We will make leaflets and signature forms. We will take out rallies. We will contact people on the road and house-to-house. We will collect ten thousand signatures”   The proposal looked like some sort of agitation. Have I come to a wrong place? We were talking about personal development, about being happy in life, about internal guide and how come suddenly this discussion on a social issue?   “Do you think it is an important issue?” Agreed. It is an important issue. But like that there are hundreds of issues. Firstly, this issue does not affect me directly and second even if I want, what is it that I can do? Who has time for all such social noise?   “We can’t work on all the issues at a time, but at least we can make a beginning” “If