Sunday, November 24, 2013

The great quest of mastering oneself

"To master people takes force, but to master yourself takes strength."
These words of Lao Tzu that I encountered correspond very well with the events of my life during this week. Today I'd like to explore the topic of the self discipline, specifically about how we react about our feelings; feelings that appear as a result of interactions or situations in our life that more than once take over ourselves and dominate our mind and soul. I like one approach that I encountered not so long ago, I am talking about the Logotherapy  created and developed by neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl after his time in a concentration camp during the holocaust in the decade of the 40's. 

His work is very comprehensive and talks about the search of meaning of ones life. I'd like to borrow a prahse from him that relates to our topic today. 
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances"
The own experience of the concentration camps of Frankl brought him to the conclusion that it is indeed within us to choose how to react to the external stimuli, and with stimuli I mean the conditions from everyday's life; like: the weather, the season of the year and so on; as well as the ones that come from the people which whom we interact daily. It has of course happened to all of us; the classic angry driver that seems mad about something entirely banal, that yells at us because he just feels so, and we are the ones who end up somehow affected by the mood of this non-happy driver (or pedestrian). Has it happened to you? I bet it has.

Choosing how to respond to such a situation is indeed possible yet not easy at all. It requires practice and the will to change the paradigm behind it. I have heard many times people reacting to these situations using as a shield the idea of being taken advantage of by this random stranger and in a futile attempt to make themselves not the victim, engage into a fight with no winners. One does not need to go through the experience of Frankl to put this idea into practice, I guess is more a matter of giving it a try. Recently on a Job interview someone asked me what makes me very mad, I answered that not many things, and that is hard for this events to combine to make me loose the control. I do claim to be the Dalai lama or anything like it simply that I by own experience have tried to keep my emotions in control, to observe that is easier to talk to the other person as well as to come to more neutral and sometimes better arguments in the case one is arguing at the moment. Anyone can relate to the idea that when we are too happy or too angry one should neither make promises nor throw arguments to the people, in both cases the promises are those we maybe did not really weight as well as the arguments against someone, they can contain something very aggressive of mean, and is something that being calmed we would not normally say to that person. 

All our reactions and behaviors towards our daily situations are the result of a mental process, a process that is respectively the result of a long training through most of our life. A Training that taught us how to deal with unpleasant and not so much unpleasant situations. Much of these lessons come from our parents, and were molded as we kept growing up, They normally stick around for a long time, they are our personality, but like many other features of the human being this is one we have the power to change when we deem it necessary. Is a concept known as Neuroplasticity and means nothing else than the capacity of the brain to rewire itself, to change the configuration that it already has for a new one, one where we are the architects and not the circumstances that created and reaffirmed the old one.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Iunctus

Iunctis palabra del latín que quiere decir "conectados", la elegí como el titulo del post de hoy ya que esta semana quiero escribir un poco acerca de una aparentemente inexplicable conexión entre los seres humanos. Para hacer mas claro este enunciado; cito el ejemplo de la situación que me hizo pensar acerca de esta aparente conexión: esta semana sin razón aparente estaba recordando a alguien con quien tengo una buena relación de amistad con quien tenía tiempo de no hablar. Sabía sin embargo que había un viaje en el horizonte cercano de esa persona y de alguna manera la idea me vino a la mente mientras hacía otra cosa en la casa.

Decidí sin mas miramientos tomar el teléfono y llamar; preguntar acerca de noticias nuevas en su vida, acerca del viaje programado, del trabajo; todo sin ningún otro propósito mas grande que el de establecer comunicación y mantener la relación de amistad que tenemos. La parte sorprendente fue que la primera cosa que escuché cuando la llamada fue contestada fueron las palabras "estaba pensando también en ti en este preciso momento". Creo que cualquiera se puede sentir identificado con la circunstancia descrita y me refiero a que puedo apostar que esto le ha sucedido a casi cualquier persona en mas de una ocasión; el acto tal vez se vuelva común con el tiempo pero eso no hace que mengue su significancia. 

¿Es posible entonces que de alguna manera incomprensible estén dos personas conectadas a pesar de estas físicamente en dos lugares diferentes? La respuesta parecer ser que sí, aunque esta conexión no parecer ser permanente pero si existente de alguna manera muy sutil. Haciendo un poco mas de investigación acerca del tema, encontré después de buscar un poco en la red que la doctora Trisha Stratford condujo una investigación de cinco años con pacientes y descubrió que algunas de esas personas pueden llegar a estar fisiológicamente alineadas - con partes de su sistema nervioso latiendo en armonía - a pesar de no tener ningún contacto físico entre sí.

Para aquellos que han leído el libro de Paulo Coelho titulado Aleph sería posible asociar esta idea con lo que el autor escribe acerca de la reencarnación del alma humana y de como al encontrarte con alguien que conociste antes "en tu otra vida" la conexión se dispara porque de alguna forma los dos espíritus se reconocer. 

Cualquiera que sea el caso yo personalmente creo que la mente humana esconde aún muchos misterios para la ciencia, el hecho de que se pueda observar que este fenómeno realmente existe a nivel neurológico es un hecho fantástico, pero está aún así lejos de esclarecer las razones que gobiernan a esta mágica conexión. Ahora que lo pienso un poco mas, creo que la razón que dispara esta conexión es el hecho de que dos personas compartan algún interés complejo. Con interés complejo me refiero a temas muy personales o difíciles de entender o explicar, salvo que la otra persona se encuentre o haya experimentado la misma sensación o experiencia. No estoy hablando de ninguna manera de que dos personas sean fanáticas del mismo equipo de futbol, o que a las dos les guste el sabor vainilla en lugar del sabor chocolate; me refiero mas bien al hecho de que dos personas descubran que una misma circunstancia, música, o estímulo de algún tipo genere en ellos una sensación especial de paz por poner un ejemplo. Creo personalmente que si la situación es suficientemente profunda en significado para ambas personas, un sentimiento de empatía profunda se crea, haciendo que las personas queden de cierta manera "conectadas" a un nivel no físico.

No clamo saber con certeza cual es la explicación de este fenómeno pero si puedo calificarlo como una experiencia de vida interesante y bella que nos hace pensar que el mundo que vemos es tal vez solo un plano de muchos del universo. Cualquiera que sea la razón; el hecho de que una amistad  y uno mismo tengan la fortuna de pensar en el otro al mismo tiempo habla de un buen vínculo entre las personas, uno que se ve incluso fortalecido por este hecho; al fin y al cabo cuando dos personas ven el cielo incluso al lado opuesto del mundo, ven siempre las mismas estrellas...

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Acerca de la amistad

Esta semana recibí la visita de un amigo que hacía casi un año no veía. Aunque solo estuvo en la ciudad un día y medio pasé un tiempo agradable con conversación, comida y un par de cervezas a la margen del río.

Durante esta semana estuve pensando acerca de los elementos de la amistad y las cosas que hacen que encontremos ciertas personas agradables, mientras que algunas otras no tanto. No clamo haber descubierto la rueda con mis cavilaciones sino mas bien; analizar desde mi propio punto de vista las relaciones de amistad entre las personas. 

De acuerdo al diccionario de real academia española, la palabra amistad se define como el
Afecto personal, puro y desinteresado, compartido con otra persona, que nace y se fortalece con el trato. La definición captura muy bien el significado de la palabra, ya que precisamente es el trato lo que lo hace fortalecerse. Hay sin embargo una parte que me gustaría añadir a esa definición, y es que la amistad nace y se mantiene principalmente cuando las personas tienen algo en común. Usando estrictamente la definición podemos imaginarnos el caso de tratar a una persona por largo tiempo solo para encontrar que al no tener nada en común; concluimos que la amistad no puede ser posible entre los dos.

Afinidad de pensamiento, de ideas o de intereses son las cosas mas comunes que puedo nombrar que fungen como catalizadores de la amistad. En el caso propio muy particular, me di cuenta que lo que creo la amistad entre mi amigo y yo son los temas de ciencia y tecnología. También muy importante el hecho de que al tener casi la misma edad; nuestro contexto cultural e histórico contiene también muchas similitudes. Un ejemplo de esto es que ambos vivimos la era de aparición y auge de las consolas caseras de vídeo juegos. El ejemplo mas concreto del que hablo es por supuesto el nintendo con su famoso personaje de Mario el plomero Italiano. Ese tema nos tuvo entretenidos casi toda una tarde, y no era creo para menos ya que repito lo ya enunciado, vivimos el auge de esa tecnología que a la sombra de la moderna pareciera salida de la época medieval.

La amistad se nutre efectivamente del afecto, y afecto implica mas que nada para mi propio entender mutua comprensión entre las dos personas. Mutua comprensión es realmente el deseo de escuchar a la otra persona de manera auténtica sin desesperar que la otra persona termine de hablar para uno ser el que continué hablando, así como es también el no juzgar abiertamente a nuestros amigos. Ser amigo de tus amigos es una de las expresiones que recuerdo haber leído en algún lugar, y creo que a pesar de ser corta encierra un gran significado; el significado es por supuesto que la relación si no se nutre tiende inevitablemente a hacerse débil y desaparecer.  
Distancia tiempo y ocupaciones son algunos de los factores a los que culpamos de este fenómeno de pérdida de la amistad. Recientemente he podido añadir uno mas a la lista y es el cambio de intereses. Nuestras vidas como personas nos llevan a diferentes lugares tanto físicos como situacionales, moldeando de forma constante la definición del yo que tenemos. Creo que puedo con seguridad decir que todos tenemos los compañeros de estudios; algunos de ellos también son seguramente nuestros amigos; pero al pasar los años nuestras vidas se transforman y las cosas que antes nos unían no están mas ahí para hacerlo y la relación no es mas una de amistad. El mejor ejemplo de esto recuerdo haberlo visto en una publicación y era acerca de dos niños que crecieron jugando juntos y que la vida de ambos al divergir, los volvió a reunir muchos años después en una revuelta social donde uno de ellos era policía y el otro protestante a punto de chocar uno contra el otro, listos a defender las causas que cada uno consideraba loable.

Hay como siempre excepciones de la regla; excepciones en las que tiempo espacio y ocupación no producen un cambio significativo en la calidad de la relación; pero creo eso quiere al final decir que la divergencia no fue tan grande como creíamos y ambas personas se han mantenido en su esencia básicamente las mismas de tal forma que las personalidades de ambas personas resuenan una con la otra cada vez que se encuentran. 

Tengo la gran fortuna personal de contar en mi vida con ciertos de esos individuos, personas que a pesar de los cambios en su vida, sus éxitos y fracasos, logran siempre conversar de la misma manera que lo han hecho siempre, con ningún dejo de orgullo o arrogancia. Al final creo que eso significa que nuestros caminos a pesar de ir separados se mantuvieron paralelos y las experiencias que vivimos nos hicieron diferentes no así nuestra esencia que permaneció inmutable al paso del tiempo, como la luz del sol y el brillas de las estrellas.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Dan Brown's Inferno – A review


Not so long ago I read the latest book of Dan Brown „Inferno“. It is not a coincidence that is named after the famous book of Dante since it is indeed the main world that is explored through the book. Today I set forth on a analysis of the contents of the book. The analysis, it is for all intent and purposes not meant to spoil the fun to those who haven't yet read the book, this means that an effort will be made to avoid any major spoilers about the book and its plot.

I do not intend to label the book with a number from one to ten, neither to give an evaluation like if it were a product. I'll try to explore the interesting aspects of the book, as well as those that were predictable or so to say not very remarkable.

Not being the first book of Dan Brown, it is somehow inevitable to compare it to his previous works. Its more known being the da Vinci Code, a remarkable piece of mystery with a great background that narrates the adventures of the Harvard professor Robert Langdon as he becomes the receipt of a message left to him by a dead man. Let us then start with what we shall call the bad aspects of the book.

Recursion

It is immediately noticeable that the components of the story are similar to those that appeared before in the previous books of Mr. Brown, the elements to no surprise are: a female co-protagonist, A country in western Europe where the events unfold, Mr Langdon himself of course and of course as well art. These elements are those that are found in all the books, in this time though in a different maybe more dynamic matter. The element that also repeats is the one of the secret societies or organizations for that matter, that I guess, came to no surprise. The role of the female co-protagonist is one that is recurrent as well as necessary for the plot and in all cases acts as the counterbalancing element to the personality and abilities of Mr. Langdon. In this as it is in the previous cases is a woman with strong intellect and interesting resources that takes them both out of the complicated situations. Another common thing is that they all have a strong affinity for science in some of its form, which like stated before serves as counterpart to the skills of the protagonist.

Predictability

Although this has already been stated, it must be mentioned again. It is inevitable to compare Inferno with its predecessors, and although one does not intentionally (or consciously for that matter) does it, one can make a very educated guess about the ending as well as the fate of some of the characters just by having read any of the previous book and putting together two plus two. One noticeable example for this is the death factor present in all the books. We may have guessed that one or more of the main characters would end up dead. We did not get disappointed, although I dare say that that was indeed predictable. Another interesting element to be mentioned in this section is the writing style, this is both predictable as well as the signature style of Mr. Brown, it can be encompassed as predicable since it is to be expected that after some tension in the plot with certain character is created the chapter ends abruptly leaving us at the edge of the seat and hoping to find out soon what happened, and since the next chapter starts with some other character role in the events, that indeed helps to keep the reader interested or at least curious.

The book itself is good according to my own opinion since it kept me interested from the beginning to the end, as it awoke as well my interest in the texts of Dante and the symbolism and the art that inspired it and in the one the text inspired later on. Therefore I'd like to cover the aspects of the book that I found special, some of those might even fall in the negative categories discussed before, but it is the dual nature of its content that gives the book life and richness.
The art of the Italian Renaissance

One of the most remarkable things I found in the book is the art. Brown does his homework well when it comes to the art involved in the books and immerse us in its meaning and context through the eyes of the art professor personified in Robert Langdon. Sculptures, paintings and architecture are explored by the duo through the book. These masterpieces alone are not what makes them worth of praise but the company of its historical background and significance during the Renaissance adds the necessary spice to make one feel immediately related to them. The paintings in particular are worth of mention since the strong descriptions make one feel captured by its gravitational pull. I am myself not an art historian and my appreciation of it is not at all educated, but I am of the idea that when the right context is provided, the reasons for that something to become interesting jump into our faces. History about this period of Italy is the utmost characteristic that I found fascinating. The book immerse us into the Renaissance of course but also with the context of the event that devastated most of Europe during that century. That event is no other that the black plague, object also of many depictions and artistic works that portraits the horror suffered by the people during that era.

The technology

There is a statement at the beginning of the book that says that all the technology and organizations presented in the book are real. Of course not exactly as it is presented in the book but real indeed. It is not to be forgotten that the reach of the technology in the book might be out of proportion or better said, too far head of our time. If we again recall the technology from angel and demos, it is easy to see that although a technology such as the LHC (Large hadron collider) exists it is not to be understood that had the capability of isolating black matter as it was suggested in the book. Again, black matter is a scientific fact (or more of a educated belief) but it is to this day not possible by human means to harvest or collect any. This same idea applies to inferno. The plot of the book spins around the biotechnology and the advantages it poses for the human development, to be more specific it does it around the genetic engineering and its possible effects in the human race for good and for evil purposes. The facts presented in the book are indeed plausible but might be some years away from us now. Another interesting aspect was the surveillance technologies presented in the book. I liked personally very much the idea of the helicopter drone that pursued Landon and Dr. Miller thorough the book. These machines are as real as it gets, and with much higher military capabilities than those portrayed in the book. We can also recently recall the most recent espionage scandal that captured the attention of the world media. A single man decided to face an entire nation into exposing what he wholeheartedly believed to be of evil intent, he showed the extent into which communications can be traced, and analyzed, something we always know was possible but knowing it for certain did indeed startled everyone at least a bit.

Summary

The book offers a fresh new adventure of the Prof. Langdon and his Femme fatale co protagonist, while maybe a bit predictable and framed in similar mechanics as its predecessors it still manages to set the path for further adventures of the charismatic professor of the mickey mouse watch. The story is well researched, elaborated and with good elements that keep the reader interested. The framework of the Renaissance is a great plus that makes up for a good combination that proves to add a mystery factor to the plot, not to forget that also presents history and culture in a different form, maybe a bit diluted but still manages to pull off the job of keeping it fresh and interesting. I recommend reading the book and judging for yourselves. Whether you have read before or not the adventures of Prof. Langdon, it is in any case a book totally worth reading, with the necessary elemtns to make it maybe not memorable but source of good entertainment and conversation.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

A short speech to graduates

On the 10th of October I had the honor to deliver a speech to a group of more than fifty International students at the university of Kaiserslautern, the ocassion was the completion of their graduate studies, among them was Master and Doctorate graduates. After some inspiration search this is what I wrote for them...

Dear graduates, distinguished guests, it is my very honor to stand here today and to congratulate you for completing your graduate studies. You now belong to the 6% of human kind that came this far and that is worth of praise.
 
The success you celebrate today did not come for free, for we shall never forget the sleepless nights, a place called home we left behind, the fears and struggles that gripped our hearts during these years. But you believed in your cause, you fought back relentlessly and conquered.
 
You may ask yourselves now, yes we are here, yes we succeeded in our studies, but now what? What lies beyond? What should we do?
 
I say: look into your hearts and seek once more the inspiration that brought you here, for the heart is never wrong and always knows what it wants, it is then in us to have the courage to follow its voice.
 
Whatever road you choose to follow will not be an easy one, but it will be yours to walk, and it will be full of wonders, of places and marvelous people. Some people will cross your path once, some may stay longer, but from all, you shall learn, and as you walk, the road will see you become wise and mature, and you shall then understand that the difficulties of the road were there for a reason, and that reason was to make you become who you are.
 
You started this road some years ago as students, now you are not only graduates, but something bigger. You came here as Mexicans, Indians, Russians and became instead citizens of the world; people with great social conscience that hold the promise for a better world for us all. Here you did not learn only science but also the value of friendship, the warm spirit of the people of this beautiful country and an experience that changed forever who you are.
 
May our paths cross again I wish, may the fire in your hearts keep burning and take you where you always dreamed, and that you never forget these years, your alma mater and the amazing people you met.

In the words of William Ernest Henley I say to you today:

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.