A refresher course in human life

What is life? What is the purpose of life? Can we ever solve the mystery of life? The Fine Print of Life neither tries to evolve any theory about it nor does it go into whether these issues are sortable or unsortable. What it does is much more valuable and appreciable: it helps you to find your own way to get the best out of it.

A child is an ignorant yogi and a yogi is a knowledgeable child. All of us have come somewhat away from our ignorant childhood. Now the only way to find it back is to sort out all our mental itches and find the same zest again. The Fine Print of Life is an effort to treat those mental itches by giving you the fine print of your inner and outer existence. It suggests that those BIG questions of life are human creations. The moment you realize this, they disappear. But in order to realize this, you should be able to see everything in totality. Our problem is that we try to conduct piecemeal investigation. Life reveals itself in full circle only. There is no shortcut.

The book is a roundabout journey. It brings you back where you started from. It does not give you a feel of reading some arduous, dull, intellectual lessons but rather it leaves you vivacious and more resilient. The author believes in realization rather than suggestion when it comes to life. The book provides the gauge for judgment so that we can realize ourselves the origin and outcome of most of our discomforts in life and the moment we do so, they disappear.

The book is divided in 5½ chapters which are headed as ‘wheels’ connoting life as a process rather than an event. It reminds us the Buddha’s approach towards life and his Dharma Chakras. The chapters conduct a subtle enquiry and investigation into different aspects of our mind or states of mind. The classification of chapters appears as a gradual approach towards the highest goal which is revealed in parts in five wheels and finally in the last chapter ‘Playing It’ which is about the mastery of the whole game of life. The last wheel is termed wheel 5½ to suggest that it is not separate from the already given five but only a concise form of them.

Each wheel is further divided into 5½ inner wheels which are actually designed to perceive the same reality from different angles. In this second classification the chapters have no gradual order but the same reality is being perceived from different angles.

Before beginning the first wheel, the author puts his aim explicitly under the heading ‘Ushering It’ and then gives a sketch of his schema under ‘Configuring It’. According to the writer, man is born with open, receptive, intuitive, playful and joyous mind but with growth in years one constructs blocks and barriers in his personality. The book is aimed at ‘triggering our self actualization, enhancing our creativity, releasing our passion and setting our life on roll.’

Wheel 1:  Minding It

The first chapter enquires into the optimal state of mind. It gives us 5½ facets which constitute the optimal state of mind. ‘The Easy Mind’ is comfortable not only with its inner/outer environment but also with its own existence. ‘The 360° Mind’ is able to see everything in totality and thus not wavered by the inevitable turmoil of life. ‘The Meditative Mind’ experiences oneness with its activity which makes it joyous, effortless and free-flowing in whatever it does. ‘The Empathic Mind’ is the magic wand which can bring breakthroughs in relationships resulting in joy, personal growth and a sense of fulfillment. Passion is something which removes all doubts; rather it does not let any doubt stand in the way. If one is passionate about something he automatically finds his own way to achieve it. ‘The Passionate Mind’ is considered the fifth facet of the optimal state of mind. Wholeheartedness and absence of doubt bring about intuition which is spontaneous and instantaneous, in complete harmony with the nature of life; that is what constitutes facet 5½ ‘The Intuitive Mind’. The writer also provides the key to the question of life that the meaning of life is wrapped inside the living of life.

Wheel 2: Finding It

With the optimal state of mind, one experiences suchness, nowness, earnestness, sensuousness, emptiness which are discovered in spontaneity and that is the heart of life. Thus, in the second wheel, the author explores the findings of optimal state of mind. In other words, ‘being in the optimal state of mind how one finds life’ is discussed in this chapter. During a stimulating discussion under ‘emptiness’ the author considers the rigid sense of self as a hindrance to growth. This emptiness does not make our existence hollow rather it makes our personality even more dynamic. Being ‘spontaneous’ is considered as taking full charge of life and trusting oneself.

Wheel 3: Seeing It

The author tries to demystify the concept of enlightenment and puts it down in terms understood by the modern man who is overwhelmed by achievements of scientific knowledge. The advancement of psychology and life sciences leaves very little space for blind faith in traditional concepts of enlightenment and spirituality; though no amount of knowledge could ever do away with the attraction for such bliss. In the third wheel the writer offers a practical, demystified approach for the concept and projects it as more natural and accessible.

Wheel 4: Being It

This chapter targets the approach of the modern man who can’t differentiate between an intense and a tensed way of doing things. In order to perform best in life we contract ourselves so much that it distorts our existence and consequently disturbs us. The author suggests that contraction is forced and hampers our development while decontraction is our natural state which brings growth and relaxation. ‘Being it’ reminds us that our natural state is a relaxed soul which is nothing but a conscious being.

The writer also puts up an interesting analysis of the truth of a lie and the lie of the truth.

Wheel 5: Walking It

The chapter has one call ‘Do not stop to curse or to moan even in the worst situation. If one keeps walking, one will be out of it sooner or later. To keep walking is to keep living.’ The possibilities of the ways one can walk are cleverly illustrated by the author in the stories of the king, the convict, the bride, the robber, the meditator and the spider which symbolize different ways of managing the journey of life.

Wheel 5½: Playing it

The final chapter reveals the mystic, uncertain, interesting, exciting and ever unfolding nature of life. The unpredictability, uncertainty and the terminable nature of life which cause fear and anxiety in humans, are presented as sources of joy and excitement. It reminds me of a poem which reads ‘We need not to be afraid of life as we can always die.’ Thus, not only life but even death can be celebrated.

The last chapter’s sub sections – tossed by life, teased by life, healed by life, buoyed by life, freed by life and amazed by life depict gradual growth in respect of coming into terms with life. After being tossed into life by some unknown force we all are teased by life for its unpredictability and mysterious nature. The greatest tool of humanity, the mind or reason, finds itself lost in the labyrinth of life. It not only demoralizes us, we also tend to lose our faith, confidence, joy and peace. The third sub section suggests that when we come out of our self-created boundaries of true and false, right and wrong, new doors open up and we experience a new life. At the same time by coming out of a guilty conscience of breaking rules, we are ‘healed by life’. This healing results in buoyancy in life as one learns to rise above reason and float with the unpredictability and uncertainty of life. By accepting it in its true nature one is freed by life. And then, with this wisdom, comes the true joy of life as everything unfolded by life at every step only amazes us leaving us with an ‘aha experience’ as the writer calls it.

In the last chapter the author perfectly coins his ideas about life with the existential tint but even if we absorb them for a most possible joyous and fruitful life, the quest for human life’s purpose, objective, ideal and ‘The Truth’ can not be eradicated from human life and, interestingly, it will always remain till human is human. I think, being in the spirit of the book, it can also be entertained and enjoyed rather than condemned.

At many places the author asserts such deep, simple, profound and beautiful thoughts that you need to consciously resist highlighting them with pen or pencil if you are reading a borrowed copy of the book.

There might be debates about the writer’s assertions and ideas individually but, indubitably, a reading through The Fine Print of Life alleviates the heavy heart and mind of modern man who has lost the simple sense of life.

To read the introductory chapter of The Fine Print of Life, please go to this link: http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/the-fine-print-of-life/ and for more information about the book, visit http://www.pswasu.com