Apple Mangoes

A taste for Opposites

Its a relatively new species … introduced sometime in the 80s … to the oos and aahs of suburban folk … in these parts … and everybody grabbed one to plant on their lawn. Its shaped like an apple … and unlike normal mangoes … is crunchy … even when ripe. And the mystic it generates of a mix this way … continues to be a wonder … among the folk here.

A normal mango … especially the famed Alphonso variety … sweeten when ripe … and produces a deep juicy reaction in the consumer … and stays in the memories … of a taste you'll never remotely duplicate with anything else … but with an Alphonso. The apple mango is sweet sourish … when fully ripe … and causes quite a clash with the typical Asian attitude of mangoes.

I wondered about that … when I noticed that a neighbor in the area … was letting his apple mangoes fall and rot on the ground … and making no attempt to pluck them from the tree. I drive by the house each day … and find it appalling to see the fruits on the ground wasting away. Certainly a sourish taste … adds to the intensity of the passions … and enhances the emotional feel of anything that is encountered.

Indics use tamarind in their curry recipes … to enhance the level of passions in the home … and sometimes a person is treated to the taste of unripe mangoes … in fish gravy. Its highly stimulative on the passions … and reaches out to the mind … in a goading of the mind's relation to the passions. Its a heady feel … and encourages considerable patience … on the part of the mind … to tolerate and understand the … contortion of the passions … in their never ending play with themselves.

Further more … fish gravy … heated up and served the following day … produces a taste consistent with a slight fermentation … that creates a curious affirmation in the passions … and produces an assurance … as if to say … life is a mix between good and bad … and an acclimatization to its effects … is of special comfort to the body. But the effect on the mind is considerable.

A daily diet of something slightly sourish … gives an edge to the passions … and to some extent diminishes the mind's sharp focus. However … in individuals accustomed to a personality … that relies on the focus of the mind … this can be very disturbing. The play of the passions … encourages a greater dismissal of issues … and avoids the mind from examining every little issue it comes across. In a social setting … that would appear to have some application … by helping individuals overlook the small irritability … and simply focus on the relation.

In some ways … its a little like sex. Indic mystics … who go on a severe journey of discovery to realize their true natures avoid sex … and foods that are sour. It produces a powerful effect on the efficacy of the mind … and raises everything they encounter to a matter of knowledge and understanding. In the intense severity of the exercise … they lose considerable contact with their social relations … and the body becomes completely unstimulated as to affection.

In the tradition of the early Aryans … one encounters a similar attitude on the part of mind to reject anything that is not thought out … and is simply a representation of the function of the body. Such a practice continues to this day … in the male traditions … and is a source of excesses in some of its activity. More than that … it creates the most unusual and idealistic expectations of events … that leads to a complete disappointment later.

In encountering and healing some of these … in the passions … the individual comes to realize the incredible heights … that human mind can go … in its illuminating familiarity of many issues as possibilities. This is no doubt the normal working of mind … but an individual still bears considerable responsibility … to ensure that he is accurate in the portrayal of possibilities … given the opportunities … that exists for their realization … in our physical environment at this time.

There's a tendency among men of the intellectual tradition to view all things as mind … much like simply a mango or an apple. But it has to be said of the human experience … that our lives are far more like an apple mango. Its a mix … of mind and body. In our efforts to discern the difference … we come to understand the nature of society better … with the involvement of women, children, other cultures and social attitudes.

Perhaps what is important is in the way we … refine and cultivate … the optimum possibilities … in a combination of mind and passion. That holds greater promise for our condition … as a constantly evolving situation … of laughter and tears … and find a way to manage that with greater efficiency. The utility that tech has brought to our lives … sets a fine example of how that may be done. There could be many more ways … and that would avoid the rashes we encounter with righteousness.