Interstellar, Awe and Walking on Highways.

Did you watch the movie Interstellar? If you haven't, you should! I will also suggest watching "Inception" if that too is left yet!

Now, while talking to a an online friend recently about Interstellar, the friend sent me this wonderful link about the Revered Gaze. Check out the video, you'll thank me. Now, the person there talks about transcendence that we feel upon entering these huge cathedrals, places of worship. Same is the case with the Imax theaters or general cinema projectors we see at the Multiplex. We are in complete awe.

Couple that with visual treat of a movie like Interstellar and music of a genius like Hans Zimmer, it is a profound, religious and spiritual experience watching the movie. I know. I went and saw it for the second time and let me tell you this is the first time in my life I voluntarily went for the repeat.

Another think that I find is linking to this is the fact that a few days apart, I had the opportunity to walk on the highways, alone and far/bit far from the city. On the first occasion, during daytime, its winter here so not much heat on the roads, far from the city, I was surrounded by huge, tall trees with powerful breezes. All I could see in front of me was these trees and the highway. Very few cars were on the road. Something like this (see below), with a lot more vegetation behind the trees, though. I went into a flow state, a state of bliss, if there ever was one.

The second time, I was walking down a highway at night, a bit near the city. There is a huge flyover on it that lets you skip the busy intersections below. I could see the cars all in the distance on the horizon climbing up and down the flyover. There wasn't much around me so there again I was walking in silence and awe. You have to experience these kind of feelings.

Don't you think it's a bit similar to what we feel when we are watching a movie that completely demands our attention, or we walk into a place of worship and our mouths are left open in the presence of it's vastness? I can now understand why I like the highways so much. I live in the city and I like every opportunity to be at/on the highways. It touches something inside us, something bigger, something of a deeper, mystical nature. Now I guess I can understand why travelers like to travel. Living in the city, you don't realize what you are missing in the hustle and bustle, until you step in the midst of nature, and know your soul aches to go forward and never look back.

I have told myself that I shall at least travel once a week to the highways now for the same reason, possibly walk a little as well ( I have been going to the highways on bike rides since college, but never walked much). Try it! You might like what you "feel". :)

Bhagavad Gita: Unlearning Conditioning?

While reading through a Case Study which me and my friend are going to present at an upcoming conference, I had this insight.



In the case study, the patient had internalized instrumental or what is called Operant Conditioning where every action was done to please and/or gain the approval, validation of their parent. That led to me to think of Bhagavad Gita.

In the Gita, Krishna tells Arjun to forget about the actions of his work and just focus on the work. Do your work and the results shall follow. If you look at it from the modern psychological perspective, he is de-linking action from consequence. Basically, breaking up the link between Stimulus and Response.


Stimulus and Response comes primarily from the Classical Conditioning Experiments of Ivan Pavlov. The dog is fed food after a bell rings, later, the dog develops salivation, a natural response whenever the bell rings, in anticipation of the food.

In Instrumental conditioning, the animal is rewarded for the action. For example, the cat inside a cage is rewarded with food and freedom, every time it presses a particular lever. Actually, the cat learns to escape and eat the food outside, but the whole pattern is the same.

The animal mind focuses on the reward. So is the case with the human mind, isn't it?

"I want a hefty salary to buy that expensive house so my relatives and friends respect me."

"I want to become a civil servant/politician so I and my family have prestige, money and a stable, secure life."

All the while, the real work is in the mind, working on the same principles that the animal works on.

It is this animal mind that the scriptures tell us to get rid of.

If we dissociate our minds from these conditioning methods, what happens? Why would the scriptures tell us this anyway?

Well, first up I feel that we would look at the larger picture. Instead of just crass commercial and material gain, we might look at the long term gain and the gain of those around us.

For example, in trying to be rich, am I taking care of the environment? My family? My city? My nation? One can get rich in many ways, but what is the use of it when there will be no planet left for us to live in? If we thought by being a little more detached, maybe we would see the larger picture and take a more holistic approach.

I think its just wonderful how Krishna tells Arjun to break a conditioning principle that we humans have now scientifically proved and understood over the past hundred years or so. I wonder what more did the ancients know and we are missing out from knowing and sharing with the rest of humanity because of not looking at it from various perspectives.

Until then, adios!