Contact

In the movie 'Contact', Jodie Foster plays the role of a researcher who yearns to find other intelligent life in the universe. One day she succeeds in getting a message from outer space. The aliens communicate with her, and tell her how to build a shuttle so powerful that will enable humans to fly to their planet. Humans build the ship. After finishing everything according to the alien guidelines, they fix a seat in the main cabin for Jodie. Now they think about her safety and realize that there is no seat belt in the original design. They install a seat belt.

The next day, Jodie takes off in her new shuttle. When the shuttle gets into the air, Jodie's seat starts shaking violently. She panics. She doesn't understand the problem. Out of her confusion, she opens up the seat belt and tries to walk out of the seat. As soon as she opens up the belt, the vibration stops. Turns out that the vibration was caused by the belt. Humans felt that the original design had missed it, and they must add it on their own.

This is how we treat the truth. If we really believed in our faiths, whatever we believed in, we would never fight over them. We think that the truth needs our support and we should be belligerent about it. When we add our personal interpretations to the truth, we deface it. How wrong. The truth does not need our help, instead, we need its help. The truth stands on its own--alone and strong. It is, its own evidence.

Traffic

Life is like traffic on a freeway, and we are like cars. Some of us are sports cars--small and fast, but we carry only a few people. Some of us are like buses, with a lot of patience and little ego, but we provide for many. Some of us are normal sedans, moderate and optimum. Some of us are like eighteen wheelers, selfless yet highly important. We are all equally meaningful.

And life has different lanes. The fast lane, the middle lane and the slow lane. Some of us like to go fast, without caring about the others. Some of us are bound to go slow, maybe because we are lost or maybe just our car is not in a good condition. Some of us are mid-paced, slowly and steadily winning the race.

Sometimes, during the rush hour, we tend to act smart and get into the lane that seems to be moving the fastest. But what happens is that everybody gets into that lane, and we become fools. Sometimes, the road becomes wide open for us, without us even trying. And sometimes it just narrows down so much without a reason.

The freeway of life has many exits. Sometimes we take the wrong exit and we end up in a ghetto. It happens when we don't know the directions. We end up wasting our time. But you know what, if you feel like you took the wrong exit, I assure you that there is a ramp somewhere that'll get you back on the freeway. The small ghetto roads may slow you down for a while, but they can't stop you forever.

Just make sure you are moving in the right direction.

Javier

At the end of my first day at my new job, I was worried about my car. I was worried about the noises coming from the front right wheel. It was a brand new town for me and I didn't know where to go or what to do. I came out of the office building and I saw Javier. He was our all-in-one guy. I asked, "Javier, do you know any mechanic?" He looked at me, gave me his warm smile, and said, "Yes, I am one." From that point on, he made me forget all my worries. He took me to his buddy's workshop, told me what was wrong with my car, and advised me what to do. I was relieved. But he was nicer than that. He sensed my loneliness and took me to his house. He introduced me to his wife and kids. It didn't end there. He took me to an authentic mexican restaurant, where I had the best mexican food ever. I was really happy.

After that day, Javier would stop by my office every now and then. I would joke with him and he would offer me some sort of help every time. He always advised me to be cautious of the office ergonomics. I wanted to thank him for the first day. I would never forget that. So I took his cell phone number and made a plan to take him and his family out for dinner to the same place. I was waiting for my first pay check.

Now I was looking for a good day to catch Javier and invite him for dinner. He had gone to Sacramento over the weekend. The monday after that weekend, I returned to office and someone at work told me that he had a heart attack and he was in the hospital. He was only 36, and this news was unbelievable. At the same time, I got really mad at myself. I thought that I should have done this earlier. But that was ok. I just had to wait a couple of weeks.

The next day, an email came with a subject-line of 'Javier's Final Arrangements.' He didn't survive the heart attack. I read it over and over. It felt like my legs were going numb. I couldn't move my body for a few minutes.

They burried Javier in Parlier, California. I saw many people that cried that day. Seemed like I wasn't the only one whom he had touched.

Javier didn't give me enough time to thank him. I still have his number in my cell phone.

The Case for the Law

When we study sub-atomic physics, the first thing we do is that we form models. To verify that our models are correct, we then have to perform experiments. In 20th century physics, most of the experiments were performed inside the laboratories. Those experiments required special setup, but they were feasible to be performed inside a lab.

As we continued our journey in the study of physics, we came up with newer models. Not every model was testable inside a lab. For example, in order to test Einstein's matter-energy duality, you had to accelerate a particle at very high speeds. Only then, you would be able to see matter converting into energy. So we built particle accelerators and cyclotrons.

Now, the cutting-edge physics has a bag of even newer theories, but we can't test them. Why? Because there is no physical way to test them on earth. These experiments require such high energies that the only place you can perform them is on the sun.

The case for law making follows the same pattern. Law and policy making is one of the most challenging tasks. Policies have the power to catapult or obliterate a nation. Making a law or a policy is like coming up with a model that will ensure that the society stays inact. Law makers concern themselves with not only the present, but also the future.

Today, we face a multitude of social laws. I am talking about laws that address things like who and how to get married, abortion, divorces, sexual freedom, freedom of speech and media, etc. They all represent different situations in our lives. Some situations are easy, and laws regarding them come intuitively. While other situations are not intuitive. Laws regarding such issues would not show their true effect until after years. There is no way for us to test them except for observing the outcomes for years that span generations.

Taxi Drivers

They say that the taxi drivers are the same no matter where you go. I think they are right.

On my way back from Nashville, my flight was delayed. Out of my compulsion to talk, I started talking to this guy sitting on the floor right next to me. He turned out to be a Harvard business school grad. So we got into some quick discussions over consulting, M&A's, the Wall Street, VC's, and how freakin' expensive Harvard was.

Got to Denver, and I had already missed my connection. So they gave me a hotel room nearby. I came to the hotel and went to this eatery. Again, out of my compulsion to talk, I started talking to this guy sitting right next to me on the bar. He turned out to be a truck driver. He was very articulate and had opinions about almost everything. We discussed how the social security wasn't working right, how the interstate system was the biggest asset of America, what some of the most scenic routes in America were, and how Lord Jesus gave him peace by taking away his stresses everyday.

The more I talk to people, the more I realize the patterns in humanity. Just like the taxi drivers are the same, from Manhattan to London to Lahore to Makkah, all other genres are also the same. Instead of classifying people based on their ethnicity or nationality, we might be better off describing them by what they do. Truck drivers have the same daily routine anywhere in the world. They share the same concerns and headaches. So do business men, doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, journalists, nurses, farmers, accountants, poets, musicians, actors, and so forth.

When you lead a nomadic life like mine, you start seeing the similarities more than the differences.

Thorns and Needles

When we are stung by a thorn or a needle, we feel an excrutiating pain. We become motionless for a moment and all our senses numb. At that very instance, all we want from anybody in the world is to take that thorn or needle out. Our thoughts converge to a single point in the whole universe and we forget about everything else. Even though, it is usually a very small thing. As soon as you take it out, we come back to normal life as if nothing ever happened.

In our journey towards our greatest and dearest goals, we are often stung by thorns and needles. The higher the aim, the tougher it becomes to achieve it. As if achieving sublime goals wasn't hard enough, we also stumble upon tons of superfluous distractions. Sometimes, these distractions are so sharp and pointed, just like a needle or a thorn, that they make us forget what we were heading for. They have the ability to throw us off the balance so much, that we lose all sense of orientation.

The key is to stay focused on the main objective. If we come across something very difficult, we should always think what we still have in our hands. Often times, the fix of a problem is very simple, as long as we don't lose our composure.

Often times, the problem itself is not as big as its pain.

The First Knot

When we are tying our shoe laces, we always start with a starting knot. The first knot is very simple. It doesn't hold long enough if you don't tie the second one, but you cannot go to step 2 if you don't start with it. The first knot does not have much of a meaning by itself, but it gives meaning to all the other knots.

Our families serve as our first knots. When we are growing up, not only we are weak physically, but our minds are very amorphous too. At this stage, the love that we get from our surroundings, or the lack of it, becomes our foundation. It is during those days that we learn about love, affection, loyalty, and modesty. Even though, a lot of these things are not taught to us in a lecture style and we learn them indirectly.

If we look back, the way our family members encouraged us on our small successes may seem so trivial today, but it worked wonders for us. A healthy childhood not only helps the individual in his adult life, but it contributes a healthy mind to the society.

Love Actually

My friend Najaf used to joke about love. He used to say, if you don't understand something, call it love.

We all know what love is, but at the same time, we all don't know how to define it. We have only seen it in action. What is it, really?

Emotions are what clearly differentiate human beings from other animals. We often tend to put emotions down because of their blinding power over us. Uncontrolled emotions outweigh intellect at times leading to foolish decisions. At the same time, emotions can be used as a positive force. Emotions are crazy things. They make us do what we cannot and wouldn't do otherwise. Its all a matter of tapping the energy the right way. Emotions are energy and energy can be used both positively and negatively.

What I wanted to lay forth was a semi-biological definition of love. Love is a formation of neural pathways or circuits in our brain. It all starts with an object and a stimulus, or stimulii. Lets take the common example of a man falling in love with a woman (I know, thats just way too common. Sorry ;) ) Man is the lover, woman is the object of love, and the stimulus could be a number of things--her physical attraction, her kindness, her style, her mannerisms, her emails, her voice mails--anything! After the first attraction, neural circuits begin to form in the lover's brain. With every continuing stimulus, these circuits get stronger, and within a matter of some time (which varies from person to person) these circuits get ultra strong. Not only that, anything pertaining to the object of love is also linked to the main circuit. The object of love's surroundings, their belongings, their city, their choices, gets connected to the main circuit. At the height of it all, we have a super strong main circuit with half the brain serving as its adjutant.

After we have a strong circuit, it becomes a stabilizing force for us. It actually gives us joy and pleasure to use it. We experience a heightened sense of being and a feeling of pseudo-intoxication.

And here is the most critical part: These circuits are self-protective.

What I mean by self-protective is that once a circuit is formed, the lover is forced to think in a certain pattern. Any memory, no matter how remotely attached to the main circuit, brings us back to thinking about the object of love. Now, if your relationship is going fine, it gives you joy. On the flip side, if the relationship is not going fine, it would turn into something not so joyful.

This is what happens at break-ups. These self-protective circuits don't want you to destroy them. So they fool you. Lovers often think that thinking bad things about the object of love would cure them. Wrong! Even when you are cursing your object of love, it is acting as a positive stimulus for the main circuit. The safest thing to do is to unplug all stimulii.

And here is the second critical part: These circuits are reversible.

There is one more thing. The object of love dictates the strength of the main circuit. In case of an object that ages with time, the stimulii weaken with it. On the other hand, if the object is divine, the biology of such love is very different altogether.

Mathematics

Mathematics has proven to be the single most important analytical tool devised by the human mind. It has enabled us to calculate masses of tiny particles that we cannot see and trajectories of planets we cannot hold. Pick any science, and you will see mathematics used in it. It is used not only in engineering and physics, but also in biological sciences such as genetics, and in social sciences like economics, and in humanities such as psychology.

The question is why? Why is mathematics so effective?

Let me get to the point. Mathematics is a language. A language that describes the order of the universe. I would like to emphasize that it is the inherent order of the universe which led to mathematics, and not the other way around.

For example, it is a natural occurrence that objects appear in quantities. Numbers were created 'after' we saw varying quantities of different things. We needed to talk about four fingers and one thumb, so we came up with numbers four and one.

Similarly, the ratios in trigonometry, sines and cosines, are second order natural occurrences. Whenever you would measure the sides of a triangle, you would always get the same ratio.

Believe it or not, there is an order in every single thing around us. From the motion of the smallest particles, to the reproduction rate of bacteria, to the market fluctuations, and even in human relationships like romance and flirting!

It just so happens that the language of mathematics falls short of elegant explanatins for more 'human' activities. It is easier to say that someone is 'lazy' or 'nice' than to actually sit down and derive equations for this behavior. Not that it cannot be done. It can be, but it only takes longer and nobody has bothered to do so yet.

Can you imagine the beauty of this order?

Titanic

Most of us liked 'Titanic', the movie. I liked parts of it too. My favorite part was where the hero takes the heroine to the nose of the ship and asks her to do something she had never done before. He asks her to stand right at the tip and spread her arms. She hesitates at first, but eventually gives in. At that point, she realizes what she had been missing all this time. She experiences something that she never knew existed. That leap of faith transforms her and gives her the strength she never knew she had.

The scriptures say that God gave a wooden stick to Moses. God told him to use it in the time of need. Moses did not know how to use it or when to use it, but he took it. When he got back to the town, the Pharoah ordered his sorcerers to beat Moses in what they thought was magic. When the sorcerers threw their snakes in front of Moses, God told moses to throw his wooden stick. He hesitated at first, but then God said, "Fear not." Moses threw the wooden stick in front of the snakes and it turned into a python that ate up other snakes. The sorcerers immediately accepted Moses as the true prophet. They didn't do it because their snakes got eaten by Moses' python, but they saw how scared Moses himself was at his own miracle.

There comes a time in our lives when we have to take a leap of faith, when we are at the crossroads and we are uncertain. Maybe it is the beginning of a new journey. Maybe it will reveal to us a power that we never knew we had.

A great achievement is not when you surprise others. It is when you surprise yourself.

Yoga

Yoga is in folks. I was in LA over the weekend, and there are yoga centers around every corner. Madonna has endorsed yoga. There is a new magazine named 'Yoga'. Its circulation went upto 300,000 from 100,000 last year. People are becoming more and more conscious of their health. There is a food store by the name of 'Whole Foods'. I went there and I think you should check it out too. It has aisles and aisles of organic foods. Low-carb spaghetti imported from Italy and healthy drinks differentiate it from regular grocery stores. Once you step into the store, you feel like cooking healthy food, you imagine yourself running and working out and getting into the shape you always wanted to get into. Atkins is also in. People have made businesses out of selling Atkins-friendly stuff. Not only that, there is also a South Beach Diet, and something else I can't think of at the moment.

What about our souls? Is there a yoga that could make me a better person? Is there a diet that would make my soul strong and curb my materialistic desires?

But why is materialism so bad? What is materialism anyways? Materialism is the name of looking 'only' at our extended and immediate lives, and not worrying about our inner life. See, wanting a healthy body is not materialism. Being able to run 30 minutes every day is not materialism. Wearing good clothes and looking nice is not materialism. Materialism is when you are 'only' concerned with the above, and nothing else.

Being a Punjabi

Punjabis have a unique reputation in the world. We have our own language, our own music, and our own dance. Even though, Bhangra is not a sequence of any co-ordinated movements, but it is some sort of entertainment. You can tell that people are having fun. Which is good enough for Punjabis.

Punjabis are known for their open-heartedness and their straight-forwardness. If they love you, they will make sure that you know this, your dad knows this, your mom knows this, and whoever sits or breathes in your periphery knows this. If they hate you, don't worry, they will tell you that too.

Punjabis are open. Open all the way. As my friend Kasim rejoices the phrase everytime it comes up, "Khullay khao tay nangay nahao". Phrases. Yes, I love punjabi phrases. These phrases encapsulate the wisdom of hundreds of years. They are simple, elegant (I have to think about this one), and to-the-point. Yes, sometimes too to-the-point.

Punjabis have an inherited talent. They can use very crude words with affection. For example, if a punjabi is trying to greet you, he would just say "Oye". If a punjabi thinks you are lying, he would tell you honestly, "Bakwaas bund kar". If he doesn't like you, he'll say, "Fitay Moonh". If a punjabi is proud of you, he'll say, "Ah mera Sher!!". If he is not so proud, he'll say, "Paray mar".

Not to forget that Punjabis are very good at calculus. They take a derivative of every name. If your name is Pervaiz, for example, it will be a simple 'Peja' in Punjabi. An Iqbal would be a 'Bala', and a Rasheed would be a 'Sheeda'. Punjabis also have the equivalent of english names. When a Punjabi says Jaarj Bursh, he is basically trying to refer to George Bush.

The best part about being a punjabi is that we have excellent conflict resolution techniques. Not to mention we are also experts at creating conflicts--but we are looking at the bright side today. No matter how bad the arguement gets, punjabis have a magic phrase that can calm the storm. It evaporates all the turmoil and people go back to normal life. And that is "Mitti pao". Amazing, isn't it?

My favorite? My favorite is when a punjabi makes you really mad, he then uses his best technique to make it over. We call it the J&P technique. See, no matter how mad one gets at a punjabi, all he needs to do is a J&P: A japphi and a pappi. ;)

Group Personalities

Before I forget this, have you ever thought why a story written in Russia a hundred years ago resounds with us? Or why Shakespeare is still alive? You would say, these writings are timeless. But what makes them timeless?

Let me give you an example. Often there are stories and plots that when we see them, we grab them immediately, and are able to predict what is about to happen. An ambitious teacher trying hard to correct her rogue class, while her students are talented but are falling behind because of poverty? Sounds familiar? Immediately, you think of that one special student, thats the toughest to penetrate among the rest, but eventually the teacher will win her heart over?

I bet it sounds familiar. And there are hundreds of other examples. These patterns of social behavior are found not only in literature but also in our daily lives. For example, we all remember the top student in our class. We all remember the hip squad in our class, the ones who were aware of the fashion and knew how to mingle with the opposite sex so well so ahead of time. And then there is always a group of people thats totally clueless. Any bells ringing?

Just like individual personality types, where a person tends to behave in a certain way under given conditions, there exist group personality types. These group personality types exhibit similar patterns of behavior. For example, the eldest child in a family takes charge. He knows he is the leader. The youngest takes life a bit easily. Of course, these are coarse generalizations, and there are always exceptions. But we will see majority of the cases in this way.

My point is, often we get caught up in our 'perceived' role in a group. If we are the eldest, we would keep behaving like that. We would never try to be frivolous like our younger siblings. If we are the mod-squad type, we would always think that thinking and reflection is for the valedictorian type. If we are the valedictorian, we would always think that athletics are for the jocks.

For a day, break away from your 'group personality'. Experience a different life.

Daughters of Eve

Nobody knows what is inside a woman's heart. Is it really so?

I want to find out if women are actually that mysterious. If they are, then why?

My ambition is not an easy one. I have had to reconstruct a lot of my notions about the opposite gender. I began with observing little differences between the two sexes. The first thing that I noticed was that being a guy, I didn't pay too much attention to fashion and how I dressed. Even worse, I expected the same from the women. Wrongo!! Women are a lot more aware of, and sensitive to small things than men. Guys tend to brush over a lot of stuff, but women won't do the same.

Women, by their nature, happen to be a lot more detail-oriented than men. This makes them excel at professions like nursing and teaching. But why is that?

My eyes opened a bit more when one of my friends told me that she would have loved to receive flowers on her graduation ceremony. Flowers? Who wishes for flowers? Guys don't care about flowers. But, women do. Notions of remembering, caring, giving and receiving gifts are a lot stronger in women than in men. Women are much refined sensors of acts of emotions. Ever seen a music video where women are crying in the moshpit and trying to reach the stage? Ever seen a guy doing that? 

The only explanation for this behavior that I can come up with is that women are designed to be mothers. It is because of their detail-orientedness, that they can become excellent trainers of children. They pay attention to everything from their toe-nails to combing their hair. Do you think dads would do that? I don't think so.

The same logic goes behind why women feel higher emotional state than men. Take them in any role, sisters, wives, mothers, and you will see the devotion is much greater than their male counterparts. This emotional strength also plays a role in their motherhood. During the nine months of pregnancy, it is their emotional bonding with the child that helps them go through it. And after the birth, the same emotional bond gives them the strength to stay up late at nights and take care of the new guest.

Could guys do that?

Women experience a heightened sense of emotions. They are detail oriented and are more sensitive to small changes than men.

My research continues...

Hidden Forces

Our collective psyche is representative of the social forces that surround us. A social force is an agent that shapes and controls our behavior. For example, the fear of law-enforcers is a social force. It keeps us from over-speeding and running red lights. Do you really think that other person in that black uniform has any super powers? No. Certainly not. These social forces are embedded in our psyche for higher purposes that are hidden from the naked eye. Aside from their ostensible benefit, social forces often play a crucial role in economics, politics, and other areas.

One social force is fame. The celebrity status. Do you see how powerful that is? We tend to look only at the benefits the celebrity gets out of it. We don't see the flip side. We think of Bill Gates and his billions, but we forget how many jobs his company creates and how it shapes the future to come.
Even if Bill Gates' company drowns tomorrow, it will leave behind it a wealth of technologies and precedents.

Another social force is beauty. Yes, I am talking about the looks. If you looked at it closely, you'll see the wonders of this social force. We still don't have a quantitative measure of attraction, but we all feel it when we experience it. Beauty polarizes the society. It puts more value on one side than the other.

We are not discussing if its fair or not. We are just analyzing what it does.

People love to see pretty faces. They love watching them on the TV or in the movies. What does this do? It creates a force. It creates a demand. What does Hollywood do with this demand? Behind the scenes, entrepreneurs convert this demand into lucrative transactions. Look at how much economy it creates. The filming crew, the marketers, the advertising agencies, the newspapers, the telecom industry, and not to forget, the pretty faces themselves, get benefit from this demand.

We are surrounded by such social forces all the time.

Subject Matter

When we study the universe at a very small scale, where the distances are measured in microns, we call this study, Physics. At this level, all we see is atoms and their constituents like electrons, protons, and neutrons. We come across the dynamics and forces between these particles. We measure their sizes, we try to state their masses, and we determine what forces keep them together. At this level, there is no definition of life. There is only energy.

Change the scale a little bit. We go from atoms, to molecules. Now the distances under study are a bit more than they are in Physics. What we study is molecules, their chains, their complex aggregates, and we call that, Chemistry. Still, life is nowhere to be found.

You get the idea. If we look at the next level up, we would be studying organisms and complex chemicals. We would find ourselves in the realm of Biology. Now, we can talk about something called life.

Towards the other end of the spectrum, we would find sciences like Economics. At the economic level, the scales would change drastically. The objects under study would be masses of people, their groups, their trade, their policies, and their markets.

The fact is that the universe exists as it is. It is us who like to break it down into different domains for our convenience. My point is, that the universe renders itself to such layering. Surprisingly, you don't have to understand how the atoms in your friend's head are spinning if he or she is in a bad mood. You don't need to know physics to mend relationships. You don't need to know mathematics to win people's hearts. You don't have to be an economist to understand the big picture.

Kayaking

Life is like kayaking. Have you ever kayaked? When you push the paddle on the right hand side, your kayak moves a bit to the left in a very small circle. When you push the paddle on the left hand side, your kayak goes a bit to the right in a very small circle. For every right push, you make a left push. This keeps your kayak going in a straight line. Even though, you never go in a straight line.

Life is like that. Sometimes, we make a mistake, and our life gets pushed in one direction. It changes our mood, it makes us remorseful, and it makes us want to quit. But all you have to do, instead of being upset, is to make up for that one small mistake. If you paddled left, paddle right!

Don't be too hard on yourself. Smile. Life is forgiving.

The Four Lives

There is nothing sweeter than understanding. Understanding our society, our culture, our roots, our beginnings and our end. For understanding is what our souls seek. True word is sweeter than the sweetest song.

When we are young, we start learning and understanding the first order concepts--our ABC's and our numbers. From those foundations we jump on to higher-order ideas. They serve as our building blocks. In order to understand a complex phenomenon, we need a framework. We use our fundamental building blocks to create that framework.

From a very high level perspective, we live four lives. Our first life is our infancy. This is when we are totally dependent upon our guardians. They feed us, they bathe us, and they make sure that we don't fall. They teach us how to walk and talk. This life is nothing but utter oblivion. As surprising as it may sound, this phase of life is a major determinant in our personalities to come.

As we grow older, and develop personalities, our lives tend to branch out in three directions. The first is our Extended Life. Extended life refers to elements such as the city we live in, the traffic we face everyday, the restaurants we visit, our weather patterns, the fashions that surround us, etc. For example, a person living in Manhattan has strikingly different extended life than a person living along Amazon in South American jungles. Our extended lives play a role in determining who we are, but only upto a certain extent.

The second branch is Immediate Life. Immediate life refers to our family, our friends, our loved ones, our romantic partners, our co-workers, our homes, our relatives, etc. For example, an orphan living in a foster home has a very different immediate life than a child that has six siblings and loving parents. Besides food and the basic needs, we need love more than anything else. We may not realize it, or admit it, but we do. It is our immediate surroundings that provide us with love. For no matter how beautiful a city you live in, if you are alone, it doesn't make a difference. Hence, immediate life is a bigger determinant of who we are than the extended.

The third branch, the one often overlooked, is our Inner Life. The inner life refers to our spirituality, our faith, our soul, and the truth. Shockingly, a very small number of people pay attention to this reservoir of peace and energy. Partly, it is because there is little guidance to our inner lives. We see Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer talking about our selves, we read Rumi and Hafez, we read Jung discussing self-realization, we know about whirling dervishes, but spirituality remains nebulous to us. Nothing is a bigger determinant of our personalities than how well connected we are to our true selves.

In fact, it is in the pursuit of our Inner Life wherein lies peace and tranquility.

In the beginning

I hate to copy the idea, but the fact is that this world is a matrix. A huge matrix. A matrix made up of people. People being you and I, who in turn are huge matrices within ourselves. We are in the middle of two infinties. On the outside, we are part of an overwhelmingly large system, and in the inside, we carry our own universes. This is what differentiates a scientist from a mystic. A scientist dives into the world that's outside of us, and explores the external matrix. A mystic, a sufi, a dervish, or a lover, dives in the world within himself and faces the infinite matrix within him.