Shifting paradigms: the good and the bad

There is a paradigm shift in the perspective of life seen by a person cut off from the external world. Like, for example, an ascetic who chooses to go to the Himalayas and spend his days in expressing love to his God. And in the case of us lesser mortals, an experience of this perspective of life can be sensed when they are forcefully cut of from the external world for reasons like isolation due to health reasons or may be an astronaut isolated in space, or a researcher slogging away alone in a laboratory.

After the devil has done all that he possibly could in the workshop of the idle minds of these people, the divine sets in. In Deepak Chopra's words, I don't know if they are his original, we realise, with a pleasant surprise, that we are divine beings having the occasional human experiences and not suffering human beings without a purpose.

This is the shift in paradigm. Suddenly the world is a better place than what one has seen on television or discussed with family, friends and colleagues, or read in newspapers. One gets to see the goodness in people that had always been there, but never percieved before, all because of this paradigm shift.

Especially when there is a problem. The neighbour who affected your mental faculties adversely because of the way he talked or behaved, comes forward to donate platelets and spreads the word around for more donors. The colleagues of your husband, who you never met before, do the same. The office staff of your sister's friend and your brother-in-law, do the same. The neighbour in the apartment complex of your temporary apartment, drops you to the hospital minutes after the phone request. There is a notice on the apartment notice board from the Secretary, for urgent requirement of A group donors.

All for some one they don't even know. It is humbling and shaming. You try to rack your brains to remember if you have refused help to any one, any time, ever, hoping you haven't. Old groucho parents, cook and clean for you with smiles. Friends you havent met for 27 years send you CDs and books through Flipkart from Bangalore. An emotional support system develops, where you thought you didn't have any. Friends and aquaintances in all parts of the world pray for you, in their own special ways, and plan ways to help you. These are people you haven't met or talked to for maybe decades. People you never would otherwise contact, go out of the way to help at a phone call's notice.

The doctor villains of Amir Khan's show, who wouldn't care to look you in the eye if you otherwise pass them, become the pillars of your support: emotional and physical. The empathy can only be believed by those who experience it. Doctors, who do not realise how awestruck we get when we know that the average sleep they get per day every day including Sundays and State holidays and festivals, and family events is 2 hours. Who eat canteen food day after day, night after night, morning after morning, food of a quality that the average person would refuse to consume as 2 consecutive meals.

Doctors who think it is normal to stay by their patients' side 24 hours a day when complications occur without eating or sleeping because the HOD will not allow food inside the unit as it could cause infection to the patient. Doctors, who make phone calls to their patients at their homes, if they feel there is a reason to know the patients status, physical or emotional, so that they can ensure that there is nothing impeding the patients recovery.

What I'm trying to say is, you realise there is so much to be grateful about.  Life shattering events can now be understood with clarity. They are divine triggers to make you choose a path with a better outcome. You become grateful for events that preoccupied your mind with resentment, making it oblivious to all the goodness around. You become grateful to people who have shattered your lives thanks to this clarity and begin to see the good things that they have done to you, things that you were blinded to by the resentment.

The world is full of good people. Some how we prefer to see the bad part and highlight it. A paradigm shift for everyone would be wonderful. All of us then would shift from seeing and highlighting the bad to seeing and highlighting the good.

There is much to be grateful about. As my astrologer tells me, there are a lot of good people in the world, which is why it is livable despite all the despicable events doing the rounds.