God Send

I tried to replace the side view mirror of my old Saturn Ion, destroyed after backing up from the garage and hitting the garbage receptacle, ordered the part online but received a different model. So I called the help desk and got a new part mailed to me though I need to send back the previous one, having to pay shipping cost because it was my mistake. It would have caused me about USD 100 if I had it repaired at an outside work shop, but instead found a YouTube video on how to change the mirror and ordering it online. I had high hopes on Saturday afternoon when I was ready to change the part; I bought a socket wrench at home depot and some kitchen utilities, coming back home excited to replace the mirror but finding out that the screws didn’t align to the proper places. It was deflating but in a way it efficient to call the help center and have everything sorted out, an amazing thing to do, realizing that the staff maybe half way around the world, likely in my own home country, going over a script on how to assist customers in another country , working with their computer systems to address problems thousands of miles away.

It was a good weekend coming into Friday evening with the news that my relative’s hospital bills, at least the major ones involving his operation and hospital stay, has been paid by the state medical insurance, like a gift from heaven. It was a God send and praise the Lord because there is someone up there helping and that our prayers have been answered, difficult to believe that such a thing is possible, giving one hope that everything will finally be settled. So there was a good mood all through the weekend, though my wife was not feeling well and could not attend the lunch scheduled on Sunday. The occasion was for a visit by a colleague from the home country, here for several months of training, coming together with friends with an excellent lunch of stuffed crabs, spicy glass noodles with Shrimp, barbecue pork and shrimps, steamed fish in soy sauce, rice and ice cream, apple crisp and tiramisu. We drank Chianti wine and lemon juice together with the lunch, and the obligatory picture taking. There was good conversation but eventually we seemed to have run out of topics, although there was laughter and jokes, it seemed strained and thought that the other guests were bored.

We played golf, nine holes after lunch, finishing at 5:30 pm, enjoying the weather after the cold spell last week, enjoying the sunshine outdoors. I had started the day vacuuming the house, removing  the dust and dirt after several weeks of installing curtains, drilling holes in the wall, afterwards cooking breakfast and preparing the desert cooked last night, thinking that I would be exhausted at the end of the day after playing  golf. But I was not tired coming home, invigorated somehow and watching 2 episodes of ‘Downton Abbey’, afterwards rushing through the magazines that I needed to return to the library tomorrow, missing the show ‘Sherlock Holmes’ but ready for bed by 11 pm. I had trouble sleeping, drifting in and out of sleep throughout the night, rising from bed near 6 am and going to the gym to swim. I felt good after the weekend, starting with the Friday news and the phone conference with my siblings, working on the house and paying my bills on Sunday morning before the lunch occasion and the game of golf. It was liberating because I had a chance to enjoy and have fun with friends though sad that my wife missed the event, but glad that I did not need to prepare and organize this occasion and ready to have others take care of the work, receding in the background and let others take charge.

Mastermind

.I just finished an interesting book that uses a fictional character, albeit a world famous one, in getting the subject across - the technique of scientific thinking. Sherlock Holmes, the legendary fictional detective is used as a guide to develop a ‘mastermind’, in a non-fictional work loaded with interesting insight from a Harvard trained psychologist. Her prose is interesting at times but clinical and dense most of the time, possibly because her work started as a PhD thesis and evolved into a book. The author cites several writers whose work I admire like Daniel Pink, Steven Pinker and Daniel Kahneman- the Nobel Prize winning economist. Her work follows the trendy oeuvre of writers like Malcolm Gladwell, Nassim Taleb and the writers of ‘Freakonomics’, intelligent books that dispel common truths and deliver counter-intuitive conclusions, opening a new world with the vision of new eyes, after revealing the ‘real truth’ behind the everyday façade. These works attempt to explain or popularize new theories in economics, cognitive research, psychology, statistics and social science in a hip and modern style with a conscious attempt to avoid academic taint; oftentimes upending the prevailing wisdom

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Sherlock Holmes in my mind, typified the rigor of disciplined thinking, of pure logic, like Mr. Spock the Vulcan in Star Trek, transplanted in Victorian England to solve mysterious crimes. But the author goes farther than that, focusing on the idea of attention and stillness, more Eastern in theory than Western, but effective nevertheless. One of her statement is ‘the most powerful mind is a silent mind,’ a sentence that would not be misplaced in a Buddhist sutra or a Zen manuscript, which makes her writing all the more appealing, a mix of the standard Aristotelian logic and the mindfulness teachings of Buddhism. She points out that mindfulness and focus is the key, at the same time encouraging the mind to wander; to increase its stock of knowledge, a contradiction that would exist in any ‘koan’ or Buddhist aphorisms. Hence, Sherlock Holmes is revealed to be a modern version of a ‘mastermind’ that combines the scientific discipline of clear logical thinking and the mindfulness achieved through meditation and focus; recognizable to Eastern mystics or later day practitioners like Eckhart Tolle and Werner Erhard.

Perhaps it is her Russian background, where the east and west comingle, the influence of Europe and the renaissance coupled with the mysticism of Central Asia, where the blood of the Khans and the Moguls mixed with the Caucasian hue of Christian orthodoxy (like a journey to Harvard via Moscow). The concept of a ‘mastermind’ is an interesting idea that can be used for every day problem solving, at work or at any task, in correcting one’s thinking or removing cognitive bias; by improving meditation and mindfulness, thereby increasing productivity and reducing stress – ingredients of a readymade bestseller in the best tradition of DIY. What is the lesson for aspiring writers? I guess it is to create focus when writing, to use creativity and the imagination when creating stories and having the discipline to work (or to write regularly). The sections of her book offer a road toward developing a ‘mastermind’:

1.    Understand Yourself
2.    From Observation to Imagination
3.    Art of Deduction
4.    Science and Art of Self-Knowledge

As one can see in the outline, one does not normally associate these topics to solving crimes or scientific or logical thinking but to self-help works of improving one’s cognition as in psychological therapy. Nevertheless, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable, original and enriching book.

During the weekend, as I rushed to finish reading the book, we watched a marathon 10 hours of Downton Abbey’s Season 3, a wonderful glimpse of English lords and their estates during and after the first world war, just about the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his fictional detective at their peak. Downton Abbey is arguably one of the greatest series ever created, the portrayal of the English upper class is magnificent; not only the story of a certain family but the epitome of refinement and panache of a race of man, when the British Empire ruled the world with their application of clear logical thinking and their appreciation of Shakespeare with his keen understanding of politics and the ruling class (i.e. a glimpse inside their brain attic). To complete the circle, I also watched the classic Laurence Olivier’s film ‘Richard III’ and the Broadway play ‘Hamlet’ directed by John Gielgud and starring Richard Burton, possibly the best Hamlet ever. To balance the whole picture, I am listening to Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ about India during the time of independence from England, an enjoyable book that should rank as a modern classic – a template for aspiring writers on the subject of national identity.

Decline Begins with a Large House

A larger home brings space to one’s thinking. It’s like one’s petty concerns are lifted out of their usual rut. There is a feeling of having emerged from constricted thought that one realizes when living in constrained spaces; that is not conducive to transcendent thought; that one moves to television or to drink in order to rise above the small surroundings, especially if one shares space with others. Now the openness and light of a larger home have brought out the largeness of spirit. One has always thought that the mind should be impervious to one’s surroundings – a Buddhist belief I think with the image of a lotus flower rising amidst the filth of a dirty stream. One’s surroundings do influence you – so one must strive to make it conducive to higher thought. One no longer needs to rely on alcoholic substances to get mental space – a space Ekhart Tolle talks about when one must be alive to the moment without letting troubling thoughts mar one’s serenity.

Still the mental grooves remain; one still persists on living as before, forever throwing ceaseless activity to the mind, to keep churning as in the past. In the weekend, I managed to cram 2 miniseries while enjoying a golf game on Saturday morning. The German mini – series ‘Buddenbrooks’ from a novel by Thomas Mann, was an enjoyable and educational work.

Several weeks back I had watched the English mini – series ‘Downton Abbey’ which I enjoyed – another series about a wealthy family in trouble. Also during the weekend I watched the English mini-series ‘Traffik’ about the international drug trade with scenes filmed in Karachi - Pakistan, London - England and Hamburg - Germany. The mini-series was later made into a Hollywood film starring Michael Douglass. “Buddenbrooks” offers a detailed account of a wealthy German mercantile family, portraying 3 generations, whose decline starts when the descendants moved into a much larger home. As for ‘Downton Abbey’, a large estate is in peril with the death of their heir especially with the high costs associated in keeping the large estate.

So one wonders if decline starts with owning property, which is what happened in the financial crisis of 2009 when sub-prime mortgages brought the housing market down and has not fully recovered four years later. Debt and being over-leveraged are the ills of a society with easy credit, spurred on by securitization and sophisticated financial wizardry that brought down countries like Ireland, Spain and Iceland. This has become the crucial theme of the current election: does one vote for a financial genius - a wealthy business man who deals in maximizing profit and with deposits in off shore back accounts, or a political genius – a believer in the role of government to save people affected by the crisis; spending government money (i.e. people’s taxes) in the classic Keynesian antidote of fiscal stimulus to fight recession. Like the cavalry coming to the rescue, the economy is picking up, with lower unemployment reported last week, thereby bolstering the odds of the incumbent. Tonight is the last debate with the general election only 2 weeks away.

The Republican multi-millionaire has several large houses that one wonders if he is overextended. One is reminded of Donald Trump but without the extravagance and multiple marriages. But it all boils down to diligent labor not over-leverage – for example my plan for salvation, in case things go wrong, is to become a novelist – to write myself out of any financial predicament by sheer hard work and inspiration. A goal I had not had a chance to pursue due to the move and my predilection to read more, watch DVDs, attend online courses and play golf in the weekends. But next month is Nanowrimo month – where I have a chance to jump start my aspirations by completing a first draft of 40,000 words. I am still resting from my labors of completing 2 online creative writing courses but I think I have learned enough of the craft to move forward. I had also registered 500 books read in Shelfari.com, after finishing the book ‘God’s Crucible’ last week; an indication of progress since one must be a reader before one becomes a writer.