Question the Questioner

Often when people ask us something, they are not really interested in our reply. This may seem impolite, but it's actually quite true. However, before we decide to become a misanthropist because of this embarrassing truth, let's look at it from our own point of view.

We like to ask our friends: what are their plans, where did they go for their holidays, what have they eaten for lunch, what have they bought from shopping - earnestly wanting to listen to our friends' exciting stories. But I'm also certain that each time we ask those questions, we (secretly) hope that our friends would ask those questions back to us.

As much as we are interested in our friends, we want them to be interested in us more. And not surprisingly, this is also true for everyone else. It is not about being selfish, or not caring about others. In fact, by understanding this principle, we could even be more selfless.

"How are you?"

"Good, How are you?"

Is This The End?

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893)
Father of Modern Neurology

This is my last week of neurology attachment. As a student, over the past five weeks I have been exposed to general neurology, the branch of medicine that deals with diseases of the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles. I think a major part of my enjoyment in doing this placement is because of my great interest in how the brain works (who isn't interested in how the brain works anyway?).

Over the last five weeks, I have learned about how things can go wrong in different parts of our brain, and I have seen how this manifests in a myriad of symptoms: funny sensations, electrical pains, terrible headaches, shakes of the hands, twitching of the neck, pumping of the muscles, memory loss, speech impairment, or even blindness with normal functioning eyes!

Surely, I have come far to do this clinical attachment now. I still remember that almost a decade ago (!) we were taught in school the names of the different parts of the brain - cerebrum, cerebellum and medulla oblongata - and we also had to remember their different function. Like everyone else, I was fascinated by their wonderful names and intrigued with the brain itself, but I have never really thought then that one day I would be learning more about the brain!

Well, that is what I am doing now indeed. Looking back to where I come from: a curious child kept busy with school in the mornings, homework in the evenings, piano lesson on Saturdays and TV or cinema on Sundays; even if my life journey ends here, I'm very pleased and satisfied with it. But this is not the end - not yet.

There are two ways of looking at life. Either see it as a journey to reach a certain destination. Or see the whole life itself as a destination: Every new day is a destiny of all the days that have gone past.

What's Funny About It

(Image taken from here)

We've all seen at least one version of What People Think/What I Really Do sequences. And it's difficult not to find them funny. Whoever made the first sequence must be congratulated and thanked for such a simple idea to entertain us all on the Internet!

So why do we find it funny? We can all relate to the incongruity (i.e inconsistent ideas) of the different perceptions about our careers. For instance, a sequence on Marine Biologist (below) makes fun of the vast difference between the societal perception of what marine biologists do (working with whales and dolphins) when actually, a lot of their work is in the lab doing "boring stuff".

(Image taken from here)

Humour, I think, arises from a superiority complex. Whenever we laugh at something, we must first feel superior to the subject we laugh at. We are all familiar with the comedian who would make fun of everybody - including himself! - and tease their cultures, beliefs, accents, and anything that's different about them.

What about laughing at ourselves? This happens when we identify with the "superior me" and look down on the "inferior me" who has made of fool of himself. When we've made a mistake and later laugh at ourselves for the mistakes we've done, we dissociate ourselves from " the person who has made a mistake", and identify with "the person who has learn from it". This is a useful tool to allow us to move on in life, especially when we are all too human to be susceptible to make a lot of mistakes.

Coming back to the What People Think/ What I Really Do sequences, there are actually many things to laugh about them. First, there is the ridiculousness of other people's perception and expectations of what we do. We are in fact laughing at their distorted ideas and misconceptions about our careers.

Then, we also laugh at our own self-inflation when we think we do really cool stuff, when in reality this is not true at all. 

This feeling of superiority ("I'm better than you") behind every laughter may be why it's always fun to laugh at others, but not so when others laugh at us. 


*My hypothesis on humour that I have briefly discussed here is actually a well known theory of humour called the Superiority Theory. There are other theories that have been proposed including Incongruity, Relief, Benign Violation, as well as Evolutionary explanations. 


I hope I haven't spoiled any comedy and laughter from this discussion. Haha.

A Separation

 When I heard about this Iranian drama film, I thought that it would be just another typical film about a divorce. In fact, when I watched it yesterday, I found that it is more than that. And indeed this film has deservingly won the Golden Globe Award for best foreign language film, along with many other international awards and nominations. 

I think all its audience would agree that, this realistic, gripping, and Kafkaesque film about the struggle of a modern young Iranian family has entertained us all. Some of us, who love to philosophize over ordinary things, may wonder if the story and its characters portray more than just family life crises. We can speculate that this film may also reflect the issues of "A Separation" of ideologies, generations, religions, and economic classes.

Our Reflection & Shadow

We are well aware of our body image - especially when we meet our reflection in the mirror, or any smooth shiny surface. This is what we think other people see when they look at us. In fact, there is another part of us that other people see when they look at us, although we pay much less attention (if any) to it. That is our shadow.

In psychological terms, our reflection is the aspect of our personality that we are quite aware of ourselves. This is what we use to describe ourselves, when someone asks us to describe our personality. "I'm friendly, cheerful and loveable".

In contrast, our shadow is the other aspect of our personality that we have not realized or understood about ourselves. Although we might not be aware of it,  our "shadow personality" is as true as our reflection and together, these two aspects of our personality - reflection and shadow - give a more accurate characterization of who we really are.

....

Why is it important to know one's own shadow? 

I argue here, that "to be aware of our own shadow personality" is a great triumph as it would allow us to understand the problem of evil itself. Allow me to explain this a little.

When we meet our (psychological) reflection in other people, that is, when we meet those who are like us (e.g friendly, cheerful and loveable) we feel very positive and happy. These are good people, in our opinion, because they are as good as ourselves.

However, when we stumble upon our shadow in others (e.g stingy, lazy, boastful people) we shake in agony and try hard to avoid them. These are the people we hate most - our enemy, or evil itself. They cause misery in our lives, or even, make mischief for the whole world! "If only the world is free of evil", we might say. Unfortunately, this is like saying, "if only we don't have a shadow." 

The solution might be, first, to realize that we cast a shadow, and so does everyone else. Then only can we understand it and finally learn to accept our shadow as a part of who we are. 

Perhaps the video game below tells us something about our own struggle to run away from our shadow (the green character), in pursuit of the ideal self. (The gamer plays the pink character)

Two Birds on a Tree

From the Upanishad:

Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.  

On this same tree a person, sunk and grieving in slavery, is deluded, but upon observing the Lord happy and great, becomes free of sorrow.

Look at our friends on facebook. Many of them are having such a great time with their life - indulging good food, travelling the world, graduating from university, earning a salary, getting married, having kids, etc. Meanwhile, we reflect on what we have achieved in our life so far. 

If only we worked harder, we would have been admitted to a better college, like some of our friends. If only that happens, we could be offered a better job. And if only we get a higher pay, we could afford a bigger house, a faster car and support a bigger family. Ah, what a happy life that would be!

And so we thought.

....

How can the other bird looks on without eating the sweet fruit? 

The important point here, I think, is the bird's conscious decision to refrain from eating the sweet fruit -  although it wasn't forced to do so. Seeing its friend enjoying the fruit may be enough to keep the bird content. Maybe it has already eaten before clinging on to that tree. 

Self-Restraint

Have you heard about the Sirens? These are mythical oceanic creatures that lure sailors who can hear their enchanting voices - to approach them - only to the sailors own demise!

A wise king, Odysseus, got to hear the sirens and escaped unharmed.

Odysseus and the Sirens (1891) by John William Waterhouse.

He had all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he would beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his frowns to be released (Wikipedia)

Maybe we can learn something from Odysseus. Yesterday I discussed our hyperlink addiction (aka Internet ADHD) and the potential brain mechanism behind this phenomenon. Maybe there's a way to manage our behaviour of clicking one link over another aimlessly.

Let's have some self-restraint. Keep a minimum number of opened tabs (pages). Keep your hands away from the mouse once a new page is loaded (so we can't immediately click on a link to open yet another page). Turn off the computer when it's time to do so, even when there's some work left to do. And most of all, avoid (or at least minimize) trivial internet uses such as 24hr social networking, 9gags, stumbleupon, etc.

Hyperlink Addiction

I think most of us suffer from this condition. Not even a minute after a new webpage is opened, we tend to click on a link that catches our eyes - and this brings us to yet another website. And in the new page, we click on another link, and then another, and another.

From what I understand about the reward-system in our brain, dopamine is released when an action produces a desirable outcome. Dopamine makes us feel good. Essentially what this hypothesis means: everytime we click on a link (action) and this loads a new page (outcome), dopamine is released in our brain and this makes us feel good.

In fact, dopamine is released in anticipation of (before) the action if we have been conditioned to experience a desirable outcome from that particular action. So we feel good even before we click on a link - or do anything that usually results in dopamine release - because dopamine is released even before the action.

Naturally, as a result of desensitisation, more action is needed to get the same rush.

Also, when there's uncertainty of the outcome - so long as it can be tolerated - an even higher amount of dopamine is released. (I'm sure you would also find many of the links that we click bring us to disappointing websites)

This possibly explains why surfing the internet can be addictive. 

But is it a bad thing after all? Well, I think it all depends on what we are doing on the net. 


The bad news is, there's no (easy) way of overcoming this addiction. The good news is, it can (easily) be replaced by a healthier one.