Hey ... Good Looking!

Looks in the service of humanity

You can't regain your innocence … after you have lost it ... that's true. But it is possible to … bring an understanding to it … realize the role it continues to play … and how its possible to raise it in cupfuls … instead of buckets. As a society … we do just that … and rely on the goodwill of friends … to work within the guides … for preserving the experience. It can … fall and crash … in an instant.

From the 60s and 70s … the young generation here in Asia … were treated to an inspirational … dose of panache … regarding happiness and entertainment … from the American awakening. It pulled at the restraints … imposed by traditions … and eventually broke free. But that is a regular feature in these parts … and the usual remedies … of charity and faith … applied with an equal panache … normally moderated the situation.

But the revolution that arose in the 60s … brought something more with it. Washing machines … radio … TV … cars … refrigerators … cameras … and pounded the message of modernization … onto the delicate nature of senses … which left many a social reformer over here … wondering if he's spending his efforts fruitfully. There was no argument that could have matched … the sheer advancements … suggested by innovation in products.

In managing the fallout … our schools … work places … and government produced some effective remedies … that's starting to take shape … in these times. In a sense … we cultivated a distance from the west … changed school textbooks to reflect local views … advertising and product labeling substituted Caucasians … with locals … and companies investing in the country … are legally required to take on a local partner.

We began a process of … engaging and sharing in foreign attitudes … with an input of our own … and learning to do that in a positive way … in taking into account the will of the world community. It involved modernizing our own past traditions … and that went into a good scrub … to remove the dross … of taking things for granted. It is the global age of consolidation of experiences.

Our old reliances … on faith and authority on issues … takes sometime to change. I went to see the priest at the temple … with the simple attitude of … ' you guys are supposed to have the answers … now tell me what I can do.' The man listened to me … and finally offered … ' take some time to find yourself … and rediscover your faith … but make sure your family will be able to take care of itself.' Its exactly what I did … its been 10 years.

At an individual level … a person encounters the new attitudes … intact in the form of relationships. No doubt that's what we were distancing ourselves from. Indic writings refer to the form of the eternal youth … as Subramanya. Its experienced as a teen … loves to have fun … and is associated with the Adonais. He informs the inquirer that … its not a matter of pointing the finger at the west. We should instead … understand the nature of the human condition.

In contact with him … a person experiences … the fair form … handsome … beautiful … as the epitome of life … grounded in an experience of success. It was the first mover … of the impulses of man … and our initiative for the feel good sensation … of our well being. I returned to his place of being … in the human condition. I figured I owed him a gift … the way he had brought many gifts to me. It has been an uneasy relation … marked by rages … quirkiness … and the immutable will of the one.

He gives me the impression … that I might have quit before. Tired over the constant … managing of the instruments of the ego. Weary of the news … of the death of babies … famine … man's cruelty to man … poverty … and the vicious spiraling into greater and greater mayhem. That might be true of course. But I have been applying myself … to envisioning its purpose … beyond the societal expectations … of the trains running on time.

When Kellogg came out with its new chocolate flavored flakes … I could feel a discernible lift. Or when Calvin Klein puts out a new design on men's briefs … it feels like an applause within. The legend of Herakles … had him killing two serpents … in his young life. It appears to me we are thereafter … managing our condition … with respect to two injured serpents … relating to us … at a suspicious distance.

It helps to understand that its about life … and the long journey of evolution … to perfect the specie. And in the process … we are coming to learn of eternal life in a new way … by proving to ourselves … our immortality … in the living experiences … of life's phenomenology. The way ahead … is laden with opportunities to knowledge and understanding. We resolve any query … at the touch of our fingertips.

The possibilities for … discerning our condition … has never been greater. Fair looks today … are the playground … in an arena of possibilities … that draw from good looks … the suggestion of perfection … in reality. Its beauty in a man … creating the encouragement … to mind … to discover the habitat of the universe … for such an expression of the ultimate. And to work for its attainment … in life as in our social organizations.