ONE PROBLEM – MANY SOLUTIONS!
There was a joke I received on the SMS a few days back. It goes something like this – a father asks his son why he had failed his Maths test. The son replies , “Dad, sometimes the teacher says 1 + 7 =8. sometimes she says 2+6=8, sometimes she says 3+5=8 and sometimes she says 4+4=8. Dad, when she herself does not know, how can she teach me?” Well, on reading the joke I laughed at the innocence and foolishness of the child – as – I am sure – u – the reader must also have reacted on reading it. But then this joke set me thinking. We being more learned than the child, know for certain that the teacher is indeed right and find the child to be stupid who cannot understand that all those combination of numbers give the same answer and that all these equations are actually correct. The point that I am trying to make is that if such an exact science as Mathematics can have various combinations to reach the same truth – then – why not in the case of other things in the not-so-exact situations in this world! In this world different people can have different perspectives of looking at a situation or happening depending on their particular natures, experiences, personal likes and dislikes etc. But we, who are not so wise and do not know the Ultimate Truth, behave like the child and feel that there should be only one solution or perspective to a particular thing or situation To top it, since each one feels that only their perspective/solution/point of view is right, we start fighting among ourselves. But the wise people know the real Truth and thus know that one person’s perspective is as right/wrong as that of the next man. His wisdom tells him that each one of us is right/wrong in our own way. They acknowledge that different people see/understand the same things differently, because ultimately it is a question of the angle from which one is viewing a particular thing/situation (afterall if we close our left eye and observe a particular setting, and then close the right eye and observe the same setting, you will observe a slight shift in the alignment of things in that particular setting – you can verify this for yourself!!!).
Thus if we all listened to our higher selfs, we would realize that just like the Maths problem has different combination of numbers to reach the same answer, so also there are various ways of viewing and solving life’s problems – and they are all correct! This would make us live with an ‘all-inclusive’ attitude rather than the ‘all-exclusive’ attitude which has caused only fights, wars and blood-shed – and no real solution to any problems. When instead of hating, being jealous or angry with one another, we would live in peace, love and harmony – then we would slowly graduate to accessing higher and higher knowledge – rather than like the child in the joke who got confused and ultimately failed his exam!
Dr. Poonam Mehra

WIDE ANGLE LENS OR ZOOM LENS?

If you want to appreciate the beauty of the valley, you have to climb the mountain, but if you want to observe the intricacies of the beauty of a flower, you have to look at the flower from close quarters. So also in life, sometimes we need to look at things closely and at other times we need to take a holistic view of things and take decisions keeping in view the larger picture. To explain a little more let me take the example of Heisenberg’s Principle postulated in Modern Physics. This principle states that simultaneously the velocity and position of an electron cannot be measured accurately. If its velocity is known accurately then its position cannot be pinpointed accurately and vice versa. If you do try to take both the readings simultaneously – you will end up with not very accurate figures for either velocity or position of the electron – but you will get a fairly accurate picture of how the electron moves! Similarly in life one cannot understand the larger picture if one looks at things too closely – but so also the smaller irritants become inconsequential if one tries to view the larger picture of life. In life one has to try to keep a balance of focus so that one knows when to give importance to finer details and when to overlook the little things and take action keeping the larger picture in mind. If one is too focused on only the larger picture, one forgets to enjoy and appreciate the beauty in the small little things in day-to-day living – one forgets to be in the present moment – to feel its pain or its happiness – and – life becomes monotone. On the other hand, if one is too focused on each and every small happening, one tends to become too critical and thus loses sight of the larger picture and thus fails to admire its overall beauty – the life literally becomes akin to a roller coaster ride with no time to relax. Ultimately one has to remember that every small leaf – even the one which when looked at from closer range appears to be at an odd angle or may be discoloured - even that odd-angled or discoloured leaf adds beauty and dimension and colour to the entire picture!!!!!
So keep zooming in and zooming out in life – that’s what makes life more enjoyable - more interesting - more remarkable – more livable!!!!!!
Dr. Poonam Mehra