Ho ho ho!

It’s that time of the year again; Time for the big guy in red who comes every December. He makes some sort of annual report cards and uses them to determine the present each of us gets, if at all we deserve it. Some call him Santa, some call him Father Christmas, others name him Saint Nicholas and others choose to call him anything that stands for hope. I don't know how he comes into the picture but here’s the logic; Jesus was born 2000 years ago, ever since Santa brings all children presents to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. That was the original intent of Christmas; Somehow Santa is part and parcel of the season and funny thing is he doesn't even exist. A bitter reality we have to face as we grow up.

What’s exactly makes this date special? I would like the magic behind everyone going home in December, behind the spirit of giving, anticipation and rejuvenation, hoping for a present from a jolly fat man who not even in dreams exists. Norman Vincent Peale, my inspirational author of all times, once wrote, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” I guess there lays my answer. Hope, I like to think is the English term for Christmas. I have seen no other season where this spirit is shared all over the world.

 I have a feeling there’s a reason Christmas comes exactly a week before New Year. Strategically it’s that time of the year to analyze our goals and resolutions before jumping onto new ones, spend time with people who really care and give. Life can be a rough road sometimes, in most cases it is, the holiday season is like that full stop at the end of a long sentence. It is a break to really reflect and read between the lines, and grab a second chance at life.

 So, whether Santa exists or not, presents or no present, I would to like to wish you a Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays whichever applies to you. Let’s use this opportunity to make life even more amazing. You deserve it.

The Missing Link

Think of a rock, a heavy rock that you will never be able to lift; Its 99% empty, no matter how much you compress it. Actually, everything is 99% emptiness. Everything you can touch; yourself, your possessions, your pet, the screen you are looking at, its 99% nothingness. As wrong as it may sound, physics provides no counter evidence. 

The fundamental building blocks of everything are atoms and atoms are 99% vacuum, as electrons revolve about the tiny nucleus as far away from each other as possible. Quarks and leptons make protons, neutrons and electrons. These make atoms, which make molecules which make materials which make humans, other organisms and the rest of the universe. Strictly speaking, our universe is essentially empty. Maybe it is just nothing but there is just so much borne out of it.

         Today the world buried one of the greatest men in history. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. The man who stood for what he believed in and did the impossible, even if it meant 27 years of torture and humiliation, and many more years of conflicts thereafter. I could attribute this to the royalty lineage that ran in his family, or the education he received from the University of  Fort Hare . I could, but I won’t. Nelson was a boy who tended herds like other cattle-boys, spent much time outside with other boys , like everyone else he was 99% empty. He wasn’t superhuman by any standards, he simply made the right choices.

            Here is a story of another nobody to whom we owe the pleasure of the modern day decent life. You've probably heard a million times before that Thomas Edison made the light bulb and Faraday gave us electricity. Here’s another name you’ve probably never heard of; Nikola Tesla. Tesla made the first hydroelectric power plant, he played a major role in developing alternating current and on top of that we owe him for advances in wireless communication, lasers, x-rays, radio and a lot more. In his lifetime, Tesla registered more than 111 American patents and around 300 patents worldwide. I would also attribute this to his abnormally large memory or his mother’s genetics but Nikola Tesla was, as ordinary as any university student who messes the final exam and doesn’t graduate, made of the same elements that make the rest of us.

            What then is the missing link between ‘99% emptiness’ and a world record? There has to be one, otherwise this blog would be totally pointless. That invisible link is choice. We make choices every single day of our life, we decide what we have for breakfast, what we wear, we make plans for the week, the month and the next 5 years. Choices make the missing link that scientists will never be explain. Science can explain why lack of protein leads to kwashiorkor or how water lights up our houses but it will never explain how one man can fight for the freedom of a million others or how one geek can change the course of civilization.

We are all just nothing after all we are born with nothing.  What we do with this life, the legacy we leave behind is entirely upon us to decide. We do not have control over our circumstances but it is what we do about it that matters. Not even science can predict our future with absolute certainty.  Whatever it is you want, a good career, wealth, a world record an amazing life. It’s your choice, your call.

No two humans shall be the same.

        

     

Right this instant there are about 7,196,723, 800 and counting people in the world. 50.2% of these are female, while the rest are male.  54% are Asian, 15% Hispanic, 15% white, 8% Middle Eastern and 8% black. 13% are typical introverts, 13% extroverts and 70% are somewhere in the middle. The breakdown goes further into hobbies, living conditions, family background among others. We might have a lot in common but we’ll never be the same. Physics summarizes it all in the Pauli Exclusion principle.

            Why then does society propagate conformity so much so that it has become a natural tendency? You will be called names, bullied and rejected just for being different. According to society, it is for the greater good. Speaking of the greater good, even electrons know about it.  With electrons, the greater good means minimizing energy. This is done by occupying lower orbits that are closer to the nucleus. Problem is, if all electrons occupied the lowest energy level, all atoms would be practically the same; there would no chemical reactions. They would no light and consequently no life. So that doesn’t happen and it won’t happen, electrons –as Pauli predicts- spread out in different orbits just like the planets around the sun.

            There is a reason why Albert Einstein is famous and that has little to do with how smart he was. Einstein came up with the theory of special and general relativity. The theory where he speaks in four dimensions, where space and time is one and the same thing and where everything in the universe is just energy in disguise. This doesn’t sound like physics at all, more like a child’s narrative of his/her imagination. A narrative we would normally discard as it is afterall- childish. Bottom line is it was a different explanation nothing like Newton or Faraday would propose. 

            Looking at the legends, I realize they had little in common. Apart from the love for what they did they lead very different lives. While Marie Curie was born to a scientific family, Michael Faraday was born to a blacksmith. While most of them were in good physical condition, Stephen Hawking is in a wheel chair. While Isaac Newton was a mathematics whiz, Albert Einstein actually hated math.   They didn’t put aside these differences to fit into the traditional model. Instead they embraced these differences and used them to their advantage.

            All electrons are basically the same, but Pauli’s principle dictates that no two of them can have the same behavior. Some will be energetic and some will not. Some will spin this way and the others the other way. That is the only way life is possible. Similarly, humans can never be the same. Even though traditions and cultures bound us and try to make us look the same, there will always be diversity. So the moral of the story is simple,” Be yourself, others are taken”; cliché but true.

The little things

             

    Everyone likes the superlative adjective. Humans love the superlative adjective. He thought he was the fastest until he met the cheetah, he thought he was the smartest being alive until the possibility of aliens came into the picture. Humans now seek aliens for many reasons but a major one would be to test how smart they are. If that’s not enough he has always referred to himself as the superior being, living on a superior planet to do superior things (in the superlative).

            Humans always thought they were at the centre of the universe until Nicholas Copernicus proved that the earth actually revolves round the sun. To wake them up from the dream someone had to pay the price. Galileo Galilei was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life when he advocated for this theory. On top of that, we live on the continental crust of the earth which is the light and dry version of the oceanic crust. In other words, we live on the scum of the earth. Now we know that we are not kings and queens of the universe. We are just living on an insignificant part of an insignificant component of the universe, yet we still think we are the greatest.

            Well, topping that up is the fact that we come from chimpanzees. Yes, those relatively ugly animals you see in the park, they are not our cousins, but our blood related siblings. We share more than 98% of our DNA with the chimpanzees. At this point we should realize how ordinary we are and that someday chimpanzees could evolve into much more superior beings.

             Big stuff, big results and big status, we love it. After all it is the strongest who should survive not the stronger or the strong. Charles Darwin called it natural selection, and therefore it is natural. History on the other hand provides undeniable facts that we are not who we think we are. Its’ probably saying something. Perhaps, the superlative isn’t exactly what we need. Maybe it’s the small things that make the difference.

            Take an example of one of the earliest ice ages that caused earthquakes, continental drift, irreversible processes on earth and all that other big stuff. You might think it was caused by big movements in the earth’s core or some extra-terrestrial asteroids. Not exactly, the culprit behind was none other than the cyanobacteria . The slimy blue-green algae that grow on abandoned ponds made it to history. How? Simply stated, they were the first organisms to produce oxygen by photosynthesis. Oxygen burnt the greenhouse gas –methane- allowing the earth to freeze over; So much power for just algae.

 

Someone once said, “Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.” I don’t remember who said that but he/she must have been very wise. We all want great things, that’s natural. While fighting for the big stuff, we shouldn’t forget that they are a combination of small things and perhaps it’s the little things we really need. Have an amazing day!

A bumpy ride

   

 

  Determination, focus , goals, dreams  the words I keep using on every other blog post, how are they practical?  How can any human being keep track of one lifelong dream when life is just too short and gets even more dynamic? I don’t know how, I don’t even know if it’s necessary to have a dream.  The musician Tim Minchin argues that we shouldn’t waste our lives chasing a lifetime dream but we should just focus on what’s in front of us. I don’t know it that’s okay, but the story of one man seems to have all the answers.

       In 1987 Dr. Ben Carson was expected to separate the Siamese twins, the first operation of its kind so far. One might assume that just because he had ‘gifted hands’ , he had nailed it already. Well, not quite true. Dr. Carson had just lost twins in a miscarriage not so long ago. Feeling hopeless and defenseless he now had to save twins, not his own but of hopeful parents. At this stage most people would question their abilities and just decline the request but not Dr. Carson. Dr. Carson is different (from most of us), he wanted to be the best he could be and it is this surgery that proved his genius.

       In high school I’m pretty sure Dr. Carson had no dream of becoming the best neurosurgeon in the world. He just wanted to be the best he could be. He had good grades, but then adolescence hit and he started slacking; he valued ‘friends’ and fashion than his own future.  Consequently his grades started slacking. This was a wake up call and soon he got back on track. Even though he slacked somewhere he still made it to history.

       Some people can consider having a big dream to be limiting and torturous; we are forced to improvise every second of everyday. There is pressure from all corners to change what we know and what we think we know, in the end it might seem logical to just go with the flow. Perhaps logic isn’t always a good thing; life without a dream is just an uncoordinated set of events.

       Life is made of bumps, potholes and valleys and isn’t always straight as we plan it to be. It’s like driving at night. You don’t see the destination, you only see a few meters illuminated by the flashlights but you have the destination in mind no matter what happens in the way you will get there.

       So Tim Minchin says, "have micro ambitions and achieve them to enjoy life". That's definitely true, life is even more meaningful if these ambitions are born out of a dream.  Have a big dream and that’s enough. Don’t worry about the details on how they will materialize, life will take care of that. Life is a bumpy ride not a smooth road, even though it beats us a couple of times, the secret is keep moving. An amazing life waits ahead.

Great expectations, Great reality.

           

 Get real, miracles don't happen, I hear this phrase all too often that it has lost its impact on my mind. It is told in different words but it tends to impact the same feeling that reality is set to prove us wrong. If the definition of miracles is instantaneously turning water to wine then of course they don't happen,at least not in this century.
           When reality doesn't meet expectations, we make jokes out of them and that marks the end of expecting. Well, if these expectations were not thriving for, its okay. Otherwise, I would like to explicitly say that miracles do happen. If you choose not to see them in your life then maybe you'll probably see in others'.

            You have probably heard a lot about Michael Faraday, his scientific achievements, fame and all his might and glory. What you probably don't know is where he came from and how he came to be appear in science textbooks. He was simply a boy with big dreams. Well, here is his story, if this doesn't inspire you I don't what will. Faraday was a son of a blacksmith and he never received any formal schooling. At the age of 14, he got a job as a bookbinder's apprentice. He made impressive notes of Physics that a rich customer sponsored him to attend lectures of Humphry Davy, a prominent scientist of the time. He eventually became Davy’s assistant. You would expect that his job description would include laboratory work or book binding. Well, he was the guy who washed the dishes and brought water when someone was thirsty. He took these opportunities to get closer to physics and physicists, he read and experimented whenever he got he chance to. He kept hope alive and somehow he ended up with the immortal name. That’s nothing short of a miracle.

            Miracles, I know many are uncomfortable with this word because reality seem to have no space for them. Well, miracles are not magic tricks, they are not the magic lamps that will solve everything. Miracles are the little things or big things that defy gravity. Sometimes we are too absorbed that we don't notice them. People who make a name for themselves, the healing power of time, when expectations meet reality, that’s magic. Miracles take time, a few months, a few years or even a lifetime. The good part  is we make these miracles, consciously or not.

            I have heard and read about people who have walked the walk and talked the talk. All I can say, keep the hope alive. Why? Because reality is not final until it has met expectations. Hold onto that dream, shoot for the stars because you will land somewhere in its vicinity. Miracles do happen, if you find it impractical to count on them, then just keep it that mind. You will know one when you see one...J

           

Passion

       The Wikipedia opening line for Leonardo da Vinci goes, “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian pronunciation: [leoˈnardo da vˈvintʃi] April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, Old Style) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. If I have counted correctly, those are 13 professions.  He mastered all these disciplines in only 67 years of his life.  How can one resonate to all these fields? That’s the big question, and the answer is nothing but Passion.

The poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.” The French philosopher Denis Diderot wrote “Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.” Both of these men make sense, lots of sense. Truth be told, there is something admirable about passion because with passion nothing else matters, not critics nor time, nor the weather. Even better is the fact that service comes in as a by-product. It’s a win-win phenomena.  

Passion is that elixir that makes everything else silent. What we do something passionate about, we can go on forever and still be energetic. There is also something about passion that we often misunderstand. Passion is not only found in art. Musicians, authors, exude their passion; we see it because they are performers.  Other people too show their passion in a different way. Programmers who write code until they speak in code, accountants indulge in numbers as if it’s some sort of meal, they are all passionate.  Passion is an element that can develop anywhere.

            How exactly do we find that passion? It can be confusing when everyone knows exactly what they want and you don’t.  Some people rely on school grades and others simply follow their heart. Neither is wrong, but caution is to be used here. Numbers on a piece of paper, they tell something about cognitive ability to a particular subject but they say anything about creative ability or love for the subject. Things we are passionate are simply put are “matters of the heart”.Try out different things, when you find it you will know.

            What happens when you wake up one morning and the things you thought you were good at are not that exciting anymore. It does happen; we humans are really dynamic creatures. The things we like today are not exactly what we will like 5 years to come. The solution is to keep searching. Da Vinci started his career with music, he then went on to painting, science and eventually engineering and a whole lot of other things. He kept trying different things, failing some, moving on to others. That’s life.

Maybe Da Vinci was a genius and it is impractical to walk in his shoes. Maybe that’s true, but there is a lot to learn from him.  Some people say, find your passion and stick to it.  I say find your passion, enjoy it and keep searching. My passion may be writing, or science, or music , I don't know for sure, that's why I'm still exploring. Whether you know your passion or not, keep searching, it’s what makes life amazing.