For reader's context, I'm a 22-year-old software engineer who has interest in philosophy, software and music. This attempt is a way to pen my thoughts which I go through in my day-to-day life. Since this is my first article, this might be a little novice and inarticulate. There might not be any fancy lines, famous quotes or pictures, but I will try my best to keep the content interesting.
Before even starting out with this article, in my mind, this article has gotten millions of views, hundreds and thousands of shares, and a lot of comments. This is how delusional we have become in reality. A while back, I used to think that it's just me, but now I have come to a consensus that it's true for most of us.
Computer Science undergrad freshmen, while learning their first "Hello world" program (the most basic computer program) feel programming is easy and getting into any big tech is a piece of cake. People who go to the gym for merely two days start staring at themselves in the mirrors for two hours, checking if there is any fat loss or muscle growth.
When I sit down and try to think about the reason why this might be happening to all of us, a few lines of thought come to my mind.
Success before process
All of us, in some part of the brain, want to taste the butter without boiling the milk. What this means is, we wish to see success but not go through the hard work and dedication that it takes to reach there. Due to social media (blaming everything on social media has become so easy, isn't it?), success is vividly visible all over the internet without any context. Be it successful entrepreneurs, artists, CEOs, everyone's success is visible with a click. This overexposure of knowledge leads to delusion.
Spirituality talks about delusion as well. As I perceive it, "being in the present" is just the simpler way of saying, "Buddy, don't be delusional". The famous quote in the Bhagavad Gita:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
was said around 5000 years ago, which means even our ancestors were delusional!
The dilemma here is that the ideas of "living in the present" and "not thinking about the future" form a double-edged sword when taken out of context. Consciousness, the driving force of human civilization, plays a major role here. Living in the present without consciousness is the worst thing that can happen to anyone in society.
Crimes are an excellent example of this analogy. A criminal does not think about the future and commits something heinous which the person is going to regret for the rest of their life. Well, in this case, is being delusional good?
Steve Jobs, in one of his excerpts, talks about the difference between doers and thinkers where he elaborates on why someone should focus on doing rather than thinking.
The flip side of delusion
Life is all about paradoxes, and delusion isn't an exception as well.
Osho, in one of his discourses, talks about an instance in Lord Mahavir's life. According to him, Osho says, "Take one step and you have reached your destination". To an analytical mind, this sounds absurd. But if we think deeper, this actually makes a lot of sense.
Thoughts are perceived from the perspective of the author.
Mahavir, being an enlightened person, would have been in his divine world when he might have said this. For him and his disciples, it makes absolute sense! This thought presumes that you are focused and determined and so full of consciousness, that all you need to do is take one step in the right direction.
Bringing this thought to today, the chances of a person going to the gym are higher if the person takes a gym subscription compared to the person who doesn't. I would like to go half a step back. Just merely thinking about going to the gym is better than not even thinking about it. This hypothesis takes us back to the same paradox:
Is being delusional good? Or is being delusional bad?
food for thought.