Prayer and Other Puzzles

In a column called “Inner Voice” on HT, Roy Eugene Davis tries to explain to us when and how to pray. It is necessary he feels to not pray to GOD but to pray in GOD. Before praying, he feels, it is also necessary to clearly define your needs and desires. He also lists the following things that need to be done to have an effective prayer:

• Be still until you are calm and you are aware of being one with God
• Do not beg for what is needed
• Rest for a while in that consciousness of fulfillment until you are permanently established in it
• Be thankful that you have realization of fulfillment

Sigh! This has been done so many times and yet…

Of all the things that humans do, eating, washing their behinds, day dreaming, writing proposals, no activity comes closer to uselessness than praying. Prayer as an attempt to fulfill a need or a desire is essentially stupid and verily futile. Ever wonder how every priest who has asked you to pray has also said that “God helps those who help themselves”?

If we had already found out the most effective form of prayer that got us what we wanted, believe me all humans would know it. However I suspect that isn’t the case.

There are only two possible things that can happen after you pray:

1. God answers your prayer
2. He does not

People have this bias only remembering the cases when a result reinforced their belief. When somebody/anybody has kept score then the results have become negligible. This hasn’t been a problem for the religious since the one single rare occasion is called a miracle. Well if you define a single rare occasion as a miracle then there is no reason to celebrate a miracle. It is rare, and entirely produced by randomness, thank you very much.

WTF moment- Extra Special

From: silverhairedbaboon@sales.justatechcompany.com

To: technicalperson@gmail.com

Technical Person,

Congragulations!! I have just come to know from Silverback that you have quit our lovely organization and have decided to move onto another lovely organization. Which is wonderful. The “other lovely” organization is really brilliant and is quite differentiated. In fact the CEO of the “other lovely” organization quit our organization and joined their organization some six months back. So quite differentiated indeed. Though I think differentiated is not the word I need right now. Btw! I realize you have quit, changed your cellphone number, switched off your previous cell and moved to a different city all to avoid what you describe as this “total lack of concern for my personal life”, but I was wondering? Would it be possible for you to join a solution presentation call for a customer from 11.00 p.m. your time to 2.00 a.m. your time on Wednesday? Just asking. Do confirm.

Regards,

Silver Haired Baboon

Watchmen: The movies

Not so good. The book is like a tapestry. There are so many individual threads that make up the story of the watchmen. The thread with the sailor. The thread with the boy reading the sailor comic. The thread with the psychologist. The thread with the original Nite Owl. All of them make the Watchmen comic. The book is more than the sum of its parts, yet what you remember of the book are its parts, which hold your attention long enough, and have you panting for more even after you have turned the last page and put the book back onto the shelf. The movie is bland. It moves forward linearly, which is asinine at least for an adaptation of the watchmen. Overall a 2 out of 5.

Cheated by Wintechno.net

What a day. I find out I have been swindled out of 20,000 rupees by this guy “ssharma@wintechno.net” and by this company. Full details later. I wonder if I could put him in the dock for fraud or intent to commit fraud.  But let that be a lesson to you dear readers. The first part of freelancing is free. The second part is lancing. Stuck in India, even Indians do tend to ensure that they can either take your services for free, or they can lance you one up the behind.

A hiatus

Was working on some side projects to try and pickup a little extra moolah. I need it if I hope to buy my very own first laptop. All my other computing devices have been sponsored to a large extent by my dad, so here’s wishing for my very own one.

P.S.: This way I won’t have to listen to the wife grumble about me spoiling her laptop.