self-centered behavior and gossip

I just remembered an activity that a professor in one of my classes made us do. We had to get into groups of two and carry on a conversation for maximum 5 minutes without using the word 'I'. Sadly, none of the students could follow this simple set of intructions:p I failed miserably. Yes, this was only a minor exercise - but it really amazes me how humans can be so self-centered.

On another line of thought - I find it quite silly when some people are always in a quest to show that they are better off than others. Some people do it knowingly and some people may not even know it and yet they do it. The latter sect is more interesting because they are totally unaware that they are doing it. People who do it knowingly, do it out of jealousy, and people who do it unknowingly are very insecure about themselves.

This also leads me to the topic of gossip. Why do people gossip about other people? Why do people need to hear information that they don't really need to know? And worst of all - they all have a good laugh by bad mouthing other people they hardly know. People who gossip mindlessly are the worst kind of people. I know that I have gossiped in the past and I know I was wrong. I do not try to do it now and I figured out the cause why I used to gossip. A few people learn to gossip from other people - it becomes a culture for them - while others do it for various reasons mainly jealousy; to prove you are better than the subject of your gossip; you don't like the person and you want to spread rumors so that other people hate them too; insecurity etc

The fact is that by gossiping you are stooping to a pathetic level. Why do you need to show that you are superior to others? What are you trying to prove? Will it make you feel better that you are better off? Why are you happy by only showing that other people are below you? Why can't you be happy just being who you are? If you are not happy being who you are - only then do you resort to these acts. If you are secure within yourself you would never tend to criticize other people and try to prove you are better; because you do not need to prove to yourself that you are better than others to be happy. You are happy being who you are and what you are and find no sense in talking about people you don't really care about! So, next time somebody is gossiping with you about somebody - STOP - THINK- and make a WISE decision!!

Also, it is interesting to note that people who gossip with you will gossip about you:)

Meatless Burger that tastes like Meat

I tried this out and it tasted exactly like meat with mild variations. I had to read the ingredients carefully to really make myself believe that it contained no meat and was vegetarian! It's made of Soy and tastes fabulous!

How humans behave under authority

Have you ever read Night by Elie Wiesel? I read it when I was in 11th grade and it was for a class. I read it overnight and this was the only book that has ever made me weep. Another book on the same lines was "The diary of Anne Frank". Both Anne Frank as well as Elie Wiesel were victims of the Holocaust. The only difference was that Anne Frank didn't survive and Elie was a survivor and lived to tell his tale of the horrors of Holocaust.

[Hitler's racial policies had culminated in the killing of approximately 11 million people, including the genocide of some six million Jews, in what is now known as the Holocaust. In total, the war in Europe cost approximately 45 million people their lives.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust]

Reading both these books is a heart wrenching experience and it's very hard to believe that things like this could ever happen.

What is surprising is that how can so many people be so blinded by Hitler? Were all Nazis ruthless? How could they perform such an act is what surprises me. Did all of them think that what they were doing was right? Were they brainwashed?

The Milgram experiment makes interesting observations on how humans act under the influence of authority. The Milgram experiment was a seminal series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

In this experiment the main participants were 3 people - An experimenter and two subjects. The experimenter who acts as an authority figure orders the subject A to give what the subject A believes are painful electric shocks to another subject B, who is actually an actor (A does not know that B is acting). It was found that many participants continued to "give" shocks despite pleas for mercy from the actor, as long as the experimenter kept on ordering them to do so.

Milgram concluded that "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment]

Hence, in this power hungry world authority is the modern evil of mankind. Even Ayn Rand in her book "The Fountainhead" shuns people who seek power.

I love the book "The Fountainhead". My brother recommended it to me and I couldn't stop reading it once I started it. BTW my alias "Miss Francon" is inspired by the character Dominique Francon in "The Fountainhead".

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Ayn Rand:

"Power-lust is a weed that grows only in the vacant lot of an empty mind."

"The men who are not interested in philosophy need it most urgently; they are most helplessly in its power."

Kindness is a strength

Kindness is a strength
People say "God" is kind..
People worship "God"..
In fact, people should practice kindness and not practice "religion"

What is religion anyway? I do not know much about other religions; however religion basically is a set of rules that binds people and teaches discipline right? Who came up with religion and why was it created? To keep people together? It's interesting to know that every part of this world follows a religion... well, most of them. I think the first time that I met people who said that they didn't have a religion were in US. Prior to that I always assumed that everyone has a religion. As a child I wasn't too religiously inclined and I never thought much about God..but I always feared him and I was taught to fear God. In pre-school, we were taught that there exists a powerful superhuman who is omnipotent and someone who knows it all. I didn't question what I was taught then. Today, when I am exposed to different religions and cultures I often find it interesting to ponder on the concept of "God".

According to my theory, humans created "God" to create a basic discipline among their community and to live in peace. Since, humans are often competing with each other and always in a race to be at the top,"God" was made to be "superhuman" to act like an authoritative figure. Various experiments have shown that humans will do anything under an authority.

[On a sidenote - It's interesting to study Milgram's experiment - I will write a post on this in the future because it's very interesting how authority affects humans throughout history]

I admire the concept the concept of religion..people who created must have been quite intelligent and great bluff masters. Please note that I am not belittling religion in anyway. I do believe religion is important in life. However, religion for me doesn't consist of a superhuman being whom I fear. Religion to me in short is discipline and kindness. By being disciplined and kind I am being a better person for myself and not to please "God".

I do feel sorry for all the orthodox and superstitious people though. I don't know why they will do anything to prove that their God is the greatest of all and that they are in a quest to prove God is real? How can God be real? God is not a human or a superhuman! It is a concept! An idea that worked to fool other people universally to make them do things (good and bad) that they wouldn't have done otherwise. Concepts are abstract and so is God. However, I think they are confusing God with the creator of universe. How was the universe created? I don't know. But I don't think the creator of universe created religion. It was a human who created religion to induce discipline. We should be aware of the universe we live in rather than being blind followers without thinking.