Meat for Thought - You are what you Eat! Meat = Life = Suffering = Transcendence?

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." has been attributed to be quoted by Mohandas Gandhi. In India, our animals aren't treated well at all. Night owls would have noticed meat vans cooped up with live chicken, goats and cows being transported to various destinations. These animals have suffered a LOT during their final 36 hours at minimum. Imminent knowledge of death, starvation, suffocation, injected with steroids and growth hormones to mature faster, witnessing the death of loved ones, friends and relatives. Literally horror movies to experience before it is their turn to get the chop. This changes the physiology of the animal - the horror, the torment, sadness and ultimately the suffering.

We ingest this suffering and we are what we eat, regardless of whether we eat to live or live to eat. We thrive on suffering. Speaking of suffering, Herman Hesse eloquently put in his book - Siddhartha that "'The river knows everything; one can learn everything from it. You have already learned from the river that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek the depths.' ...
Was it not a comedy, a strange and stupid thing, this repetition, this course of events in a fateful circle?...
The river laughed. Yes, that was how it was. Everything that was not suffered to the end and finally concluded, recurred, and the same sorrows were undergone."

Richard Dawkins contemplated in his book - River of out Eden: A Darwinian View of Life - "The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."

Kahlil Gibran chimed in “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

This started to make sense now, 

To be continued...

The Land of the Rising Sun

A photo-journal of my time spent in Japan... Arigatou Gozaimasu!!

Beautiful Robots

Rōnin (浪人): A Masterless Samurai (circa 1185 A.D)

Rōnin (浪人) with a little Ninja (忍者)!! (circa 1185 A.D)

Fried Scorpions

An ode to the Absinthe Drinker

Title

Life is but an act
And you just play a part
So practice for your part
(Like a method actor)

~Niranjan Joseph

I got the tear you wept for me last night, my Dear

I got the Tear you wept for me last night, my Dear.
Richard Bach said: "Can miles truly separate you from friends...
If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?"
Ah! Yes, you were my friend indeed. One of my best friends!
You know we can still meet at merely a whim.
In a parallel universe, on the internet or even better, in a Dream!

I got the Tear you wept for me last night, my Dear.
I felt it last night. I remembered it this morning.
It was something so powerful it branded itself on me.
It calms me, it troubles me, it brings me joy.
Makes me sad and makes me glad. Eventually driving me mad!
Finally leaving me in the last streams of smoke I exhale tonight.

Oh, I'll be fine in the morning... I need to retire to the Dream Realm...
See you there! ;)

"Tear Drop" © Ilona Wellmann

As Tears Go By - A Review

It is the evening of the day

I sit and watch the children play

Smiling faces I can see

But not for me

I sit and watch

As tears go by

My riches can't buy everything

I want to hear the children sing

All I hear is the sound

Of rain falling on the ground

I sit and watch

As tears go by

It is the evening of the day

I sit and watch the children play

Doin' things I used to do

They think are new

I sit and watch

As tears go by

(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

This story starts with Michael and Keith of the Stones writing a pop song after being forced to by their manager Andrew. Considering the fact that the song was too pop for a blues band, they ditched it and Andrew chose Marianne, a 17 year old whom he met at a party to sing and release it and the song became an instant hit in 1964.

Marianne's version was a perfect pop song for the summer of '64 - upbeat, chirpy, lively and joyful... Though the song's lyrics were more sombre in nature thus making it melancholic. What else could we expect from a 17 yr old who hadn't really lived and endured the bed of thorn roses called Life? Needless to say, the song was a big hit eventually leading Michael and Keith to perform it in their 1965 album as they were now progressing towards a more rhythm and blues outfit with the occasional ballad.

Stones' version was obviously still 'under aged' for the song as Michael was then 21 but the accompanying music - a 12-string guitar played by Big Jim Sullivan and an intricate string arrangement by Mike Leander, being much more mature and emoting well, carried the song. Michael's charming british accent helped as well. Moving on, Michael and Marianne got into a relationship and then they broke up after a few years but by then she was completely addicted to all the vices of the era.

Marianne went through divorces, drug addictions, a miscarriage, illnesses, homeless experiences, broke scenes, suicide attempts, relationships, depression etc. She did have a comeback in the music industry to a lukewarm response. She finally made peace with her past and reached full circle when she performed the same song which catapulted her into that life of excess. This version, in 1987 - 22 years from when she debuted it, is a much more haunting, sombre, experienced, intelligent, honest and retrospective version as the song was meant to be written and sung. She had indeed lived, braved and endured the bed of thorn roses called Life! She still performs to this day...

~ The End ~

Niranjan Joseph

Writing Influences:

#ish

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (1965): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhPPJ5dolxU

The Rolling Stones - As Tears Go By {1965}: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLm_vVUhH5s

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By [1987]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_pcKtAcuuU

Wikipedia

P.S.: I put it through the acid test - my 9 year old nephew and he sampled all the three versions (God bless his kind heart for putting up with me) and he liked Marianne's 1987 version but confirmed the Stones' version to be the best. "More melodic", he said, I've got to agree with him here. It was their song to begin with...

Further Reading:

But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas! http://srialakhniranjan.blogspot.in/2011/09/but-its-all-right-now.html

My Life According to: The Rolling Stones

My artist: THE ROLLING STONES

Are you a male or female? MONKEY MAN!!

Describe yourself? JUMPIN' JACK FLASH

How do you feel? COOL, CALM, COLLECTED

Describe where you currently live: IN ANOTHER LAND, 2000 LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? MEMORY MOTEL

Your best friend is? ANGIE

Your favorite color is? PAINT IT BLACK

What's the weather like? GET OFF MY CLOUD

Favorite time of day? UNDERCOVER OF THE NIGHT

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called? (I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION

What is life to you? IT'S ONLY ROCK & ROLL (BUT I LIKE IT)

Your relationship? LOVE IS STRONG

Your Fear? I GO WILD

What is the best advice you have to give? YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

If you could change your name, you would change it to: MIDNIGHT RAMBLER

Thought for the day? TIME IS ON MY SIDE

How would you like to die? HAPPY

Your soul's present condition? SOUL SURVIVOR

Your motto? SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

The Butterfly Doctor

There was a little boy
Who found a beautiful butterfly
Lying in the garden, hurt
He picked it up and took good care of it
Slowly the butterfly recovered
And was able to fly again
Then one day the butterfly left him
The little boy was very sad
'I saved its life', he said
'When I found it, it was as good as dead
Has it no gratitude?'
He moped in solitude
In Silence, he realized that he had done his part
And he had done it well
That Butterfly wasn't going to forget him ever
Wherever it may fly
It would be an living example of his love and care
After a few days when he went to play
He found another butterfly with broken wings
He took it up gently and decided to nurse it back to health
He has since been known as 'The Butterfly Doctor'