The Skeptic

Have you seen that movie Contact (1997). Has one of my favorite actors, Jodi Foster. I love that movie. It's got a message, a beautiful one, but scary nonetheless.... Every time you discover something new, depending on how radical your findings are, the opposition you receive is equally proportional. This leads to another thought, we human beings always tend to support existing rules more and have an aversion to new or radically ideas or thoughts.

The more you try to bring in a change, the stronger people will resist it. Often to the point, that logical explanations would be called lies or delusions of your mind.

So does that mean that I start being skeptic as well?

Think for a moment. How do we grow and evolve? How do we find new things? How do we create new things?

It all starts with a new and at times radical idea. If we all had followed the same rule over and over and over again, I guess we would still be living in forests and eating raw meat. So it's essential that we accept changes and be open to them. But only if things were as simple...

Consider this scenario - as part of my new job, I meet a lot of people. I tell them how to do a few things in a certain way, and how to improve the existing processes. I certainly don't have a degree in process optimization, but I make my presentations and a few people seem to like it.

So I recently met this gentleman who's a Regional Sales Manager with an electric equipment manufacturer. He told me his problem and I proposed a solution. He liked the idea of getting an outsider's view and agreed to let me help. I would obviously be paid a certain agreed amount if it worked, and a certain agreed minimum amount if he called off the whole project or did not like the results.

So that's how it started. After some two weeks of analysis of some data I felt were relevant, I suggested the necessary changes. And voila, the skeptic shows up. One of the people affected by my recommendations raised an objection. I presented the necessary facts based on the data collected and the mutually agreed assumptions. Very late into the discussions and after some two hours of long conversation I found out that the only reason he objected was because he thought that my Ideas were too radical. No one's ever tried it before. Maybe it works in the outsourcing industry, does not mean it will work equally well in the manufacturing industry. It is bound to fail. We reasoned a little and with a little help was able to convince, or let me admit, arm-twist him into doing it.

That brings me back to the original question, why resist something you don't really know about?

Is it really a part of our nature? Or is it the risk involved that stops us from trying new ideas?

Even after questioning myself so many times, I can't really reach a conclusion. Even I do the same thing every now n then. I just wrote a whole article on this topic, but I know that when I go the restaurant tonight, I will order my tried and tested dishes and the same good old drink I order every single time. Until the day, the Chef comes out and says that the new dish he added to the menu is just wonderful. Everybody liked it. I will like it too...

Wait a minute, that answers my question... Did it answer yours?

Prisoner of My own Device...

Yesterday was so bright,
Sun still shining, in the moonlit sky,
And that rainbow,
The one that’s purple, red, yellow and blue,
Still reminding you of the rain last night,

You could still see the boats,
If you wanted to,
Floating down the road,
Fighting the winds and the waves,

Children in the neighborhood park,
Pushing, shoveling and falling apart,
To songs and to dances,
And some rhyming lyrics too,

Time had no meaning,
And nothing really mattered,
And world was always at peace,
For you could buy all for a penny,

I remember them all,
It was just yesterday,
Or maybe the day before,

It’s quite dark now,
As I sit and look out of my window,
It’s been a while,
that I took a moment to think,
And to Wonder and worry,

I gave up much,
To get too little,
Money for smile,
Delusions for dreams,

The boats floating down the river,
I don’t see them anymore,
I have a desk, and a file now,
and a dark glass window too,

It gives me a view,
of the neighborhood floors,
Full of people lost in time,
Digging out the dirt,
working their times,
like a prison it looks,
Like a dungeon it feels,

The more I try,
the further I sink,
losing my faith,
losing my belief,

Let me say good bye,
let me say Godspeed,
it’s time I moved on,
and followed my dreams…

The gift From Lucifer... the one who questioned...

He dreamt,
of a future unheard of, a future unseen,
dreamt of things they never imagined,
thought of possibilities they said never existed,
he had ideas, and some imagination too,
He could create things, and enjoy them too...

And then the Corruption,
of thought, ideas, and dreams,
they called it enlightenment,
and named it the holy scheme,
they taught him to follow,
and mug up and learn,
to sing like a chorus,
beat like a drum,
a constant hollow sound he turned into...

for a 1000 years, it remained the same, before he asked his first question,
and was branded insane,
they hated, despised and mocked his ways,
he was beaten, bullied and looked upon,
banished from heaven, and banished from hell,

another 1000 years, and the corruption was gone,
he questioned again,
challenged the logic, reasons and the order alike,
he questioned the right and questioned the wrong,
questioned the men and confronted the God,

why must one follow, and why must obey,
why not ask question, but always adapt,
why does it have to be same all the way,
why no deviation, and why not astray,
why's there a road, always chosen for him,
why there's destiny and why there's a fate,
why there's a heaven, and why there's a hell,

his questions are unheard,
unacknowledged till day,
his disobedience punished, and muffled again,
and as it's in heaven,
on earth shall it be,
one must raise his voice
and question the scheme...