Continue reading »]]> This TED talk recorded in July 2011, by Richard Wilkinson, provides compelling research data (from UN and World Bank) on how income inequality within rich and developed countries (particularly USA) damage societies along many dimensions. According to his data, Singapore, USA and Portugal are the top three countries with biggest gap between rich and the poor (richest 20% than compared to the poorest 20%).

The countries plotted in per listed social attributes; USA is almost off the chart!

Here are the social attributes that are used in the index. A few may need some explanation.

• Life expectancy — certain rich countries like USA have one of the lowest life expectancy! Japan that rates average in terms of income, has a very high life expectancy. As one would expect, within a society, rich people enjoy a higher life expectancy than the poor.
• Math and literacy
• Infant mortality
• Homicides
• Imprisonment — number of incarcerated people as well as the harshness of the sentences
• Teenage births
• Trust — proportion of the population who agree that most people can be trusted
• Obesity
• Mental illness — includes drug & alcohol addiction
• Social mobility — whether rich parents have rich children and poor parents have poor children

On each of these attributes and social ills, countries with more income inequality (e.g. USA, UK, Portugal) do worse than those with less income inequality (e.g. Scandinavian countries such as Denmark Sweden, and Japan).

Sadly, USA scores worst time and again on most of the items in the list. In fact USA is at times off the chart compared to other countries! As Wilkinson says, “if Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark!” It is a 15 minute must-see talk. I have embedded the video here:

One of the key findings in this research as Wilkinson points out is: The average well-being of our societies is not dependent on any longer on national income or economic growth. That’s very important in the poorer countries but not in the rich developed world. But the difference between us and where we are in relation to each other now matter very much.

Another important point is that these social issues in rich unequal countries, also impact the rich adversely. If you are rich in such a society, you are not immune of these issues. You cannot isolate yourself.

Richard Wilkinson is a public health researcher, co-author of The Spirit Level, and co-founder of The Equality Trust, a non-profit aiming to reduce income inequality. He has also done this research on the 50 states of US and presents findings from that work as well.

This piece is based on my post on Tumblr from Oct. 2011.

Continue reading »]]> I came across excerpts of an interview with Woody Allen (and Owen Wilson) about Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s wonderful 2011 romantic comedy, for which he won an Oscar for the best original screenplay. Midnight in Paris is the story of a Hollywood writer, Gil (played by Owen Wilson, essentially playing a younger Woody Allen) on vacation in Paris with his fiance. Gil who’s having trouble writing his book, is in search of that elusive happiness. He falls in love with Paris and as he drifts away from his fiance, he starts fantasizing about Paris in 1920s. Somehow every night after midnight, he ends up hanging out and partying with the literary and artistic greats of the early 20th century such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, among others, in the Parisian cafes and lounges of 1920s.

In this interview Woody Allen expresses his views about life, happiness and love, which is a must for everyone to hear. His brutal honesty along with his apparent awkward body language is what makes him such a genius of comedy and film. He’s an original. You can see the clip below.

Here are some excerpts which I have transcribed from the video:

I am not happy that I’m here but I wouldn’t be happy there either, because I am not happy in general. So whenever I lived I would be unhappy. Life itself is a very unhappy experience. So it really doesn’t matter when you lived. The cosmetics change but the problems remain the same…

And on love he says:

That is a commercial cliche. I don’t think love is the answer to all the problems at all. Love is a nice part of life; it’s one part of life. So is baseball; so is BBQ chicken…Love is one of the nice distractions from the brutality of life. But it certainly doesn’t answer all the questions or many of them even…But in movies and fiction, when you say love is the answer and love will conquer all, people like to hear that. So they buy tickets.

I couldn’t agree with him more. Go see the film and be happy for the time being.

This piece is based on a note I originally published on my Tumbr here.

Continue reading »]]> It was raining hard when I left the bar late night. After a fairly long and warm summer, the Fall had finally arrived with the first rain of the season. I paused and contemplated for a moment by the door…it’s uncomfortable to get wet. I had intentionally parked my car fairly far earlier that eve to make myself walk. I started walking — down Montgomery, passed the pyramid and onto Washington. I could feel the big drops on my head. But after the initial discomfort and chill, it actually felt good.

Painting by Marek Langowski

As a friend said, “some people just get wet, others feel it.” I felt it, and it was good. Walking in the rain late night in the quiet streets of San Francisco, a city that I love. I was in the moment. I felt present, a moment of clarity and content. Then I had a revelation. I couldn’t remember the last time I had really walked in the rain — one of those simple pleasures in life (though it may be uncomfortable or inconvenient) that I hardly make time for; or even if I do, I hardly notice it because my mind is wandering about so many other things.

I had to check and see if the 1000 Awesome Things had anything about walking in the rain. Not exactly but there is plenty about rain — its sound, smell and getting caught in the rain. Close enough. Well it’s time to take notice and enjoy such simple moments in life. We have limited time here, some of us more so than others. Don’t waste your precious time on regrets and complaints.

References: artist profile, image

Continue reading »]]> What happened

So US finally got Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the dreaded Al Qaeda, a militant Islamic organization potentially responsible for a number of deadly terror attacks on US and Western interests over the past 15 years including 9/11, that caused the death of over 3,000 Americans and destroyed the Twin Towers in NY.

Apparently US found his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan months ago and had been planning a strike. They said Osama had been living there in a big house with his youngest wife, a daughter, a son, and a few others. In a secret operation named Geronimo, 24 US Navy SEALs (short for Sea, Air, Land), US’s elite killing machines stormed bin Laden’s compound with helicopters and killed him, his son, and others. His wife was injured. Then they took his body (whatever was left of it) and oddly enough within a few hours dumped it in the sea, claiming to give him an Islamic sea burial! The details are not really of interest to me here. There is more than enough news about every little details of it.

Based on some evidence from the compound (e.g. computer, video recorder, TV, tapes — things that you may find in any household) they are now claiming that he was actually still involved in the Al Qaeda operation. It is hard to imagine that living in hiding with a wife and kids, and limited communication means, he could have much of involvement in the Al Qaeda operations. However, the picture below captured from a video that was recently released, shows bin Laden in what appears to be his command center, supposedly planning more evil!

9/11 and Islamic extremism

There is no doubt that 9/11 was evil and a dark moment in the history of our civilization. Our world (I dare say for everyone) has been a worse place since, in more ways than one. I am glad that bin Laden is now dead. Even years before bin Laden and Al Qaeda, radical Islamic ideas in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution and the establishment of a radical Islamic government in Iran (that still rules the country) adversely impacted millions of Iranians including me. So I am absolutely against the Islamic extremism and acts of terror against innocent civilians.

Celebrating the kill

Crowd celebrating bin Laden’s killing near White House, M. B. Ceneta, AP

But ever since the news of bin Laden’s killing came out on May 1, many Americans have been rejoicing and celebrating his death, as this in a way is a victory against terrorism. People even gathered in Ground Zero and around White House to celebrate it. See the photo to the left. For some this may seem like closing the chapter on 9/11, because US finally killed supposedly the one responsible for it. Yes, revenge is sweet.

NPR in a recent piece titled “Is it Wrong to Celebrate Bin Laden’s Death?“, discusses whether such celebrations are a good idea from a moral, spiritual and philosophical standpoint. According to the piece, even the Catholic Church has an issue with it, and one minister is quoted saying that such street celebrations were not among our “finest moment as Americans”.

For a whole week now the media has been feeding on this news like piranhas on bloody flesh. They are trumpeting it round the clock with all the gory details, the SEALs who carried out the amazing operation, the secret modified helicopters that they used (one of which was destroyed), and much detail of little value; e.g. bin Laden was coloring his beard (wow, really?!), he had video recording equipment, his wife was living on the 2nd (or 3rd?) floor of the compound, the operation name was Geronimo (or was that the nickname for Osama?), blah blah.

I can’t bear watching CNN, let alone FOX’s propaganda. I have even been disappointed with the liberal and more honest TV talk shows such as “The Colbert Report” and “Real Time with Bill Maher”. Maher referred to President Obama as a “black ninja gangsta president”. Nice!

Officials and politicians (especially Democrats) have been congratulating each other and milking the story to the extent possible to their advantages, joining the frenzy giving credit to President Obama. While Republicans seem to attribute all the credit to the armed forces with no mention of President Obama in a positive light. So the dirty politics in lieu of the celebration continues. But of course the officials are more careful than the common public, noting that this is not over yet. Oh, no sir! We’re gonna keep at it till “terrorism” is eliminated. Right.

Someone wrote that the celebration is justified because it is not just the death of a single man. That bin Laden symbolized a tyrannical ideology, so killing him is a win against tyranny. I don’t necessarily care about the death of an evil man. Perhaps he deserved that ending. But what really concerns me about all this cheering and gloating is that in a way for Americans it is a justification of US’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that caused massive destruction and deaths of well over 100,000 civilians. That was absolutely wrong from day one and it still is. Unfortunately, the broader implication of all this celebration is public support of US’s predatory foreign policy. I can imagine that US Navy now has a surge of young applicants who want to become SEALs, like the ones who killed bin Laden.

I just can’t help but wonder if a cure for cancer or HIV that could save millions of lives, would receive this much attention and coverage. Sadly probably not. That could even be an issue for the pharmaceutical companies as it could cut into their profits!

Killing bin Laden and all this celebration: bad idea

Now I hate to be raining on people’s parade. I don’t want to take away from the courageous acts of the Navy SEALs who endangered their lives. I don’t want to bring up the unanswered questions such as potential ties of Saudi royal family to 9/11, various conspiracy theories, and the lack of hard evidence tying certain terror attacks to bin Laden or Al Qaeda. Actually let’s assume that they committed all the heinous crimes that are attributed to them. I just want to focus on a few basic facts.

US created Al Qaeda

First off, let’s not forget that initially CIA funded and trained bin Laden and his group starting in 1988 to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. US money funneled through Pakistani Intelligence Agency (ISI) created Al Qaeda. There are plenty of resources that discuss this in detail. It wasn’t till later that Al Qaeda turned its aim towards the hand that was feeding it.

Cost of bin Laden in trillions

Second, take a look at the expense that we have accrued in killing bin Laden. It took some work. In fact it took a lot — two major wars that still aren’t quite done, many thousands of lives, millions injured or made refugees, and  trillions of dollars, over a span of 10 years. Let’s look at some specifics. There are many sites that track the Iraq and Afghanistan casualties such as icasualties.org, which as of this writing reports 4,770 documented coalition forces deaths (4,457 Americans) in Iraq, and 2,445 (1,572 Americans) in Afghanistan. Antiwar.com lists the total wounded Americans in Iraq alone at more than 33,000! Now that is all just Americans. IraqBodyCount.org puts the civilian deaths in Iraq alone at around 110,000!! Wikipedia details the civilian casualties in Afghanistan here, which puts it at more than 20,000 from 2001 to 2009!! That is about 130,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan so far, more than 43 times the 3,000 who died in 9/11.

The article, “The cost of bin Laden: $3 trillion over 15 years” from the National Journal provides a rough cost of the terror attacks attributed to bin Laden, including 9/11 which according to estimates from economists cost us $50 B to $100 B. Yes, that is huge. But it also provides the estimates of the the invasions of and wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, which has apparently cost us $1.4 trillion so far. That is $100 B times 14!

“Those two wars grew into a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign that cost $1.4 trillion in the past decade—and will cost hundreds of billions more. The government borrowed the money for those wars, adding hundreds of billions in interest charges to the U.S. debt.”

Now we also have a huge economic crisis on our hand on top of the terrorism problem. What a waste! So much good we could’ve done with that money…education, healthcare, R&D, jobs, perhaps even helping the poor in the third world.

But wait! These wars aren’t bad news for everyone. There are of course American companies that made huge profits from these invasions. Companies like Dick Cheney’s Halliburton that US government just handed off contracts to without proper bidding, have made billions from the Iraq war.

An eye for an eye

Third, it is the whole idea of an attack or invasion on a sovereign state (though supposedly an ally, Pakistan) and carrying out a political assassination. As the great Noam Chomsky writes in a recent piece titled “My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death“, such an invasion and assassination is “multiply violating elementary norms of international law”. Eluding to the war crimes that George W. Bush committed in invading Iraq and Afghanistan, which as Chomsky points out, “vastly exceeds bin Laden’s”, he offers this perspective:

“We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic.”

Now that is a sobering thought. We are so used to being the superpower bullying the rest of the world that we cannot even imagine it. Such an incident could trigger a nuclear war! But that is precisely what US just did to Pakistan and bin Laden. As journalist and author Chris Hedges points out in this insightful interview, Osama was murdered: “He was unarmed and should’ve been brought to trial in the same way that monsters like Slobodan Milosevic were brought to trial…That is what it should be about — the rule of law, due process…We have become the monsters that we fight…killing for killing, an eye for an eye.”

And then we celebrate the killing by pouring into the streets and bragging about it. That sure is a good display of empathy, diplomacy and a step towards eliminating “terrorism”. There are already a few new clips of armed Taliban or Al Qaeda members protesting against the US and promising retaliation. So the vicious cycle continues.

A dying nation?!

It is clear that this story isn’t going to have a happy ending. As Hedges says in the same interview, “That is why we are dying as an empire, that is why we are dying as a nation, because we have cut off the capacity for empathy. We have elevated the cult of the self above and beyond everything else.”

Continue reading »]]> So do you want to live to be a centenarian? What does it take to live a long, healthy life and potentially reach 100? No smoking? Healthy diet? Lots of hard work at the gym? Or perhaps being from one of the “Blue Zones” (longevity hot spots around the world) such as Okinawa Island in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, or Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, is the secret, whatever happens to be the reasons for people’s longevity in those regions.

Active lifestyle, and healthy possibly vegetable based diet may help you live longer. But those may not get you to 100 by themselves. In fact most of us will not get that far no matter how hard we try. Unusual longevity often is genetic. There are people who have lived to be 120 or higher. You can read up on a few of them here. Recently NPR reported of Helen Reichert, a 109 year old chocolate truffle eating, beer drinking, ex smoker who is still living a quality life.

However, in addition to genetics, according to her doctor, gerontologist Mark Lachs, the key to such longevity is an important trait called “adaptive competence”, which translates to dealing effectively with life’s setbacks and stress. It is the ability to “bounce back from life’s curveballs” as Dr. Lachs told AOL on the same story. He adds, “people with adaptive competence seem to have physiological and psychological reserves that enable them to move forward.” Such setbacks may be many things such as medical, financial, divorce, or death of a loved one.

The experts also mention two other traits that help with longevity: sense of humor and having a strong social network. By the same token those who are pessimists and whine a lot, will most likely experience shorter life spans with poorer quality and more health problems.

Well, remember to keep a more positive outlook on life, complain and whine less, be happy and enjoy your short while here. That may just help you make your life a bit better and longer. Now this is easier said than done for the pessimists among us. I know, because I am one. But that is a topic for another post that I will cover later.

Continue reading »]]> It was late afternoon on Sunday Feb. 13, 2011. I was driving to Palo Alto to meet a friend to go to a concert in Stanford University. I was on the beautiful hilly segment of Highway 84 off of 680 heading west. Suddenly I heard a very loud BANG on my side window right near my head. Something sizable slammed into the window and it was so fast that I didn’t see anything. It caught off me guard. For a moment I thought the window broke but it was fine. I slowed down and looked in the rear view mirror and noticed something on the road so I turned around.

It was a big hawk! He had just taken a kamikaze style dive into my car. I assume my car got on his way of reaching a prey on the ground, unless he was going for my head! Regardless things certainly could have gotten quite ugly if I had my window open. I stopped on the narrow shoulder and got off the car. He seemed unconscious at first but he slowly started moving. He was definitely injured. One of his wings didn’t look quite right. The road wasn’t busy; only a couple of cars passed and I waved to make sure they don’t run him over. Then he got up and hopped to the side of the road. I don’t think he could fly any more. He sat there and just stared at me — injured, but still very alert, laser sharp focus, proud and intimidating.

A hawk that took a dive into my car

I wanted to help him but didn’t know how. I called 911; they said they couldn’t do much. I thought of somehow picking him up and taking him to an animal hospital. But I wasn’t sure how to handle him and I didn’t think it would be safe to ride with him, even if I could manage to get him into my car. Friends tell me that I should have called Animal Control which I think I also tried but couldn’t get a live person on the phone. I am not sure if I had the right number.

It was a strange and unfortunate incident that will stay with me. I can’t forget his piercing look right into my eyes and camera as I took a couple of shots of him. I feel some guilt for interrupting his hunt and foremost not being able to help him. I hope he made it. I have a lot of respect and love for nature and the wildlife. Ever since this accident that sentiment is even stronger.

Continue reading »]]> On August 5th 2010 a “cave-in” accident in the San Jose copper-gold mine near Copiapo, Chile trapped and buried 33 Chilean miners 700 meters or 2,300 ft (almost half a mile) underground below the Atacama desert. On October 13, after 69 days, all 33 miners were safely rescued and brought to surface while reportedly almost a billion people around the globe watched the rescue operation live on TV. It was an inspirational story of survival that deservedly got a worldwide coverage and attention. Boston.com published a series of photos from the rescue operation from various sources that captures some of the sensitive and emotional moments.

Chilean miners rescue

The rescue operation was a notable one in more ways than one: it was the result of a successful coordination and collaboration of experts and companies from several countries, in part due to the willingness and openness of Chile’s government to ask for help. Resources, expertise and machinery came in from USA (e.g. NASA), Canada and Australia. In terms of technology and engineering it was also quite a feat. Strata 950 drilling machine, of which there are only five in the world, and one happened to be in Chile was utilized. A 13 ton drilling machine was brought in from USA. And special rescue capsules, named Fenix (after the mythological bird, Phoenix) were designed and built by the Chilean navy and NASA that were used to bring the 33 miners to the surface one by one.

But more intriguing than the rescue operation was the aspiration and will of the 33 men to survive and live. Their endurance, tenacity, emotional and mental strength to not lose it and last almost 70 days buried half a mile deep in earth — living on only a table spoon of tuna or salmon and half a glass of milk a day, and drinking oil contaminated water — and their humanity to co-exist and cooperate, are all admirable.

What was even more remarkable was the leadership of their 54 year old shift supervisor, Luis Urzua, who turned out to be a lot more than just a supervisor on paper. He exhibited true leadership skills, rationing food, holding regular meetings and having the men vote on various decisions, giving men strength and hope, and more. As a symbolic gesture, like a sinking ship’s captain, he was also the last one to be rescued. His accomplishment and leadership skills have been covered elsewhere at some detail. For example, see “Luis Urzua: Chile’s underground leader” by Jena McGregor in the Washington Post. In “Chilean Miners: Leadership Lessons from Luis Urzua”, Kathy Kristof explores the key characteristics of a great leader such as Urzua — reputation, teamwork, focus, discipline, shared credit, and higher purpose.

The humble Urzua takes less credit than is attributed to him. In the first interview after the rescue with Guardian.co.uk, he cites democracy as the secret to keeping it going. Apparently they held regular meetings and voted on every decision, where they’d need 16+ votes to pass it. It couldn’t have possibly been all that simple and easy though. As another miner points out in the same article, “There was the waiting for death, the hopelessness, the petty squabbles and the nagging, unspoken fear of cannibalism.” That is only natural. It couldn’t be otherwise. Regardless, they somehow managed to pull through and make it against all odds.

I was inspired to hear about the rescue operation and the important role that Luis Urzua played in this ordeal. For one, I was happy for the 33 men and their families. It is a celebration of human spirit. It is also a kind of event that brings people of the world closer to each other as it helps us realize our common humanity and makes us more tolerant of our differences. Many of us probably learned a thing or two about Chile and its people in the process. Maybe some of us will even plan to go visit Chile and the Atacama desert because of this event. I certainly want to do that. And next time we meet a Chilean in our home country we may take time to have a conversation with him or her because of this event.

Past the remarkable rescue operation, I appreciate and admire the physical and mental strength of the men and their unselfish leader for their survival. I remember the few times when I faced danger under difficult and uncertain circumstances. It is not easy to deal with:

• There was the 4-day long ordeal of being smuggled out of Iran through Kurdistan a few years after the 1979 revolution. In my teenage mind I had thought I was tough and a good mountaineer. But just three days of hiking and horseback riding in the mountains of Kurdistan in Western Iran near the border of Turkey with Kurdish smugglers, while hiding from the Iranian army and border security, lack of sleep, the cold and the uncertainly … and the panic set it. I made it through and got to Istanbul five days later, but I was weak and scared.
• A few years ago over Christmas holidays, while on a drive to a ski resort with friends on a mountainous back road in Canada, our car skidded out of control on black ice and almost went into a deep drop, had it not been for a small bank of icy snow on the side of the narrow road. We got stuck on the icy road overnight till help arrived in the early hours of morning. It was pretty scary. I remember I complained a lot regretting my decision to go to Canada for holidays, while a friend managed to keep his calm and even crack some jokes.

Not cool. I think if I were to participate in the TV reality show Survivor, I’d be one of the first to get voted off! The story of brave men surviving for almost 70 days, 2,300 ft under ground, puts me to shame. I am spoiled: I grew up in a loving family. I have had a good education and decent jobs in good companies, certainly no shortage of opportunities. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, probably one of the best places in the world in many ways for someone like me. I have traveled extensively. I am fairly healthy. I have good friends, … I have had it easy.

There are just too many beautiful sunny days in California, and yet there are days when I feel I have a hard time getting through them, regretting past mistakes, and being negative and unhappy about petty things, and my life in general. It is as if I am doing just the opposite of what the Chilean miners did, digging myself deep into the ground. I should be thankful.

Continue reading »]]> I moved from Orange County (OC) back to the San Francisco Bay Area last month. It was a painful experience with all the back and forth, packing, dealing with the movers and their hidden and unexpected costs, and the unpacking that in my case may never be complete. For a single guy, I just have way too much stuff:

• Several hundred books, of all genres, many of which I have only partially read or not read at all; text books going all the way back to my undergrad courses. I checked one online and mine is seven editions behind the latest!
• Hundreds of original CDs with their cases but many mismatched and some damaged.
• Postcards and letters from friends and ex’s from ions ago. You can tell how old they are as I don’t think people nowadays write love letters any more, let alone hand-written ones.
• Hundreds of business cards from leads, customers, partners, acquaintances, restaurants, cafes and bars from all over.
• More than one thousand paper photos (from the analog photography days) in tens of big fat heavy albums.
• Clothes that I have not worn in years, shirts, shoes, ties, and vests from the 90s and a few even from the 80s. Not really wearable any more unless I want to get laughed at and be ridiculed. My only hope was that one of these years they might make good Halloween costumes!
• Dishes, silverware, glassware, etc. to feed and entertain 20 people. I have about 30 wine and champagne glasses. As I was packing, I broke a few plates and glasses. It was not intentional but I certainly didn’t mind getting rid of a few pieces.
• Souvenirs from friends and from my own travel around the world — from Osaka and Kyoto to Perth and Adelaide, from Tehran and Isfahan to Istanbul and Izmir, from Berlin and Munich to Barcelona, from Rome and Florence to Paris and Nice, from Brussels and Bruges to Geneva, from Amsterdam to London, from New York and Miami to San Francisco and San Diego, from Montreal to Vancouver, from St. Maarten and Cancun to Cabo San Lucas to Kauai and Maui, … to name a few.

As I looked at the piles of my books, titles such as Complexity and Chaos stood out!

A friend of mine recently told me that I was a collector; “collector of many things”, she said, “even friends and ex-girlfriends”! She said that I had a story for every item, an emotional attachment which prevented me from letting go of it. I never thought of it that way but I think she may be onto something.

On this post I am only focusing on the physical and material things which are more obvious since they take space, and can weigh a lot. But in the digital world thinking about my 100,000+ emails going back to 1995, 5,000+ digital photos, and the thousands of connections, friends and followers that I have across various social networks, I certainly am a collector. I covered the digital stuff at length in an article on my TekTrends blog, Digital Footprint and Virtual Social Influence, a few months back. But at least the digital stuff doesn’t take that much visible space and thanks to software tools, it is much easier to organize and manage.

Now had I been an organized person and maintained the material collections in a manageable fashion, it would not be so bad. But I am not. I am a mess and I think I’ve only gotten worse in the recent years. My life is cluttered and in chaos.

In May 1995, shortly after I moved from New Jersey to California, I went to see an apartment for rent in Los Gatos, a suburb of San Jose. A distinguished older gentleman who was moving out, was selling his furniture. He was a Sean Connery look alike with the voice of Garrison Keillor. He seemed worldly, wise and experienced. He must have been in his 60s. I was happy to get his solid wood cal king bedroom set with its mattress for only $75! And he sure was happy to get rid of it. He even offered me additional things virtually for free. But the thing that stayed with me all these years was his comment that at some point in your life you reach a point when you want to simplify things. He added that I was young and still collecting stuff but I would understand what he said when I got older.

Now it is years later and I finally fully appreciate what that man told me back in 1995. For some time now I’ve felt the burden of the excessive and often outdated and useless material things that I have accumulated over the years. But this last move was the turning point for me. I can’t take it any more. I have decided to cut down.

However, it is going to take some work and discipline. I got rid of a few boxes of stuff during my move, but that barely put a dent in my belongings. My attempt to give up on a lot of other things failed. Somehow I felt compelled to still hang on to them. But I am determined to get rid of more stuff. Recently my friend who diagnosed me with being a “collector”, helped me sort out through piles of clothes and fill up 2-3 boxes to give away. It is a liberating feeling to do that. As a friend put it, “there is a lightness and a sense of freedom that comes with simplicity.”

I have also decided to stop buying and collecting things I don’t really need. This part is not so hard. Despite my earlier interest in shopping (which pleased many of my female friends) nowadays I barely shop. In fact I can’t even stand going into a mall any more. Whenever I see a mall, I think of what the great American comedian, author and social critic, George Carlin said, that we stole this land from the native Indians and Mexicans and turned it into one big *%^$ shopping mall! The US economy to a large part is based on people like me being sucker consumers and buying stuff — often on credit. Well, sorry Uncle Sam, no more. I’ve already done more than my share. It is time to cut down and lighten up my life’s load.

This article is primarily on the physical, material and tangible things in one’s life. But needless to say that many of us could benefit from cutting down on the emotional and mental baggage from our past that we carry with us. Clearing and cleansing one’s mind is partly what I mean by unmind — the name of this blog — as I wrote about it here earlier. But to unmind is a far bigger challenge than throwing physical junk out. It may require authenticity, deep spirituality, discipline, a lot of training, meditation, and confronting and overcoming your deepest fears, to attain it. Most of us never quite get there.

Continue reading »]]> It is June 2010. The gigantic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been pouring over 60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for over two months — a colossal environmental disaster that will impact the ecosystem and the wildlife in the region for many years to come. It is noteworthy that this disaster is brought to you by none other than BP (British Petroleum), a multinational oil corporation that has its hands bloodied (and oily!) with exploitations around the world including Iran, for well over half a century. Please see my article on the 1953 coup in Iran.

The other big global event that has got world’s attention over the last few weeks is of course World Cup 2010 in South Africa, which has plenty of excitement, upsets and drama of its own.

So while the media and much of the world have been focusing on the gulf oil spill and the World Cup, an interesting New York Times news article — “U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan” — crossed the wires last week that got very little attention, though I think it is huge news for Afghans, and especially for the US government and certain American corporations.

According to the article, US has identified about $1 trillion of mineral deposits such as iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and metals such as niobium and lithium that have many important industrial applications. In case your math is rusty, $1 trillion is 1,000 $1 billions, or 1 million $1 millions! The article adds that “a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists” made the discovery, though it also discloses that apparently Russians had done the ground work during their occupation of Afghanistan and had documented their findings and stored it in an Afghan library!

Afghanistan's vast mineral deposits

So all the hard work of US government (and a few allies) in Afghanistan for the past 9 years — all that destruction and killings — finally pays off! Now I understand what US forces were looking for in the caves and mountains of Afghanistan, certainly not Osama Bin Laden. By the way, I didn’t know that Pentagon, part of the US Department of Defense, is into geology and mining, and not in US but half way around the world no less.

The article says that this could potentially alter the devastated Afghan economy. But that is nothing more than a pipedream. The poor Afghans, especially the women and children, have been deprived of basic human rights for the past 20 years. They’ve been deprived of nutrition, healthcare, education and basic freedom.

The war-ridden Afghanistan has been raped and destroyed for decades first by the USSR Russian forces, and then by their very own Taliban, a barbaric supposedly fundamentalist Islamic group from the dark ages that makes Islamic Republic of Iran look like a Western European democracy.

And since 9/11, the destruction and war has been lead by the American forces, in an ill-defined war against terrorism, apparently fighting to eliminate Taliban, Al-Qaeda and hunt down its ever elusive leader Bin Laden. But there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for this conflict. The Taliban who were supposedly defeated a few years back, have gained strength and control in certain regions of Afghanistan and now even in Pakistan, and the opium production and trade is booming, supplying the world with the much needed high and scape from the painful realities of life.

The impoverished Afghans aren’t going to see much of that $1 trillion. They have no technology, machinery, or infrastructure of their own to do mining. They will have to depend on US (government and corporations) to build all that. If Afghans are lucky they will get hired by the large corporations who will run the show to do the dirty mining work for less than minimum wage, while the US mining, construction, and heavy machinery companies and a handful of corrupt Afghans will pocket the profits. This is going to be just the beginning of years of exploitations to come. With this news the US government and forces aren’t going anywhere any time soon. They’ll stick around and even invite more to the feast that is about to begin.

I must say that I know of humanitarian efforts that are under way in certain areas of Afghanistan, to set up computers and help with education of the underprivileged Afghan children. There are American civilians and activists who are involved with such projects as I met one in person a few months back. More power to them. I wish there were much more of that. But in the grand scheme of things, such efforts are minuscule. This is all about greed, control, big power and profits.

Stephen Colbert, in a segment titled “$tay the cour$e” in his TV show Colbert Report, about the hot news in Afghanistan said, “This week in searching for reasons to stay in Afghanistan, I’m happy to say we struck gold!“ And he continued, “Afghanistan is about to pay off. It’s like a slot machine we’ve been warming up for nine years!” And jackpot at last! See:

John Stewart in a segment called “Ore on Terror” in the Daily Show said to Afghans, “You will never not know war.“ And continued, “We can’t leave now, now that we know there is gold.” He added, “you think your country is war-torn now? This is what it’s like when we don’t want what is underneath you. Up until now we were motivated by revenge, but greed, that is a whole new ballpark my friend.” See:

Well, there you have it. At least we have a couple of honest people on TV!

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MC Escher, 1955

I finally got a good name for this blog — Unmind, and a good domain name to go along with it, unmind.net. In the About page I talk about the history of this blog and its name briefly.

I can think of a few good interpretations for unmind such as unconventional, critical and outside of the box thinking. Or it can be being irrational, illogical and dealing with matters of the heart. But there is another that I want to explore here.

Eckhart Tolle in his famous book “The Power of Now — A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” talks about mind and thinking as the biggest obstacle to consciousness and enlightenment, the voice, the tormentor, “the worst enemy that continuously attacks and punishes [us] and drains us of vital energy.” The false and unconscious identification with mind gives rise to the “phantom self”, “the ego”.

He adds, “all the things that truly matter — beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace, — arise from beyond the mind”. “Love, joy, and peace”, which are “deep states of Being”, cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from the mind dominance.”

So we are not the same as and one with our minds. And further, to awaken and be enlightened — to experience love, joy and peace — according to Tolle, we must dis-identify and free ourselves from the mind.

The great Indian mystic and spiritual teacher Osho in his book “Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously” contrasts mind to heart and writes:

“What is your mind? It is all that you have known. It is the past, the dead, that which has gone. Mind is nothing but the accumulated past, the memory. Heart is the future; heart is always the hope.”

Another contemporary spiritual teacher who is local to the San Francisco Bay Area, Adyashanti, says: “… we are in a physical prison created by our minds. Until we begin to realize how confined we are, we will not be able to find our way out.”

The visionary Indian philosopher and author, Jiddu Krishnamurti, in his book “The First and Last Freedom”, gets into less romanticized and more rational explanation of mind. He talks about the problem of duality of ‘me’ and the thinker. He says “Love is not possible so long as there is the thinker, the centre of the ‘me’”. He believes that creative release comes when the thinker is the thought. He writes:

“It is only when the mind is empty that there is a possibility of creation; but I do not mean this superficial emptiness which most of us have…I am not talking of that emptiness which is thoughtlessness. On the contrary, I am talking of the emptiness which comes through extraordinary thoughtfulness, when the mind sees its own power of creating illusion and goes beyond.”

Note that this is beyond just personal gratification and bliss. Krishnamurti ultimately is talking about positive social change, which requires radical changes in our societies and of course changes within. There is much more to be said about this that is beyond what I intended for this piece.

I don’t claim to be enlightened, but I know that the enlightened few such as Tolle, Osho, Adyashanti and Krishnamurti, are onto something. Unmind for me eludes to what they are talking about. Unmind then is the act of freeing oneself from the mind. May we all be able to unmind and experience true and authentic love, joy and inner peace — enlightened or not. And may that bring about a better humanity for us all.