ஊழிற் பெருவலி யாவுள?

யோவ்! வள்ளுவரே, நீர் ஏன் இப்பிடி காண்டாகி போஸ் குடுக்கிறீர் எண்டு எனக்கு புரியுதுயா. நீரோ "ஊழிற் பெருவலி யாவுள" என்று மூணே மூணு வார்த்தையில மொத்த உலக தத்துவத்தையும் எழுதிவிட்டீர். ஆனா நம்ம பயலுக இது புரியாம "ஒன்றே முக்கால் அடியில் உலகளந்தவன்" என்று உன்னை சொல்லிக்கிட்டு திரிறாங்க. இத நினைச்சு தானே இப்பிடி ஒரு முறைப்பு. சரி விடும். புரியும் போது புரியட்டும். நீர் எப்பவும் கெத்து தான்யா....

கோவத்தை குறைச்சு கிட்டு முடிஞ்சா அந்த முப்பால்ல, மூணாவது பாலை பற்றி இன்னும் கொஞ்சம் டீப்பா ஆராய்ச்சி பண்ணி ஒரு Expanded Edition பப்ளிஷ் பண்ணமுடியுமா எண்டு பாரும். பல இடத்தில ஈயம் பூசியும் பூசாமலும் கிடக்கு. ஐ வாண்ட் மோர் எமோஷன். ஐ வாண்ட் மோர் எமோஷன். பாத்துகிடும்.

Happiness: A Sapiens Perspective

Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens ended up on my reading list because it was lauded by prominent personalities like Barrack Obama, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. I didn't read any reviews prior to reading this so I was really curious why there was a lot of hype about this book. From the very first chapter, I started to realise that I'm reading something special. But this article is not going to be about the entire book, but just a single chapter that would turn your world upside down. When I was about to finish reading the book, I paused for a moment and thought "Wow! this book had changed the way I look at things. Now I understand why we humans are the way we are, our inherent biases, most importantly the moments I once considered as the greatest moments of human history wasn't great after all and how those paved the way to most of our problems today". But I was pretty unaware that the penultimate chapter I'm about to read is going to provide me with some key insights into few questions that had been puzzling me for a while.

Figure 1 — Sapiens Front Cover (Source)

Those questions are about happiness. The questions like why aren't we feeling happy regardless of living a very comfortable life compared to our forefathers? How can we be truly happy both as a society and as individuals? What factors greatly influence our happiness? I have already been researching to find answers to this question from both scientific and spiritual angles for a while. Before reading this book I had already figured out key psychological and sociological factors which affect happiness. Things like hedonic adaptation which explains that the level of happiness remains the same regardless of short term highs and lows based on positive and negative experiences, how capitalistic pro-consumerist propaganda creates a false mindset that happiness is in owning and experiencing more and more things, how social media makes us believe that to be happy we need large social validation, etc.

So, it was a pleasant surprise when I started reading the penultimate chapter of this book because it also explored happiness in detail. Initial sections summarized things I already know; outlining the social and psychological factors that affect our happiness (I'm not going to elaborate more on this since I'm planning to write a separate article on happiness). What makes the penultimate chapter of the book special is, in the later section, it explores happiness purely from a biological perspective, which is something I haven't given a lot of thought about. 

It explains how the chemical produced by the brain called serotonin is responsible for feeling happy, how happiness level is affected by the range within which our serotonin level naturally fluctuate and how this fluctuation range differs for different people. This difference in serotonin fluctuation level explains why the same positive event makes some people happier than others and why the same negative event makes some people sadder than others even when all other social/psychological factors remain the same.

This fluctuation also explains why some people are not being affected too much by good or bad events and what makes people naturally happy and content. If a person's serotonin level fluctuates within a narrow range then they will mostly be indifferent to good or bad events. Even in being indifferent, there are two possibilities. If that narrow range is in a high secretion zone, they will be happy and content whatever happens. If that narrow range is in a very low secretion zone, they will be sad and depressed whatever happens. In other words, some people have a biological boon to be always happy while some are biologically cursed to suffer. 

The chapter concludes that our happiness has a lot to do with whatever happens inside than outside. Changes in external social/psychological factors can only affect our happiness greatly when a person's biological serotonin level fluctuates in a wide range where the upper bound is in the high secretion zone and the lower bound is in the low secretion zone. But even this effect is temporary as the secretion level gets back to your average level within the range pretty quickly after you get used to the external factors.

If it sounds confusing let me explain this by using an example, let's assume you are from a middle-class family and some random stranger is gifting you a high-end BMW car. So if your biological serotonin level fluctuates in a wide range from lower-bound in the low secretion zone and upper-bound is in the high secretion zone, then you will feel extremely jubilant for a while. But once you get used to driving that BMW, you won't feel jubilant anymore because your serotonin returns to the normal level (average secretion level within your range). If you have a biological boon or curse, then you don't feel that much happiness from that gift because, for both types, the fluctuation range is very small, so the normal/average secretion level is very close to the upper bound(i.e. the highest happiness they can feel). So the person who has a biological boon will remain as happy as he used to be and the biologically cursed person will be as sad as he used to be regardless of the gift.

Harari implies the only probable way for the human race to achieve the state of "happily ever after" is by inventing a pill that boosts serotonin secretion to the highest possible level disregarding a person default upper bound without causing any side effects or affecting productivity. Though I believe Harari's views are accurate and he had presented a strong case, emerging researches on theories like neuroplasticity (i.e. study about the ability of the brain to change) may one day prove that brain chemistry thresholds aren't that rigid after all as claimed by Harari. So we need to be open-minded about that possibility too.

The chapter concludes by beautifully fusing ideas about happiness from both the spiritual (especially Buddhist) and scientific realms. If you love reading, this is one book which you shouldn't miss. If you don't love reading, try reading at least the penultimate chapter you may fall in love with reading after all. Happy Reading Folks!! 🙂

Building My Resilience

It is extremely challenging to be born and raised in a family with a mentally disabled sibling. I have to process very difficult emotions since childhood like worrying about what was wrong with my sibling, worrying whether I will become disabled, feeling neglected by overburdened parents, anger at the loss of parental attention and guilt for feeling this anger, resent the extra demands placed on me by a disabled sibling, embarrassment when with peers because of teasing, as well as embarrassment about sibling's actions.

It also becomes very difficult for you to handle any emotions except positive ones because in childhood most of the negative emotions were related to your sibling. But due to the special love and care you have for your sibling because of their vulnerability and selfless love towards you, you feel incredibly guilty for having any negative emotions about them since it is not OK to be angry, embarrassed or resent a person who is disabled. So this guilt will make you develop a habit of keeping these negative emotions buried instead of resolving them like children in healthy families do.

Figure 1 - Neglected Child

There is also no means for you to resolve them even if you want to. At least parents will seek comfort through talking with others. You can't talk about your conflicting emotions with your parents since you know your parents already had enough on their plates. You can't talk with your friends especially throughout your childhood, because they simply cannot relate or understand. These are way too many emotions for a child to handle alone and those will scar your soul deeply.

So if I appear to be too proud of myself, it is because I'm. I'm proud of the person I'm today amid everything I had to deal with and still dealing with...🙂🤗

தவம்

விலங்கிடப் பட்டிருக்கும்  கிளியே 

இந்த வானம் காத்திருக்கிறது

நீ உன் தளை அறுத்து சிறகு விரித்து

தனைச் சேரும் காலம் நோக்கி.

- குமரன் (30/09/2020)

முதற்பிரிவு

அவள் சொல்லிச் சென்றாள்

நாளை உதிர்வோம் என்று தெரிந்தும்

ஒன்றாய் மலர்ந்தவர் தானே நாம்

உன் நெருடலுக்கும் கவலைக்கும்

இவ்வுறவில் எப்பொருளும் இல்லை

இது நாம் உதிரும் கணம் அவ்வளவே என!

- குமரன் (18/02/2020)

நாளெல்லாம் காதல்

ஞாயிறு உன் கண்ணொளி கண்டு கூசுமோ

திங்கள் உன் வெண்மை கண்டு நாணுமோ

செவ்வாய் திறந்து நீ என்னை அருந்து

என் எல்லாப் பிணிக்கும் நீ நீயே மருந்து

- குமரன் (17/02/2020)

My first poem critique

Enslavement of a loner who spurned to visit the wonderlands offered  

Why's she unsure? Unsure of walking towards the destination?

Destination of the mysterious forest,
Is the path unknown?

She stumbles, unbalanced,
takes a few steps back and a few steps ahead, what's so luring?
luring about the forest? Which seems beautiful than of the wonderlands she had come across,

The scared loner wants to get lost,
lost in the forest,
to see, to feel and to touch nature.

She turns back again, is this all hallucination?
A dark unknown forest to give an exotic vibe, this must be a mirage, a trap.

Disappointments become the results as the hand reaches out and touches no skin.
This is wrong, she has to come back to her senses or she'll get lost, lost in the forest of the unknown.

- Vhaishnavi Krishnakumar

* Bio - Vhaishnavi  is a makeup artist and the Human Rights - Jaffna District Directress of Child and Women Affairs

From my perspective, this poem talks about the dilemma in the girl's mind who is bound by the chains dictated by society. She wanted to break away from gender roles, norms and culture imposed on her and want to live life on her terms. But, she couldn't make up her mind to take that step toward her presumable freedom because of the uncertainties involved in making such a choice.

She is concerned that the path ahead is unconventional. Yet deep down she wanted to choose that path because she thinks it will be her solace. It will make her truly feel like herself. But, she is also doubtful whether the freedom the path promise is real or just a figment of her imagination. She keeps convincing her mind it is not good to break away from accepted norms though deep down she is not so sure.

I loved the way Vhaishnavi symbolises the journey towards living free and on her terms as a journey towards the dark unknown forest.  She has an excellent command of the language. The cohesiveness between the words used can be improved because it affects the flow. Using the forest as a metaphor has been extensively used in literature to denote an unknown journey. So in the future, Vhaishnavi should challenge herself and identify new symbolism.

Apart from that, this is really good poetry for someone who just started writing. She has a great creative mind and the art of abstracting the world around to apt symbolism is not an easy thing to master and I think that comes naturally to her. I'm looking forward to reading her next poem.