BE PRACTICAL

A little child watching TV wants to meet Batman. The teenage girl in love with the cutest Backstreet boy wants him to be her "special one". The undying romantic follows his unrequited love to places that kill his spirit and ruin his life. The old man expects his grandchildren to grow up just like he grew up. A dictator ruling the whole world. A terrorist believes killing people can actually save other people. Saving the Earth's natural habitat. A blind girl wanting to see. India giving up Kashmir to Pakistan. Angelina Jolie dumping Brad Pitt for Laloo Prasad Yadav. A 54-year old man wanting to be the next Kurt Cobain. An F1 driver going at 280 kmph in the Bandra-Worli sea link. Man being to be able to travel to distant galaxies.

All the above are examples of stupidity, impracticality, irrationality. Why? Cause they're not feasible? Think again. Some of them have and can actually happen. In fact, i'll go out on a limb and say, that all of them can happen. Its the realm of possibility that makes a difference. To the untrained and unconscious mind, impossibility is impossible. But to the trained and conscious one, it is a very high probability. Dreams are always going to exist, be fulfilled and be shattered. They are part of what make us who we are. But what differentiates people from each other is the emotional attachment that the have towards their dreams. To some, they are just kiddish nonsense. To some, they are a possibility, which they indulge in when their unconscious mind rules them. And to some, they are a reality, they are all around them, they can see them. Its all about belief. A badly used word for belief sometimes is obsession. Are the two interchangeable? Is there a fine line between them?

Hmm. This is a difficult one. Cause a belief can be termed as an obsession and vice-versa. But the general difference is this. A belief is not necessarily bad for you, while an obsession in most cases definitely is. Its unhealthy. Because what you are doing is trying to control what you cannot control. Or trying to control what you can control by using unethical means, i.e. imposing on someone else's FREE WILL. A great line from the movie Bruce Almighty is, "Free will cannot be controlled, not even by God". Its a highly intelligent statement. It posits 2 things, that

If you don't destroy yourself, even God cannot.
If you don't help yourself, even God cannot.

What is evident here is that, you can play a spoilsport in God's plans, in destiny, in what people mistakenly call as fate. Now that is a humongous power. Its the reason why people with principles are the pillars of mankind. But this line into obsession is very thin. Obsession is a result of grief. Of not coming to terms with grief. Ironically, our society shows lots of sympathy towards the grieving, but when they are obsessed, society turns against them. Why so? People who are emotionally attached to things have a hard time accepting their loss and they should be helped out, not rejected and ostracized as fanatics. This is where the "BE PRACTICAL" culture fails. It sucks at this point. They say that emotions are a human's hallmark. But does being practical mean that injustice is done upon the hallmark? Its not really a great metaphor. But what im trying to say is that we dont predict grief, we dont take it for granted. But the getting over part is taken for granted. Society assumes you will get over. Why? Because society assumes that you are selfish and will work only for your benefit. That is a huge misconception. Cause certain people are just crazy enough to devote their time and life to certain things more than their "selfishness". Its funny how it works out. And ironically, these qualities of devoting and giving yourself to something are what society conventionally talks about.

"Devote your life to one woman. Devote your career to one field. Devote yourself to one God. But, but, but, never get to attached to them, cause then we'll come down on you and rip you apart. Cause you have to BE PRACTICAL and move away, give no respect to your emotional attachment."

Talk about major bullcrap. This is at the top of the list for me. Call me egoistic, but i was brought up to respect certain things. And respect for yourself and your spirit is the biggest thing here. The whole BE PRACTICAL culture has its merits, definitely. But sometimes, we just term randomn things as being practical. Only if it makes sense in the conscious realm of possibility do we do things. When the unconscious mind picks up on things, it just shut up and BE PRACTICAL.