Ok. This is completely off-track. But once in a blue moon I'll get very philosophical, and bury myself in the deep confines of the mind. I wrote this email to MK. Now MK is the blue eyed boy from school who always had this tinge of mystery, wisdom, energy and enthusiasm in his speech, and that could on any topic. I look up to him for "enlightenment". Here's the email, and below the email is his reply. Of course, I took his permission.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

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MK

Sometimes I get into situations where I can make some statements, without being able to provide any kind of proof, yet being very confident about what I say. This could be different from what another person says and can prove. We could both be right, so it's not really a question of right or wrong. I know for sure, from inside, that what I'm saying is a fact, but without the proof, I get rammed, and my statements are disregarded, and I am condemned.

After such a situation has occurred, not to be let down by myself, I may start searching around for proof of my own statements. And when I do choose to search, I eventually find the proof, hidden in some book or some website or some memory buried deep in my head. At that stage, I can opt to either feel pleased with myself and nothing more, or, I could go back to the people who condemned me and present my case. But why do I have to do this? Over and over again, I have found this happening with me. Somehow, in a given situation, I will have an opinion that comes not from conscious thought, but from deeper. And I'm left with no clue as to why I said that, or how I arrived at that. But eventually I could prove what I said.

Today I remembered the first 2 chapters of The Wisdom Paradox, by a Russian author. He has this subconscious mind , pattern matching theory. Now I don't remember exactly what he said, but I begin to feel that my mind is doing something like that. In a given situation, the subconscious mind will dig into the dungeons of data hidden deep inside, pattern match anything with the current situation, and throw up the relevant and important things, around which my opinion will be formed. All this happens behind the scenes and very very fast. This is his concept of wisdom. With age, experience and maturity, the mind begins to do this more and more, and that is why our elders are wisest - When in any given situation you don't need to think, you just know.

So maybe I'm getting wise! Or maybe I'm just getting lunatic! But the bigger question I had for today is - is true wisdom in
1. Letting others perceive/realise it
2. Self proclamation

Being frank, and as you see, I have already use the 2nd option, by putting this question out to you. But between us, I don't care. I know you and you know me. But for the rest of the world, which way should it be? Thinking about this bothers me. Either option doesn't look good to me. For #1, as I have witnessed, big egos don't let people perceive others wisdom. While this may not be a bother for the wise person, what good is that wisdom if it is not used? So I would consider #2. But will the people who can't perceive wisdom ever be pleased about somebody proclaiming to be wise? That's a far cry. So my friend, in the quest for greater good, and to not let the learning of the mind become worthless, what shall I do?

Cheers
Mayur

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Reply from MK
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Dear Mayur,

Would choose not to answer your question as no one could do it better than you yourself, however would try highlighting "considered suggestions".

Have you wondered why one requires proof? Proof or disproof is only required to convince ourselves, our minds to be specific; the reason we want to prove to others or to ourselves is because we aren't convinced.

I too believe that true knowledge is spontaneous and effortless. However the contradiction in your case is that you feel this way and at the same time feel the need to proclaim either to yourself or to others, both of which are indications of an unconvinced mind.

When we are hungry / sleepy / in love and someone asks for proof the best we can say is the fact that we are eating / sleeping / loving is by itself a proof; would we waste time explaining? Isn't the very act a proof by itself? So the only choice of a convinced mind is to act according to its belief without any doubt, not bothering about what others think (am not talking about not being ethical or not following the normal code of conduct in society).

True knowledge must be unbiased which, is difficult as the mind wants to take sides and having taken a side tries to either prove or disprove. We may be unconscious of our deepest desires which conditions knowledge hence one needs to dive deep to know for sure if knowledge is flavoured by our desires and ego. Both desires and ego are limitations, boundaries with which we choose to identify ourselves. True education can have only one goal - to help make decisions in an unbiased manner.
The only barrier to true knowledge is our own mind (many would think that the mind helps), it conditions true knowledge by its two weapons i.e. desire and ego.

Hope these considerations would be useful and assist you in your journey inward.

Would like to end by quoting something I remember for a long time now - "There can be no proof of reality other than being it" and "In silence we become aware and in awareness we grow".

Take care.

Cheers, MK
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