Pirates of the Caribbean: the curse of the black pearl

The movie belongs to the mythological genre. Myths are not factual but they are real. It does not deal with facts but it deals with truth. Myths bring out the deeper meaning and the collective archetypes controlling us.

Let me just highlight two myths which are prominently present in the movie.

Myth 1: Girls in general love bad guys. And it usually applies to good looking girls. Elizebeth Swann loves the pirate William Turner and not the well groomed and high achiever Norrington. Historically there are many examples, in recent history – Manthagini’s relationship with Dawood, one law student (girl) who played a key role in the escape of Charles Chopraj etc. Now the million dollar question: Why do beautiful girls get attracted to rogues and gangsters? May be they are more interesting? The good guys are boring and monotonous. May be the risks involved? May be the raw energy they exhibit? Or May be the need for protection? When we were living in the forest, It is the macho man (usually bad guys, good guys go to library not to gym) who could protect women from others . The same instinct might be active in this phenomenon too. There is no conclusive answer; if you are not a rogue and have a girl friend, then you need to live in the constant fear of losing her. The tragedy is that good girls like bad guys and bad girls also like bad guys (Femininist should not take it seriously, take it as a joke - may be a sick joke). Or the other simple solution is that good guys must become priests (There are many ashrams in the country)

Myth 2: The curse of Aztec gold. It is the myth about greed and the effect of greed then the greed to overcome the greed. The curse of Aztec gold is insightful. You can buy anything you want – food, drink, and women – but can’t drive pleasure from any of those. Nothing can kill you, though you can kill anyone, in brief you have ultimate power but you can’t taste the fruit of the victory.

This is the irony of life. The movie is the analogy of power and greed. If you are obsessed with them, then life becomes a curse. Immortality is not a blessing it is a curse. The purpose of life is death; it means that the glory and crescendo of life is death.

Greed and desire for ultimate power kill life and death with one shot, leaving you to survive in eternal boredom. Boredom is the result of losing the ability to enjoy things which excited you once upon a time. Only the memory of the past happiness lingers around, and the ability to experience the reality is vanished into the thin air.

Misery without the memory of happiness will not be miserable at all. What makes the misery more miserable is the fact the other poor mortals are happy and I have lost it even though I have everything.

Rainy Season

In India, it does not rain randomly. It has more or less fixed time and duration. Rainy season lasts two or three months in a year and it is a fair deal. We know it is rain’s time, so we are mentally prepared to face him, we carry umbrella to shield us.

But in Baltimore, the rain has no discipline at all, it rains whenever and wherever it wants. No fixed time, and no fixed duration. And there is no one to control him even with the superpower status. Since rooms are sound proof, you don’t even know whether it is raining or not. You claim down from the second floor carrying lab top and books and when you open the door it is raining. It is then you realize that you have forgotten to take the umbrella. You curse yourself, rain and the entire environment. All cheerful morning gets mortgaged into the gloomy mood. The next day you claim down well prepared to encounter the rain, but there is a bright sun light laughing at your face, mocking at you. The damn rain is a master bluffer in Baltimore.

In life there are so many things which are unpredictable, for example death; everyone knows that it will come definitely and without fail but no one is sure when and where. But everyone has accepted it as an existential nightmare, though not fully reconciled, learned to live with it by ignoring it totally. In this life, which is filled with extreme anomalies, expecting rain to follow some kind of schedule or time table is a reasonable thing. Or is it  too big a favor that gods can’t grand it to poor mortals?

Idealism

Good, not so good, bad, not so bad, in my opinion everyone is an idealist, only degree and intensity varies. People may get disturbed witnessing ideal behavior exhibited by others but do not hate them for that. On a scale of idealism, we can roughly fix the humanity in four distinct places.

Corrupt Idealists (on a scale of 10, around .0002): They believe in idealism at the same time strongly believe that it never works. So all they look for is the short cuts to money, fame and for other necessities of survival needs. They have totally forgotten their desire to be an idealist.

Pragmatic Idealists (on a scale of 10, around 2 or 3): They live by idealism as long as it does not demand serious sacrifices. They follow the rules, if it causes too much of inconvenience then they do not mind overlooking the rules. Art of compromise is essential for them to live in this world.

Vulnerable Idealists (on a scale of 10, around 5 or 6): They speak idealism and live by it. They make sure that everyone knows that they are idealists. They insist that everyone should live an ideal life, and then only the world will be a better place. When they need to pay price for their high moral stand, they do pay it but not happy about it. As a result they may get depressed and frustrated in the longer run of life, in case they are allowed to live longer.

Ideal Idealists (on a scale of 10, around 8 or 9): Their idealism is rooted on and emerges from their experience. For them it is a way of life. They share their wisdom but do not force it on others. They also pay the price but willingly and happily. Socrateses and Bhagat singhs of the world belong to this group, that is the reason Socrates could treat poison as cold drink and swallow it painlessly, and Bhagat singh could kiss the rope on which he was going to be hanged.

I personally feel sympathy for the third group, good guys basically, awareness of idealism mostly at the cognitive level, added to that their innocence and ignorance get mixed up in a complicated manner. They want to change the world in their life time itself; as a result they live in a perpetual turbulence.

Steve Jobs - A Tribute (From a e-mail forward)

Rigidity

Atheist: according to your bible, the earth might have been created by God around 10 thousand years ago. But today scientists have unearthed bones which are few million years old. Don’t you think what is in the bible is nothing but an elaborated story?

Priest:  Yes, God created the earth only 10 thousand years ago and at that time he also buried bones which are million years old in order to confuse people like you.

And Tony Demello makes an observation at the end of this story, “When a reality clash with rigidity, the loser is the reality”.

Being stubborn and rigid has its own advantages. You can answer any question without using much of brain cells and nothing will confuse you in interpreting the life and history, it will free you from all kinds of stress and tension. It is the people who live with you will suffer from blood pressure and loss of sleep. Rigidity also gives certainty. Without any qualm of conscience, you can do anything and justify it effortlessly. And when too much of confusion is in the world and people are clueless about what to do, you will emerge as a natural leader.

And it has only few minor disadvantages. Since you can see things only in black and white, your life will be colorless and dull. When you see people living life to its fullness, you will unconsciously burn with jealousy but consciously will be busy condemning them. You will become the source of division and destruction eventually. Anger will be your dominant emotion; you will live like an angry young man and die as a frustrated old man.

Columbus Day

Once, uncle Raj met one of his nephews after few years of time and said to him, “Oh, Henry you have changed a lot. You were so thin, now you are so fat; you were very fair, now you are dark; you were so tall, now you are so short.” exasperated nephew corrected him saying, “ Uncle I am not Henry, I am John.” His uncle without bating his eyelids replied, “Oh my God, you changed your name too.”

On this day, when Columbus is remembered for his discovery of America, the story above mentioned flashed through my mind. Because something similar might have taken place when Columbus encountered the chief of Native American:

Columbus: Oh my God, you people were brownish, now you look redish; you guys were wearing cotton and silk, now you are wearing leather outfits; you were thin, now full of muscles; you Indians have changed a lot.

Chief: Sorry man, we are not Indians, we are Americans

Columbus: You people changed your name too, remember that you should not cut off from your original name, and so let’s call you Red Indians.

It is said that the map Columbus used was filled with major errors, yet he could land on America due to his determination and perseverance. So the lesson is If you persevere with hope, even a wrong map can lead you to right destination, in his case better destination.

If you look long enough and hard enough you will find what you look for otherwise don't worry, your mind will create one for you, which means the history will hail you either as a great visionary or a mad man with guts (both names are worth possessing).

And the story of Columbus reaffirms one more truth: the perception is the reality. New way to Indies was his dream; so according to him new people have to be Indians, red or blue did not matter. 

Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach

He was the top man for Jesuits for more than 20 years. He is a man of deep spirituality, though the position he occupied was for life time, he stepped down citing his ill health and the need for young leadership for Jesuits.

Once a journalist asked him about his experience of working at Syria, since the government is very suspicious of priests. How did he manage to survive in a country that is not so friendly? Fr.Kolvenbach recollected his pleasant memories of the country and then finally said, “Ya, sometime it is challenging. The Government used to send spies to monitor us and report about what we preach during the mass, but it was not a big problem since we know exactly who the spies were”.

The journalist was surprised and questioned, “Do you mean to say that you had ‘counter spy system’ to identify the spies?” Fr.Kolvenbach replied, “No, nothing of that sort, usually people sleep during the sermon or when we preach, only the spies listen to it intently, from this we come to know who the spies were.”

Though I have never said it, intuitively I have always known that it is the good and innocent students who sleep in my class.

Consistency

Few of my friends have pointed out that I am not consistent in my arguments and explanations. And they are absolutely correct.

Not contradicting one’s own statements is the hall mark of a rational mind. Non-contradiction is the basis of western philosophy, and it was promoted by none other than Aristotle.

Niels Bohr could defend quantum physics from the onslaught of Einstein only by repeatedly reminding him that he is developing the new science based on the theory of relativity, and it is Einstein who is responsible for this mind numbing theory called  relativity.

In fact, a person who is consistent is seen as a genuine and honest person. ‘Man of integrity’ is the label he gets. 


Immanuel Kant is the epitome of consistency; in every aspect of his life we see nothing but orderliness and consistency. And Kant was a professor. No wonder, we the faculty repeat the same thing year after year inside the class rooms.

I am an expert at repetition. Repeating the same lessons and same jokes is becoming a second nature to me. The funny thing is that every time when I tell a joke, I laugh loudly even if students are serious and quite.

That is the reason; I contradict my own statements outside the class room. In fact, for me there isn’t much difference between consistency and the state of boredom. Repeating same things in different words or same ideas in different format drives me crazy. To keep myself normal I need to keep contradicting. 


I agree with the gentlemen (I think it is B.Shaw, but not sure) who said, “Consistency is a virtue of donkey.” I change my arguments not because that I am not a donkey and that I have stumbled upon new facts or I have become wiser, I change for the sake of changing, to avoid boredom. If my logic does not make sense, just relax.

Memory Loss



Few years back one of my friend’s mother was diagnosed to be suffering from cancer, and the doctor advised for chemotherapy.  The side-effect of this therapy is loss of hair. She lost completely her hair, and when she looked at the mirror she screamed. The worst and sad part of the entire situation was that she also suffers from memory loss. She forgets about the chemotherapy and also the fact that she has lost hair, so whenever she looks at the mirror; it becomes the first experience of seeing herself without hair, so she screams every time she looks at the mirror.

Human beings can get used to any unfortunate event; first time we think that it is the end of the world, but facing it again and again repeatedly, mind gets used to it and resilience is created, and eventually we learn to accept and bounce back. If one has lost the memory, then this mechanism of creating the resilience is lost, and the person goes through the trauma time and again. It is the saddest part of living – the denial of resilience, the inability to bounce back.

Resilience is the hall mark of a human being. The day we lose it we become a slave and a zombie; died but waiting for funeral. The first sign of slavery is the loss of creativity and repeating the same actions without any purpose and without any goal. Unfortunately we do encounter many people in this state of living; the funny thing is that they haven’t lost the memory. And it is truly sad when some young people living their life in this state of existence.