Thursday, December 17, 2009

It's time to think

There are many things we just accept as they are. Never ever do we give a thought, as to why so and so thing takes place? We have a self-coined answer for the question. Gradually we convince ourselves. Later we make them our perceptions, and forget to ponder over the truthfulness of it.
I'll tell you few examples of some common perceptions we usually make and forget to think about.

*Ever imagined why the keys of the keyboard are in such haphazard fashion, particularly in the QWERTY style? You think you have an answer, don't you? And probably the answer is- because it makes typing easy. Well, the reality is that this style was initiated to actually make typing difficult, so that the keys don't get damaged easily. Did this ever occur to you? May be yes, may be not. Well, let me tell you another of common wrong perception.
I was surfing through Wikipedia yesterday, and had a chance to clear another of my misconception. Jesus Christ! Oh, that wasn't just the exclamation. That was actually the misconception I was talking about. As per the meaning, as some of you might already know, it should have been popularly known as Christ Jesus, i.e. the anointed one Jesus (covered in oil / pure one). And yes, Christ is not the surname of Jesus, as some of you might be thinking.(I actually thought that :D). What I wanted to point out is that- we hear things, we see things, we accept them and never give a thought as to why they occur in a particularly fashion. Had we been that inquisitive, numerous wrong perceptions in the history would have been solved well before they actually got. No wonder it took 1700 Anno Domini to realize that apples fall on ground ;)
Had the people not been self-convinced, no sentences would have been given by the church when postulates regarding sun-centered solar system or regarding roundness of Earth were proposed. There might be numerous cases around us still waiting to be discovered, but we are unaware of them. Why? Because we just don't seem to have time. Some are busy with jobs, some with exams, some with playing. Who has time to wait and think on simple concepts? And why should it really affect one's life? Would it have mattered, had I continued to believe that Christ is Jesus's surname? Would it have mattered, had I believed that Earth was flat? Apart from lowering my G.K. score, which actually is of little use in my stream; I would have had a perfect normal life. Had I been a strong self-convinced person, I could have lead my life actually inventing new polymers (if at all I do that) and devising new synthesis procedures, and it wouldn't even have occurred to me that my perceptions were wrong. That's one reason, people so busy with their own lives hardly ever pay attention to life around them. Apples had been falling over for hell knows how many years, but went unnoticed until 1700. And the man who noticed the falling apples, became a name in the book you and your 1700 generations would remember. Things had been floating and sinking for billions of centuries, but was noticed by just one name. And that name since 212BC floated through the pages of physics and history.
The world is doing inventions. Bombs are made, clones are designed, extraterrestrials are explored. Yet,the most fundamental and simplest things might be still craving to be discovered. Aha! Neither the apple-man, nor the buoyancy man received a noble prize, but you my friend still have the chance :)
Just be alert, be questioning, and who knows, you might find your name in my books too.. ;) lol

Wish karo, dis karo (discovery karo...) :D

*(The first example is taken from 'Veronika Decides To Die')

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

brilliant post...something i ws waiting for a while nw...
though certain aspect of it i'd definitely want to argue bout wid u...
did u also know tht jesus is a mispronunciation(nt technically) of the original name "Yeshua/Yeshwa"?
also, do u know the how of surnames?? not why, mind you..lyk hw did da mc donalds and the o'connors came bout?
word verification for this post is "parth"...hmmm interesting...u hindus have a legendary figure by tht name, aint tht right?

Andy said...

...
word verification ws baredi for me...hunh!!

KP said...

Nice post.. But I have a question..
"Question what?"

At some point everyone has to make a hypothesis and believe in that. Even Newton was finally proved wrong. (By Einstein-who else..)

And Einstein has also took the assumption that 'c' is constant. What if it turns out to be wrong?
Dalton's theory was wrong about atom and Schrodinger's has no proof..
Besides, do you think people like Warren Buffet asked the que. like those.. Need we find the most fundamental questions?

And if so then isn't the most basic, fundamental and needful question is- "Why do we exist?"
So, I think our ancestors were ahead than us, maybe..

That's all.. varna ye comment ki jagah post ho jaayega.. :D Maybe ho bhi gaya.. Cheers..

PS-Mine verification word is 'absype'. Does it mean anything?

Rajeev said...

are i am not asking u to believe in 1 hypothesis or so...what am asking is more basic..
just be clear of the facts happening around u...
dats why i never asked u to do what schrodnger did eh?
falling of an apple cud have been spotted by any, sinking or floating of bodies was another very basic observation....
am nt asking to invent new things..
just look for whats happening and question anything u dnt understand..
hmm and warren buffet?? nice point though...
thats exactly it..
for u to get money or get fame, there is no need to ask any question!! And thats why ppl dnt bother...
buffet dint, maybe kp wont....and who knws u wud still be a billionaire..
i guess everythng's connected..as for questn of existence...why just ask..seek answer for it..
u hav a questn bt u wnt search for it and wait for others to find out..why???
u can stroll arnd, hav fun arnd, yet wnt satisfy or even search fr sumthing u have a doubt in????????????????????
ur ancestors were nt ahead of u they were just more inquisitive...
just think..
and yes this was nt a rply to kp...it was a general reply..go on light that tiny bulb