Acquired Intellectual Defensiveness Syndrome (AIDS of the mind)
A new disease is in the air. Which is why not too many folks seem blissful these days, and a sense of simmering unrest looms over every conversation like that proverbial dark cloud, albeit without the silver lining. This fatal disease, is characterized by an amplified "Intellectual Defensiveness" system, which compels its victims to make impressive INTELLECTUAL arguments, that serve as DEFENSIVENESS for their INACTION, when it comes to glaring issues around us.
This is AIDS of the mind, and perhaps worse than the other one we know so far and here are some of the common complaints I have heard from patients:
"The traffic in Mumbai is terrible! You know how badly people drive?" one AIDS victim says, before he hurriedly leaves in his gas guzzler - horn blaring.
"We are becoming too capitalistic, and losing our roots!" another patient proclaims, looking at his Tag Heur, to tell the time - in an era when one really does not need a watch, unless one's cellular phone does not have a clock setting on it. (nokia, do you make one of those?)
"The farmer suicides, the bomb-blasts, the vulgarity on television, the rapes, the corruption in politics!" a well-read +ve one rattles off a list, before going back to his job as producer with a top notch "News" channel.
"Global warming, extinction of species, explosion in the number of crows, poverty!" a wannabe activist in his final stages yarns, while sipping a toxic cola from an even more toxic polyurethane bottle. Feeding his AIDS the food it needs to entrench deeper.
"My body feels like a pumpkin, and our sex life is not what it used to be like when in college!" laments a tub of lard, as she tucks in on a juicy pound of flesh.Tears welling, at realizing the fatality of her condition.
Noble people, all of them, much like Brutus, Cassius and company - but, alas! clear victims of three powerful human deficiencies - deriving sense of self from peers, laziness and inaction of ideals (cocooned in the virtuously righteous halo of intelligence). This is the ultimate breeding ground for transmission of this AIDS virus. A disease that ensures eventual demise of the original mind and soul, leaving the victim caged in a robotic existence that only hungers for money, hoarding possessions, a myth called "financial security" and two seconds of fame. The victim gets his or her fleeting gratification from mindless indulgences like Bollywood, Saans Bahus, eating fatty food in terrible restaurants and amusement parks, until the sense of foreboding re-occurs.
Everytime, i meet one of these people who "want the epidemic to go, without lifting a finger to make it", i am ready to puke. In an era of the "zombified retardation" of our human species and the "get rich, or die trying" world, it really surprises me that so many people (who i can tell are intelligent enough to cure themselves) have succumbed to their risk aversion. Tamely accepting the flaccidity of "intelligent, impressive conversation" over zestful actions that can truly make a difference to this world we proudly call ours.
I once suffered from advanced "Acquired Intellectual Defensiveness Syndrome", (AIDS), as well. Until, one day, i was cured by the miracle of actually DOING things I wanted to do, instead of complaining about them. Bold, radical lifestyle changes that I have practiced for the last many years, which have set me on the course of recovery. I thought I would share some of them, for current patients to embrace. The home-made remedy is neither meant to offend or work for all - but purely to exemplify that certain changes are possible, should we wish to make them.
1. AIDS of the mind is acquired mostly from how and with whom you work. Politics, purposelessness, chasing pay hikes or promotions, working for companies engaged in inhuman activity etc cause this AIDS to fester in the subconscious. So, I stopped working for some faceless, profit mongering corporate that feeds off the poor in various parts of the world, and decided to follow my seemingly impossible dreams. The dreams have not fully realized yet, but at least now my intelligence does not contribute to bulldozers that render people homeless by providing sub-prime loans or make toxic colas from the water meant for malnourished babies or drill oil from the blood soaked terrains in Iraq or test deadly drugs on peasants in third world countries or provide banking/insurance facilities by laundering Columbian Drug and Blood Money. And I still have enough for eating a few square meals, traveling the world and completely satisfying lifestyle. It is a tough task to not be pampered slaves of corporations, especially when the Intelligent Defensiveness kicks in, to justify the need for perky salaries and the "benefits" of colas, cosmetics and insurance et al. - but it has been done before.
2. For years, I do not put a lock on the doors to my apartment, when I leave for the day. In all these years, nothing has been stolen - except my sense of fear of my neighbour. A key contributor to AIDS of the mind.
3. For eons, I have not owned an idiot box. and yet, have not lost in touch with either education, entertainment or information - but my sensibilities have been left un-accosted by 8 year old kids thrusting pelvises to vulgar bollywood songs, ads that sell me shit i don't need and the fear-psychosis being drilled by the news channels. AIDS of the mind is hugely catalyzed via television rays and psychologically shattering celebrity endorsements in advertising (for example Bachchan selling a red hair oil or 1,000,000 celebrities gyrating to a song that goes DHAK, DHAK, GO!!)
3. My minimalist home has not one thing more than i USE (as against NEED, for showing off to guests), I still cook my own food as often as i can, wash dishes and clean my floors, make my own furniture and write a few pages everyday. This extra time, could probably be attributed to not having a TV or plainly to the desire to act out on ones underlying desires and wishes. Enjoying every instant and the little things you WANT to do, truly helps cure this AIDS.
4. I do not use the horn while driving EVER. and neither do my drivers. I make it a point to educate anyone who honks in my space on the intrusive offensiveness of their needless action.
Frenzied commutes in adverse conditions translate to an anxious state of mind that festers the virus.
5. There are very few chemically toxic products used at home, and as much of goods that can be brought from rural or herbal sources are used. The same education is given to all domestic help. Even a subconscious knowledge of consciously damaging this earth, can make this disease to move from its first phase to the next one.
I am not claiming to be fully recovered yet, as i still have a long way to go before i get rid of the various deep-rooted practices of urban humanism, and some of the hypocrisy that is inherent in our DNA or been cultivated over many generations. But its a start, and i have significantly stopped being Intellectually Defensive, to justify the most obvious crimes we humans carelessly commit towards this world. An early step towards recognizing a malady that is not yet on the list of the WHO?
I've also earned the right to puke when i meet ignorant victims of this AIDS who SAY they want to see change, without giving two hoots towards becoming it.
A bald, bespectacled Father quoted something like that, and I fully agree.
This is AIDS of the mind, and perhaps worse than the other one we know so far and here are some of the common complaints I have heard from patients:
"The traffic in Mumbai is terrible! You know how badly people drive?" one AIDS victim says, before he hurriedly leaves in his gas guzzler - horn blaring.
"We are becoming too capitalistic, and losing our roots!" another patient proclaims, looking at his Tag Heur, to tell the time - in an era when one really does not need a watch, unless one's cellular phone does not have a clock setting on it. (nokia, do you make one of those?)
"The farmer suicides, the bomb-blasts, the vulgarity on television, the rapes, the corruption in politics!" a well-read +ve one rattles off a list, before going back to his job as producer with a top notch "News" channel.
"Global warming, extinction of species, explosion in the number of crows, poverty!" a wannabe activist in his final stages yarns, while sipping a toxic cola from an even more toxic polyurethane bottle. Feeding his AIDS the food it needs to entrench deeper.
"My body feels like a pumpkin, and our sex life is not what it used to be like when in college!" laments a tub of lard, as she tucks in on a juicy pound of flesh.Tears welling, at realizing the fatality of her condition.
Noble people, all of them, much like Brutus, Cassius and company - but, alas! clear victims of three powerful human deficiencies - deriving sense of self from peers, laziness and inaction of ideals (cocooned in the virtuously righteous halo of intelligence). This is the ultimate breeding ground for transmission of this AIDS virus. A disease that ensures eventual demise of the original mind and soul, leaving the victim caged in a robotic existence that only hungers for money, hoarding possessions, a myth called "financial security" and two seconds of fame. The victim gets his or her fleeting gratification from mindless indulgences like Bollywood, Saans Bahus, eating fatty food in terrible restaurants and amusement parks, until the sense of foreboding re-occurs.
Everytime, i meet one of these people who "want the epidemic to go, without lifting a finger to make it", i am ready to puke. In an era of the "zombified retardation" of our human species and the "get rich, or die trying" world, it really surprises me that so many people (who i can tell are intelligent enough to cure themselves) have succumbed to their risk aversion. Tamely accepting the flaccidity of "intelligent, impressive conversation" over zestful actions that can truly make a difference to this world we proudly call ours.
I once suffered from advanced "Acquired Intellectual Defensiveness Syndrome", (AIDS), as well. Until, one day, i was cured by the miracle of actually DOING things I wanted to do, instead of complaining about them. Bold, radical lifestyle changes that I have practiced for the last many years, which have set me on the course of recovery. I thought I would share some of them, for current patients to embrace. The home-made remedy is neither meant to offend or work for all - but purely to exemplify that certain changes are possible, should we wish to make them.
1. AIDS of the mind is acquired mostly from how and with whom you work. Politics, purposelessness, chasing pay hikes or promotions, working for companies engaged in inhuman activity etc cause this AIDS to fester in the subconscious. So, I stopped working for some faceless, profit mongering corporate that feeds off the poor in various parts of the world, and decided to follow my seemingly impossible dreams. The dreams have not fully realized yet, but at least now my intelligence does not contribute to bulldozers that render people homeless by providing sub-prime loans or make toxic colas from the water meant for malnourished babies or drill oil from the blood soaked terrains in Iraq or test deadly drugs on peasants in third world countries or provide banking/insurance facilities by laundering Columbian Drug and Blood Money. And I still have enough for eating a few square meals, traveling the world and completely satisfying lifestyle. It is a tough task to not be pampered slaves of corporations, especially when the Intelligent Defensiveness kicks in, to justify the need for perky salaries and the "benefits" of colas, cosmetics and insurance et al. - but it has been done before.
2. For years, I do not put a lock on the doors to my apartment, when I leave for the day. In all these years, nothing has been stolen - except my sense of fear of my neighbour. A key contributor to AIDS of the mind.
3. For eons, I have not owned an idiot box. and yet, have not lost in touch with either education, entertainment or information - but my sensibilities have been left un-accosted by 8 year old kids thrusting pelvises to vulgar bollywood songs, ads that sell me shit i don't need and the fear-psychosis being drilled by the news channels. AIDS of the mind is hugely catalyzed via television rays and psychologically shattering celebrity endorsements in advertising (for example Bachchan selling a red hair oil or 1,000,000 celebrities gyrating to a song that goes DHAK, DHAK, GO!!)
3. My minimalist home has not one thing more than i USE (as against NEED, for showing off to guests), I still cook my own food as often as i can, wash dishes and clean my floors, make my own furniture and write a few pages everyday. This extra time, could probably be attributed to not having a TV or plainly to the desire to act out on ones underlying desires and wishes. Enjoying every instant and the little things you WANT to do, truly helps cure this AIDS.
4. I do not use the horn while driving EVER. and neither do my drivers. I make it a point to educate anyone who honks in my space on the intrusive offensiveness of their needless action.
Frenzied commutes in adverse conditions translate to an anxious state of mind that festers the virus.
5. There are very few chemically toxic products used at home, and as much of goods that can be brought from rural or herbal sources are used. The same education is given to all domestic help. Even a subconscious knowledge of consciously damaging this earth, can make this disease to move from its first phase to the next one.
I am not claiming to be fully recovered yet, as i still have a long way to go before i get rid of the various deep-rooted practices of urban humanism, and some of the hypocrisy that is inherent in our DNA or been cultivated over many generations. But its a start, and i have significantly stopped being Intellectually Defensive, to justify the most obvious crimes we humans carelessly commit towards this world. An early step towards recognizing a malady that is not yet on the list of the WHO?
I've also earned the right to puke when i meet ignorant victims of this AIDS who SAY they want to see change, without giving two hoots towards becoming it.
A bald, bespectacled Father quoted something like that, and I fully agree.
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