“Mind”, “Beyond the Mind” and “Innovation”

The mind is nothing but a collection of “Objects” and “Language”. Objects include everything that make up this world, including humans. Language is used to label or define the objects. Objects and their labels and their relation with each other forms “Knowledge”.

My friend is also an object and I have labelled him with his name and related him to me with some language. Unfortunately and unknowingly “I” (Myself) am also a part of my mind, and I have been labelled with a name and related to other objects (including other humans) using language. This relation is a part of my knowledge. So, we come to this conclusion that, objects are real and present in the world outside but the relations are nothing more than fiction which we take is as the truth and these fictional relationships are a cause of ultimate misery of human beings. We take these fictional, language based relationships to be the truth. This is a different topic but it was required in order to explain the mind. Since the objects all over the world are same, the relationships are same, no matter what the language is used, the mind of all the people across the world is the same. It is a collective mind.

If I say the word “Television”, the language being a part of my mind, immediately brings the picture of television in front of me. If I show the picture of a television without using any label or language, the world “television” come to my mind.  This we all know.

Now if I say the word “ksjuojanoihfdaoidh”, since this is a “label” you have not known, the mind is not able to come up with a picture of the said word. Since this is not a code or any kind of encryption, even if you browse through the dictionaries of all the languages of this world, you will not be able to come up with the “object” that is related to the said word. Had you been using a computer for searching, it would have returned “Not found”, it means that it is not a part of its database. If you are searching using Google, it would suggest the nearest known “label” but will not be able to search the picture related to the said word. Your mind will not be able to come up with something related to the given word. The mind will come to a stand still.

But at the same time, since the given word means absolutely nothing – or the given world cannot be used to label any available object, it gives you utter freedom to CREATE ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING ABSTRACT  WITH THIS GIVEN WORD. This  is innovation. This is a process of going beyond the mind. This also proves that there is a space that is beyond the human mind, and this is the space of creativity. This is the space we we need to be in order to continuously innovate.

What I did here is – I created an abstract goal – a goal that cannot be understood by or solved by the human mind. In the process, innovation happened.

This capacity of coming up with absolutely anything abstract is a UNIQUE ABILITY OF HUMAN BEINGS. Innovation is a capability of humans beings and not of computers, no matter how powerful or artificially intelligent the machine is.

http://www.managementexchange.com/hack/innovation-cannot-be-forced-innovation-happens

The Walking Experiment – To Know the Inner Voice

If we watch ourselves carefully, we will know that we are always in a hurry. Whatever we are doing, walking, eating, driving, working, we are always in a hurry to finish. But we do not know the reason for our hurried-ness  We do not know what will we do after we finish what we are doing now. But we are always in the hurry to finish.

This hurried-ness comes is unconsciousness. We don’t know but we hurry. If you read my post “Why we hate? – The exercise”, you will know that we are not one, but we are divided into so many identities. Some of then we are already and the other identities, we want to be. But this whole thing is imaginary. All the “I”s are imaginary.

We are in a hurry because, we fear that if we are late, we might cease to be what we think we are, we may no longer be the “I” we think we are. These “I”s make us who we are, otherwise who we would be. But the strangest part is that, all these “I”s are imaginary and we keep chasing and protecting these “I”s all our lives. It is just like you imagine someone has thrown a ball high up, an imaginary ball, thrown high up by an imaginary person, and you run to catch the imaginary ball in reality. This is madness.

All those things that are in your mind are imaginary, they cannot be real, but take them to be real, they make us who we are, how can we let them go? The only reality is here and now.

In your mind, automatically you are put in a situation, good or bad, whatever, and then another “I” emerges rationalizes the situation. If it is a bad situation, the “I” says “don’t worry everything will be fine” and if it is a good situation, you rejoice in your imagination. But the unfortunate part is that everything is imaginary, except what you are doing here and now.

In your mind, several “I”s emerge and they keep talking with each other and the “Real” you does something else. But we are not able to do something else, we get involved in the argument or discussion between the “i”s in our mind. By “We” I mean another “I”, forms and takes part in the mental discussion. Two “I”s are discussing and we take the form of another “I” and join the discussion in our mind, all imaginary. “I” after “I” forms and we are lost in the discussion.

The moment we take part in the discussion, we are lost from the real world. If we are walking our walk takes the rhythm of the discussion that is going on. If we are driving, our driving takes the rhythm of the inner talk. This happens because we remain unaware of the inner talk. The moment you are aware of the inner talks, the inner talk stops.

Most of us are unaware of this inner talk. I have devised an exercise that would let you know your inner talk. It is as follows:

Most of the time, when we are walking with someone, we see that the speed of our walk increases and becomes very fast. We are continuously talking and our walking gets faster and faster and reaches a point where our legs start to ache. Then we slow down. Till the time, our legs did not ache, we did not realize that we are walking so fast. But we did not start with an intention or objective to walk fast. But it happened. This happened because, our walk took the rhythm of our talk.

The same happens when you are walking alone. We start slow but then the speed increases when we have walked for some time. We think we are alone but we are not. What will happen to all these “I”s. We are actually many, may be hundreds, all alive and kicking! They are talking discussing their survival strategies. And every moment another “I” emerge and take part in the discussion, all imaginary, but we think that it is us.

The walking exercise:

1. Start walking alone on a road or a park, a place which is not so crowded

2. With time your speed will increase but you will not know about it.So I suggest you put an alarm so that it reminds you in 10 minutes time after you have started.

3. The moment the alarm rings – stop for 5 minutes – you may sit, if you find a place to sit nearby

4. Just watch your mind – The thoughts and you walk were “synergizing” each other. They were moving at a same speed, the thoughts in your mind, and your walk. The thoughts had also taken up a momentum. The moment you stop walking and sit. The thoughts, having a momentum, will continue in the same speed for some time. This is the time, when you will come to know your inner chatter very clearly.

5. Start walking very slowly after 5 minutes of sitting. – I mean very slowly – you will notice that the chatter will be minimum when you walk very slowly. Keep walking for 10 minutes very slowly. In these ten minutes, if you are aware, you will slowly feel that, as time is passing after you have started walking slowly, the intensity of the inner chatter is increasing very slowly.

These 5 steps will very clearly let you know you inner chatter. It will let you know what you are thinking all the time. You are discussing all the time in your mind. In step 4, when you watch your mind, things will be very clear. If you continue with this exercise for 5 days, you will know all your major inner arguments, because our arguments are all repetitive.

Once you know your inner chatter, you will realize that you are not actually who you think you are. You will come to know that you are most of the time an imaginary identity in your mind, discussing with all other identities.

Then your actions will change, because, you will earlier only aware of the inner chatter and took it for reality. Now you will have options, whether to act as per the requirement of this moment or go as per the inner imaginary chatter in your mind.

These imaginary identities are kept alive only by thinking. The more you are unconscious, lost in your mind, the more they are prominent and alive. The more you throw the light of your awareness on them, they vanish.  This is the reason why humans are always thinking, they need time to think, they need time for relaxation, so that they can always think, unconsciously, and keep them alive.

Knowing your inner imaginary chatter, and understanding that it is all imaginary and acting as per the requirement of the moment will completely change your life for the better.

Buddha on Belief

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” – Gautama Buddha

Buddha says not to believe anything at all unless it agrees with your own reason and own common sense. But if you read my post “What is belief?” you will see that it is just the opposite of what Buddha Says. It will seem as if whatever I have written in all my posts is wrong and does not need any reading by anyone.

But if you read my post “What is belief?” very carefully you will see that I have written – space or consciousness cannot be understood but can be only known. But an object can be known, because it can be defined. The object has boundaries, it has an existence. When the object is removed, you will know space, because then space or consciousness is created. You will also know that object is nothing but the uneasiness or sickness inside your body and it happens whenever the current situation is unwanted. In your body you know where is it. It can be located. I have used the word “filling up” for the uneasiness inside in my post “what is belief?”. It happens when you do not like something that is happening now. This uneasiness gives rise to the inner dialogues. By talking internally you try to rationalize the situation and there is a continuous inner chatter. This inner chatter is a product of this block or object or uneasiness inside. You try to find a reason for the uneasiness and try to convince that whatever is happening is right for you. But the uneasiness does not go. Because you cannot find a reason and you are in trouble.

When the object is removed, space is created. Or when the uneasiness is removed from inside, space is created. You will only know space when the inner uneasiness is removed. When the inner sickness is removed.  When the uneasiness is removed, what remains is space. You create consciousness. You become connected to the supreme intelligence.

But first the object has to be created. The uneasiness and the sickness has to be created. Only then space can be know. Only then consciousness can be known. The object or uneasiness occupies some space. It has to, otherwise where will it be?

Buddha’s statement is to create this object or uneasiness inside you. When you know that the object is there, you will know that space is also there. You will know that when the uneasiness goes, space will be created. You will be creating consciousness. You will start to become a part of the whole, the supreme intelligence.

That is why the Buddha says to believe in nothing. He does this to create believe and when you believe, it becomes faith. Because when you do not believe, there will be uneasiness, there will be sickness, there will come an inner block, and this will give rise to a continuous inner chatter. He wants this to happen. He wants you to know the block. He wants to argue and argue continuously internally until one day you will be tired of arguing and will no longer argue. The inner uneasiness will vanish. And you will start to believe. Doubts will no longer be there and you will have faith. And this is what He wants.

He wants you to be free of all doubts and have faith. Have faith in the supreme intelligence. If he tells you directly to believe, you will not, if he tells you to have faith, you will not, if he tells you to love, you will not, if he tells you to have no doubts, you will have all the doubts. That is why he tells you to do just the opposite. This is because, the questions and arguments cannot be solved by arguments. The questions cannot be answered because the answer cannot be reached using knowledge, using our minds, using our own memory. That is why he says NOT to believe. He says not to believe just to raise doubts, to raise questions, to  raise uneasiness, because he knows that none of these can be solved or answered using logic.

And once the uneasiness, the heaviness is created, it is bound to go, today or tomorrow, making you aware of consciousness. Making you aware of something that is beyond “Objects”, beyond the mind.

Human Vs Robots

“The very fact that we have started building “obedient” and  so called “Artificially” intelligent robots proves that human beings cannot be made slaves. So we take the artificial way.
Now we want artificial slaves because we cannot have real slaves. What a joke!

This also proves our tendency to dominate and our inability to accept humans as they are. 

The invention of robots also proves the fact that we want servants, slaves and NOT INDIVIDUALS. This also proves that we always want to be superior and want people would not defy us…we all want to be emperors.

The need for slaves, the need for people to obey us, be faithful to us has given rise to so called “artificially intelligent” robots.

Any kind of slavery is bound to give rise to an uprising.

And this also proves that humans are very unpredictable. That, humans beings change”

I have been saying in my previous posts that humans have the ability to act as per the requirement of the situation, without referring to the files stored in his memory. He can act without any knowledge of what needs to be done right here and right now. This ability to act spontaneously is called Intelligence. It is a gift. It is a gift that has been given by existence or Creation to us.

This is what separates a robot, however powerful it might be, or however “artificially intelligent” you might call him. He will not be able to act without referring to his memory. 

Even if a robot is a learning machine. It will not be able to. It has to first learn, store all the data and parameters related to that situation in his memory and refer it when he faces a  similar situation in future. A little change in the situation and it will not be able to take proper action. 

It is the very nature of existence that things change, every second things and situations are changing. Every moment is new. It becomes almost impossible for the robot to be effective in such an ever changing world. 

This takes away the label of “Artificially Intelligent” given to the robot by us.

A robot is programmed. No matter how good you program it. The program has come from your mind. 

The program might be an innovation, but by the time you program the robot with the same new program, It has become old. The program was an innovation, when you were creating it. It was an innovation when you were with the program. Then creation was acting through you. But once created it became old, it was no longer an innovation. 

Innovation is not the result, but the process of Creation of something new. The moment it is created, it becomes old.It no longer remains an innovation.

All programs that are fed to the robot are old. They are a part of your memory and your memory is old. No matter now many situations you make the robot learn so that it can take appropriate action under similar circumstances, all these situation are old. They might not come in future again. And as per the very law of nature, things are changing. Under such circumstances, a robot never comes closer to a human being.

A robot cannot align itself with Creation or cannot become an agent or existence. But Humans can.

Have you ever seen a robot create? Have you ever seen a robot innovate? No. 

Have you ever seen a robot being enlightened? Have you ever seen a robot becoming Buddha? No.

It is our consciousness that has given us the ability to innovate. It is our consciousness that has given ourselves the ability to act spontaneously to a situation, without using our minds. It is our consciousness that has given the ability to get Enlightened.

Robots do not have consciousness. Robots do not innovate.

If you are able to see this distinction between robots and humans, you will know a lot about innovation and creativity. 

Creative Thinking’ is a Myth

We always use the words Creative and Thinking together as “Creative Thinking”. But both these words cannot be used together.

If you are creative, you cannot be thinking and if you are thinking then creativity is not possible. 

Let us see how.

I would define thinking as ‘searching our own memory’. 

We have been collecting information since our birth and all of them is stored in our memory. Whenever we start to think, we browse through the files stored in our memory.

All these information stored is old. All the inputs are based on the information the society gave us with the help of books, magazines, websites, television and through many other media. These files are stored in the memory, and the moment we start thinking, we browse through these old files. You memory cannot give you anything new. It is all old information.

Please understand that thinking cannot give you anything new. If you think that you can think and innovate, you would be reinventing the wheel again and again.

All your goals in life, your aspirations, dreams, desires and plans are of the old, because they are they belong to the memory. You want to become a pilot because you know that being a pilot is a profession and you aim for it. You want to become a computer scientist because you know that if you want and move in the right direction, there is a possibility. Both a pilot and computer scientist are part of your memory and you choose your goals based on what you know.

Anything that you “try” to do is based on your past  knowledge. You cannot try doing something that you do not know. You have an objective in life and you start trying to achieve it, then you are directed towards the past. You point backwards. You always point towards something that you know.

You think before you attempt anything. All your thinking is based on your past knowledge. So you always attempt to do things that you have known. It means that it already exists and you are having the knowledge of it.

You cannot imagine something that you do not know. Imagination is again thinking. You only imagine things and situations that you know, that is in your memory. 

Just for an experiment, close your eyes and sit for 10 minutes. You will see, all your imaginations are events and situations of the past.

Our thinking and Imagining is confined to the knowledge gained in your past. Thinking and imagining is confined to memory.

When you try thinking harder, you very intensely search through the files in your memory.

It is like you meet someone and you cannot remember his name. You think harder to remember. You are doing nothing but searching through your own memory in detail.

So your mind consists of things of the past. The mind can give you nothing new. The mind is not able to innovate or create. The Mind cannot be creative.

To Create or to Innovate you have to keep the Mind aside, you have to separate yourself from the continuous chatter of your mind. This is the first step.

Please read my post ‘Ego – The Greatest Obstacle to Creativity and Innovation’ to better understand this post