It seems that everyone and their dog has some idea of how the world ought to be. It’s a favorite armchair topic that many of us have, over a couple of latte’s…or beers…with our dearest friends and family. We enjoy arguing how we should be environmentally conscious, with more peace, less crime, greater income, and…
A Simple Life does not mean…
Many wrong notions of simple. … A simple life doesn’t mean a small life. Nor does it mean an plain life. Nor does it mean a routine life. Nor does it mean a dumb life. Nor does it mean a half-hearted life. … A simple life, simply means, a clear life. Clear is simple. Simple…
Enemy Perspectives in War
In war and violent conflict, we don’t get to know the perspective of the people we are fighting against. It’s easier, emotionally, to fight against a people when we can black box them as simply “bad guys” or “targets”…nothing more. And in the process, we simply ignore their perspective. Little to we allow ourself to…
Perspective Analysis
An essential step in designing a self-business is mapping out our perspective in detail. This includes our goals, vision, outlook, priorities, interests, and challenges. By doing such an inventory, we can a better idea of who we are, what we are, our path, and how we see the world. A lot of times, we simply don’t…
Assumption of Individuality
As the world goes through the most rapid transformation in the history of humanity, huge questions will start to emerge in our understanding of what it means to be an individual. With very serious projects and efforts to directly link our brains to technology, and spiritual efforts focused on Collective Awakening, we might very well…
Popularity ≠ Substance
One of the illusions with the rampant growth of social media, and corresponding metrics, is the reinforcing of the distorted notion that popularity, especially on the Web, as reflected by likes, stars, ratings, and comments, is somehow correlated to the substance, depth, and value of whatever content we are reading or looking at. The actuality…
Goals Have Weight
All goals have weight. They can drag us down. They require maintenance. They demand attention. Goals are like baggage. Make no mistake. But, like any trip, we still want to bring baggage. With us. Some amount. For the journey to be hassle-free. So ask yourself… Are your goals a hassle? Ranjeeth Thunga written under pen…
The Joy of the Deal
Deal-making is finding the connection between two entities. It could involve a simple transaction, or it could involve orchestrating a much more elaborate arrangement. The joy of the deal is the satisfaction that comes when two unbenownst parties find a commonality and discover a true partnership where none existed earlier. It requires unearthing the deeper…
Freedom From & Freedom To
There are two sides to freedom, Freedom To, and Freedom From. We tend to imagine freedom as?Freedom To do something. Be someone. Say what we feel. But…it’s also about Freedom From?Having?To do something. Be someone. Saying what we feel. Both of these together, as a package, Define True Freedom. Ranjeeth Thunga written under pen name…
Choosing Our Job
Over time, experience, and personal suffering, work has come to mean something completely different from what I earlier assumed it to be. And I do feel in 2018, almost all of us have it wrong. Up until recently, I thought that the point of our job is to complete a set of defined tasks for…
Friendly Habits
Friendly habits are grooves. Natural grooves. That give some stability, some comfort. Some anticipation, some solace. In our Lifestyle. They aren’t force-fitted. They already exist within us. As tracks that we can sink into. And ride along. So long as we are ready to, when the moment comes, step out And jump into deeper grooves,…
A Company Designed Around You
As the world goes through advancement after advancement, the fabric that holds the world as we know it is starting to shred apart. Careers, lifestyles, and options for work are losing their static identity. The monolithic companies and monolithic career tracks could start to open up, replaced to a large extent by lean, flexible adaptable…
Self-Reflection *is* Practical
There’s a notion that many of us have that self-reflection (i.e. naval gazing) is an aberrant waste of time. It doesn’t accomplish much but cause annoyance, distraction, and frustration because the problems we are hoping to solve starkely are left unrsolved. And “real-life” obligations are left undone. So we instead focus our attention on what…
Necessity to Be Partially Aloof
Our social fabric is riddled with conflict. Schools promote competition with other students over the joy of learning, politics pits opponents against each other through raking muck and shelling dirt, businesses try to dismiss the efforts of one another rather than find unique ways to express common value, and social rules stifle free expression by…
Fascination of our World
We are fascinated with the world around us. Enamored and tickled by the intricacies and details of creation. In all its beauty and wonder. Good. This is good. Wonderful. Joy, and delight. Awe even. So long…as one thing we keep in mind. One premise. That real joy only comes only when we know this is…
Cultivating Depth in the Age of Social Media
(Reading time: 3 minutes / reflection time: 3 minutes) Cultivating a deep perspective requires an unrelenting focus on the subject of our attention. However, in the age of social-media clicks, likes, fans, reactions, and scores, are we actually able to cultivate depth of perspective? Are we living in a world where deeper reflection might increasingly…
Oversimplifcation
Oversimplification means to be simple, past our limits. The minimal becomes an obsession. Frugality becomes a fetish. We engage in the complex, just to be simple. Oversimplification is not the point. When simplicity becomes its own fixation, it defeats its own purpose. Ranjeeth Thunga penned under name “Sim___? Li__”
Bringing Philosophy to Education
Education, as its taught in colleges and universities, is out of touch with what really matters. Much of what we learn is abstract facts, skills or knowledge, disconnected from the exploration, let alone understanding, of the underlying purpose and principles of how what we’re learning actually translates to becoming a better human being. To learn…
Conflict
There’s a song called “We didn’t start the fire” by Billy Joel. It is a fascinating chronicle of the sequence of events in our modern history one after another, with the torch of conflict passed from earlier to now. He doesn’t necessarily connect all the dots between the events. He simply enumerates them. But the…
Immaturity and Dysfunction
(article migrated from earlier project, InternalDepth.com) Happy 2018 to everyone! Welcome to a new year of deeper self-understanding! First off, a status update. My experience in 2017 as a learning experience. Once again, a challenging year with lots of lessons. I’ve witnessed firsthand the way lack of mature communications, undefined culture, weak principles, excess fixation…