Dear Mark,
This is what you said to me.
>Philosopher, John Gray observes that we have an ever increasing world population competing for an ever diminishing supply of non-renewable resources. Unless we all work together to solve the problems this will inevitably create, this is a recipe for disaster<
These are my views on that viewpoint expressed by you.
..............................
It is better to worry about worldly matters than about material; even better to worry about spiritual matters than worldly matters.
This does not mean we should totally ignore material, worldly matters. The difference of interest to be shown in those things (in degrees) is explained in the quotation above. If you ask me if there is anything more wonderful and more complex than human mind, then I don’t have an answer to offer. As far as I can see and understand, the most complex and wonderful object I have ever found is the “human mind”. It is as deep as Ocean and as complex as a dense Forest.
We are HR professionals, we do the job of “indirectly contributing” to the process of creation of wealth all over the world. We need to know what motivates human beings, in their thinking patterns and their working patterns. I am deeply surprised by the discovery of the fact that most often the behavior of human beings, their thinking patterns and working patterns are governed by their emotions and feelings rather than by their ability to reason. And I am disturbed by it because if at all we can motivate human beings to use their reasoning faculties rather than being swayed away by emotions and feelings, then we can help the process of transfer of wealth from richer to poorer sections of the world population, but we fail to do so.
This is important because the Planet Earth can satisfy the needs of human beings not their greed (Mahatma Gandhi). That is why as responsible habitats of this planet we must learn to use the natural resources as optimally as possible and utilize the material (wealth) produced of it the most optimum way possible.
What comes in the way of this noble cause is the complexity of human mind itself!
For instance I have the story of my own family members to tell.
Till the end of last month I used to stay with my parents in their house. Because of some reasons, I am compelled to shift to another city and they are compelled to shift to another city. We vacated the house during the last week of the month. I had my PC, TV and some books…to shift to the new house (near my sister’s place) in the new city. In my room, there was lot of unused material. I wanted to give off all that material in charity to one of the servants who worked at our house. During the shifting process, my father was confused and scared which objects he shall shift, which objects he shall ignore, which objects I will take, which objects he will take and so on.
I had a philosophy about “art of living”. We should keep as few things as possible in our houses if we cannot afford to clean them up every day. One new thing we bring into the house, our work increases because we have to clean the dust accumulated to it. That is why we should keep as few things at home as possible so that we can keep our house clean and so that we can clean our house easily and fastly. When we rise to such a position wherein we can appoint one worker to clean all the objects in the house, then only we should keep all the things (that we use for interior decoration) in the house.
And whatever things we need to run a small house, like Refrigerator, TV, Fans, Cots, Stove, Utensils for cooking etc., we can purchase just by spending Rs.50000/- or so.
When we have capacity to earn Rs.30000/- per month we should not worry about the material we have at home. That is my philosophy about “art of living”.
So I told my father, “my property is my PC, my TV and these books, rest of the things I am going to give off to Krishnaveni …(the maid servant who worked at our home)…”.
My father did not like the idea at all because he did not want to give off the things that he (or we) purchased for money to servant just like that. He became jealous of the thought that our servant would enjoy all those things I leave for nothing. He started searching what are all the things in my room that he purchased so that he can at least avoid giving off those things by me to the servant.
He found a heap of Cassettes gathering dust in one almirah. After I left the job in North India I stayed with him for almost 4 years. During those four years, he never heard one song of those cassettes! He had a Tape recorder and Cassette player that he purchased more to show off to others than to hear songs. He bundled the Cassette player and speakers and stored it in store room for all those four years. In other words, not to speak of cassettes, even the Tape recorder-cum- Cassette player itself is a burden on him.
But he did not want to get rid of that burden because, he did not want to allow others to enjoy it. We purchased it for money, why should we give it off free for others? Does anyone give anything free of cost to us when we need it?
These are all the arguments that people often make, and my father is no exception to it.
He will allow that tape recorder-cum-cassette player to gather dust and in that process become dysfunctional, and after 10 years or so, (if he is still alive) he will throw it away.
I feel, “how nice if he can give off that object to someone who need it or someone who has a desire to own it and enjoy it, so that they don’t have to purchase a new one from market. If my father gives off that object in charity, then one tape-recorder cum cassette player will not be purchased from the market. If one tape-recorder cum cassette player is not purchased from the market, then one producer will have to produce one of it less. In other words, one manufacturer will not use the Earth’s resources as much as he uses to make on Tape recorder-cum-cassette player. That is how we save the “natural resources” on this planet.
That is how we use the wealth produced optimally. That is how we save and preserve the depleting natural resources for the future generations.
Once we search any house in the world, we will find so much of unused material that could be of help/use to others. But what comes in the way of giving off all that unused material to poor people is our own attachment towards objects. There is no reason why people are attached to objects and keep them at home thinking this will be of use to me some day or the other. But that day never comes. A cement bag kept in the store room never comes out and it is forgotten by the owner of the house himself that he has it in his store room. And when he needs a cement bag for any repair, he will purchase a new one from the market!
That is why wise people said, “It is better to worry about worldly matters than about material; even better to worry about spiritual matters than worldly matters….”.
After I shifted my material to my sister’s house, I found so many objects here that she kept in her small house which almost looks like a Villain’s den. When I was eating food, I encounter so many insects. Yesterday when I was eating food, one spider came into my food to share it. I left the food as it is and took a new plate.
Lizards say Hello to me from the roof of the house. Every object inside the house is full of dust, but there is no way she gets the idea to get rid of those objects. That is a small house they stay. But they themselves say, because of the exhorbitant rise in real estate prices, that small house, the area occupied by that small house costs around Rs.18 lacs!
Now tell me when they are capable of getting 18 lacs by selling off that house, why should they worry about these small objects that does not cost even Rs.10000/- for them if their cost is totaled?
My brother-in-law took the Life membership of Country club spending Rs.40000/-. He spent another Rs.50000/- or so to construct a small temple in his village. He is a small employee in a small cooperative Bank. He cannot actually afford to do all that. But what motivated him to spend like this is, his inclination to get name and fame from his villagers, friends and relatives.
On the other side, my sister’s kitchen has grown dark with the smoke emanating from the stove. There is so much of dust gathered inside the kitchen around and inside the dust, spider’s webs, they have so many insects moving around. It just takes Rs.500/- to get it white-washed. They did not get the idea for the last 18 years or so, to get it white washed. If they get it white-washed once, so many insects will die and the room will look livable.
What is the reason…why my brother-in-law could spend Rs.50000/- to construct a temple in his village and Rs.40000/- to take Life membership of Country club, but he did not get the idea to get his house white-washed so that he could avoid insects falling into his plate when he eats food?
There is no reason why she has kept so many small, small objects in her house and living without being capable of cleaning them? I have discovered a big Jacket that I left in her house when I came 8 years back on the top of one wooden frame kept to throw away unused articles! That has been gathering dust there and so many little insects have started their families inside that Jacket.
I questioned my sister about so many objects. There are four legs of one cot, kept in the kitchen gathering dust. I asked my sister why did you keep them. She said, if you throw them away, your brother-in-law will scold me, he wants them to be kept.
Just see the ignorance of people!
I told my sister my philosophy. It just requires Rs.50000/- or so to get whatever material you want to make a living in a house, don’t worry about all these things, “can’t we afford to send Rs.50000/- or so when we need to spend on these objects….?”. I told her, “I will give you all the money you require in future to purchase objects such as these, now you get rid of all these unused things so that you don’t make your house a Hell…”.
She is convinced with my logic, but she is scared of my brother-in-law.
Just see how complex and unreasonable the human mind is!
They have kept all the objects without having time to clean them up, without having capacity to clean them up so that they can avoid gathering dust, and gathering insects, spiders, spider web around them etc. They themselves are capable of spending Rs.50000/- or so to purchase all those objects if they construct a new house. But their attachment to old articles have at present made their lives miserable. When they eat, we don’t know how many insects they eat along with their food!
My purpose of writing this to HR community is to think about it seriously.
Spend one Holiday paying a visit to unused and old articles kept in your storage places, store rooms, almirahs etc in your house. Say "hello" to every object and "good bye" to every unused object. It is time worth spending for your happiness and also for the happiness of all those people who benefit from your charity.
If you are not using them, just throw them away if they are of no use, or if they are of use to somebody else, and you don’t have interest to use, donate them to needy people!
There are millions of poor people in India who will willingly take what we offer to them, even if what we offer to them are old objects.
That will serve the cause of “transfer of wealth” from rich to poor and also it will make your lives easier and happier, and the lives of people who receive such objects happier because they can better enjoy the objects you offer to them in charity than you can!
thanks and regards,
Chandrasekhar
From India, Hyderabad
3This is what you said to me.
>Philosopher, John Gray observes that we have an ever increasing world population competing for an ever diminishing supply of non-renewable resources. Unless we all work together to solve the problems this will inevitably create, this is a recipe for disaster<
These are my views on that viewpoint expressed by you.
..............................
It is better to worry about worldly matters than about material; even better to worry about spiritual matters than worldly matters.
This does not mean we should totally ignore material, worldly matters. The difference of interest to be shown in those things (in degrees) is explained in the quotation above. If you ask me if there is anything more wonderful and more complex than human mind, then I don’t have an answer to offer. As far as I can see and understand, the most complex and wonderful object I have ever found is the “human mind”. It is as deep as Ocean and as complex as a dense Forest.
We are HR professionals, we do the job of “indirectly contributing” to the process of creation of wealth all over the world. We need to know what motivates human beings, in their thinking patterns and their working patterns. I am deeply surprised by the discovery of the fact that most often the behavior of human beings, their thinking patterns and working patterns are governed by their emotions and feelings rather than by their ability to reason. And I am disturbed by it because if at all we can motivate human beings to use their reasoning faculties rather than being swayed away by emotions and feelings, then we can help the process of transfer of wealth from richer to poorer sections of the world population, but we fail to do so.
This is important because the Planet Earth can satisfy the needs of human beings not their greed (Mahatma Gandhi). That is why as responsible habitats of this planet we must learn to use the natural resources as optimally as possible and utilize the material (wealth) produced of it the most optimum way possible.
What comes in the way of this noble cause is the complexity of human mind itself!
For instance I have the story of my own family members to tell.
Till the end of last month I used to stay with my parents in their house. Because of some reasons, I am compelled to shift to another city and they are compelled to shift to another city. We vacated the house during the last week of the month. I had my PC, TV and some books…to shift to the new house (near my sister’s place) in the new city. In my room, there was lot of unused material. I wanted to give off all that material in charity to one of the servants who worked at our house. During the shifting process, my father was confused and scared which objects he shall shift, which objects he shall ignore, which objects I will take, which objects he will take and so on.
I had a philosophy about “art of living”. We should keep as few things as possible in our houses if we cannot afford to clean them up every day. One new thing we bring into the house, our work increases because we have to clean the dust accumulated to it. That is why we should keep as few things at home as possible so that we can keep our house clean and so that we can clean our house easily and fastly. When we rise to such a position wherein we can appoint one worker to clean all the objects in the house, then only we should keep all the things (that we use for interior decoration) in the house.
And whatever things we need to run a small house, like Refrigerator, TV, Fans, Cots, Stove, Utensils for cooking etc., we can purchase just by spending Rs.50000/- or so.
When we have capacity to earn Rs.30000/- per month we should not worry about the material we have at home. That is my philosophy about “art of living”.
So I told my father, “my property is my PC, my TV and these books, rest of the things I am going to give off to Krishnaveni …(the maid servant who worked at our home)…”.
My father did not like the idea at all because he did not want to give off the things that he (or we) purchased for money to servant just like that. He became jealous of the thought that our servant would enjoy all those things I leave for nothing. He started searching what are all the things in my room that he purchased so that he can at least avoid giving off those things by me to the servant.
He found a heap of Cassettes gathering dust in one almirah. After I left the job in North India I stayed with him for almost 4 years. During those four years, he never heard one song of those cassettes! He had a Tape recorder and Cassette player that he purchased more to show off to others than to hear songs. He bundled the Cassette player and speakers and stored it in store room for all those four years. In other words, not to speak of cassettes, even the Tape recorder-cum- Cassette player itself is a burden on him.
But he did not want to get rid of that burden because, he did not want to allow others to enjoy it. We purchased it for money, why should we give it off free for others? Does anyone give anything free of cost to us when we need it?
These are all the arguments that people often make, and my father is no exception to it.
He will allow that tape recorder-cum-cassette player to gather dust and in that process become dysfunctional, and after 10 years or so, (if he is still alive) he will throw it away.
I feel, “how nice if he can give off that object to someone who need it or someone who has a desire to own it and enjoy it, so that they don’t have to purchase a new one from market. If my father gives off that object in charity, then one tape-recorder cum cassette player will not be purchased from the market. If one tape-recorder cum cassette player is not purchased from the market, then one producer will have to produce one of it less. In other words, one manufacturer will not use the Earth’s resources as much as he uses to make on Tape recorder-cum-cassette player. That is how we save the “natural resources” on this planet.
That is how we use the wealth produced optimally. That is how we save and preserve the depleting natural resources for the future generations.
Once we search any house in the world, we will find so much of unused material that could be of help/use to others. But what comes in the way of giving off all that unused material to poor people is our own attachment towards objects. There is no reason why people are attached to objects and keep them at home thinking this will be of use to me some day or the other. But that day never comes. A cement bag kept in the store room never comes out and it is forgotten by the owner of the house himself that he has it in his store room. And when he needs a cement bag for any repair, he will purchase a new one from the market!
That is why wise people said, “It is better to worry about worldly matters than about material; even better to worry about spiritual matters than worldly matters….”.
After I shifted my material to my sister’s house, I found so many objects here that she kept in her small house which almost looks like a Villain’s den. When I was eating food, I encounter so many insects. Yesterday when I was eating food, one spider came into my food to share it. I left the food as it is and took a new plate.
Lizards say Hello to me from the roof of the house. Every object inside the house is full of dust, but there is no way she gets the idea to get rid of those objects. That is a small house they stay. But they themselves say, because of the exhorbitant rise in real estate prices, that small house, the area occupied by that small house costs around Rs.18 lacs!
Now tell me when they are capable of getting 18 lacs by selling off that house, why should they worry about these small objects that does not cost even Rs.10000/- for them if their cost is totaled?
My brother-in-law took the Life membership of Country club spending Rs.40000/-. He spent another Rs.50000/- or so to construct a small temple in his village. He is a small employee in a small cooperative Bank. He cannot actually afford to do all that. But what motivated him to spend like this is, his inclination to get name and fame from his villagers, friends and relatives.
On the other side, my sister’s kitchen has grown dark with the smoke emanating from the stove. There is so much of dust gathered inside the kitchen around and inside the dust, spider’s webs, they have so many insects moving around. It just takes Rs.500/- to get it white-washed. They did not get the idea for the last 18 years or so, to get it white washed. If they get it white-washed once, so many insects will die and the room will look livable.
What is the reason…why my brother-in-law could spend Rs.50000/- to construct a temple in his village and Rs.40000/- to take Life membership of Country club, but he did not get the idea to get his house white-washed so that he could avoid insects falling into his plate when he eats food?
There is no reason why she has kept so many small, small objects in her house and living without being capable of cleaning them? I have discovered a big Jacket that I left in her house when I came 8 years back on the top of one wooden frame kept to throw away unused articles! That has been gathering dust there and so many little insects have started their families inside that Jacket.
I questioned my sister about so many objects. There are four legs of one cot, kept in the kitchen gathering dust. I asked my sister why did you keep them. She said, if you throw them away, your brother-in-law will scold me, he wants them to be kept.
Just see the ignorance of people!
I told my sister my philosophy. It just requires Rs.50000/- or so to get whatever material you want to make a living in a house, don’t worry about all these things, “can’t we afford to send Rs.50000/- or so when we need to spend on these objects….?”. I told her, “I will give you all the money you require in future to purchase objects such as these, now you get rid of all these unused things so that you don’t make your house a Hell…”.
She is convinced with my logic, but she is scared of my brother-in-law.
Just see how complex and unreasonable the human mind is!
They have kept all the objects without having time to clean them up, without having capacity to clean them up so that they can avoid gathering dust, and gathering insects, spiders, spider web around them etc. They themselves are capable of spending Rs.50000/- or so to purchase all those objects if they construct a new house. But their attachment to old articles have at present made their lives miserable. When they eat, we don’t know how many insects they eat along with their food!
My purpose of writing this to HR community is to think about it seriously.
Spend one Holiday paying a visit to unused and old articles kept in your storage places, store rooms, almirahs etc in your house. Say "hello" to every object and "good bye" to every unused object. It is time worth spending for your happiness and also for the happiness of all those people who benefit from your charity.
If you are not using them, just throw them away if they are of no use, or if they are of use to somebody else, and you don’t have interest to use, donate them to needy people!
There are millions of poor people in India who will willingly take what we offer to them, even if what we offer to them are old objects.
That will serve the cause of “transfer of wealth” from rich to poor and also it will make your lives easier and happier, and the lives of people who receive such objects happier because they can better enjoy the objects you offer to them in charity than you can!
thanks and regards,
Chandrasekhar
From India, Hyderabad
Dear Mark,
The following is one reply I have given to one of the members of this forum when she asked, how to help underprivileged people. That appeared to be relevant for our discussion too, because if companies allow two persons to do one job, then the commitment level will be more because even if one person quits, the other will remain.
This is purely lateral thinking, I have written it from the point of view of Indian conditions. These ideas may also help the Western countries....
Thanks and regards
Chandrasekhar.
From India, Hyderabad
The following is one reply I have given to one of the members of this forum when she asked, how to help underprivileged people. That appeared to be relevant for our discussion too, because if companies allow two persons to do one job, then the commitment level will be more because even if one person quits, the other will remain.
This is purely lateral thinking, I have written it from the point of view of Indian conditions. These ideas may also help the Western countries....
Thanks and regards
Chandrasekhar.
From India, Hyderabad
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