the human mind - actions and derivations within - 20 April 2014

On the human mind - Is a semi-comatose person actually active within the mind? 
Bharat Bhushan - 20 April 2014

A very close friend of mine is in a coma. He has been in a coma for many years, and luckily for him, he went into a coma while in Canada. I was absolutely certain that he would not have survived if he would have gone into a coma while in India. The health services in Canada have taken care of him splendidly. Most splendidly. The system also took care of his family and provided various forms of support. He is a friend from childhood and I was deeply struck by his slipping into a coma. He was ever smiling, always active, full of good and positive energy and tremendously happy. He was always with good intentions.

It seems that he went into a coma through some diabetic trauma. In the meantime, his sons have grown up and are becoming adults. They would have totally enjoyed him when they were young boys. The health services escorts him once in a week to his house, allows him to enjoy family life and happiness and then takes him back to the hospital.

I keep wondering about it. How would he journey back to the hospital after meeting his wife and sons? Would he know that he would not see them for a week? Can he measure the time in his semi-comatose mind and does he know that it is time to go back to the house? Whenever he is at the hospital, does he actually know that he is semi-comatose, or does he know that he is at the hospital, and that his condition is not normal at all? These and many other questions pain me when I think about him. I do want to go to Canada and jog him back to a normal life.

All these questions have made me to wonder about the matters of the mind. I feel that the mind is the most mysterious frontier that Science and Man has not explored fully and that there are many challenges. It is known that people in a coma rarely reverse out of the situation into a normal manner. A family that is proximate to the situation would certainly know that nothing would be normal in the future. So, how would they react? How would they plan? Would they begin to anticipate the changes that they would have to make? There is a not-so-recent study based on the diagnosis of several comatose patients that them ind always stays active in spite of the body being in a vegetative state. So, if the family and doctors presume that the comatose man is no longer active in a mental ability, is it wrongful diagnosis?

Fortunately, the family of my childhood friend have tremendous faith in the ability of my friend to get back to normal. But, for how long would they continue to do so? Being in Canada, the medical teams must have explored the recesses of his brain with MRIs and Scans. I wonder what did they find? In time, would my friend be neglected by the medical teams, merely due to boredom? It would have certainly happened thus in India, a very long time ago, for sure.

Surprising statistics points out that nearly 300,000 persons ae in the vegetative state in the US alone. Do we have such statistics in India? For each State, or district or city? One of the important medical journal of the world claimed that a study showed that people who have been in a vegetative state for more than a year have little chances of recovery. It also said that a duration of more than a year can be justification for withdrawing medical treatment or support. But, the Canadian health services are, luckily, not following this line of thought. That is good for my friend who has been improving steadily. There is a condition that is now recognised as 'minimally conscious', and that prevents health services from withdrawing medical support to semi-comatose patients. 

Can we blame the situation for our failure? 8 December 2008

Can we blame the situation for our failure? Can we blame others when we fail?
Bharat Bhushan - 8 December 2008

The obvious answer, of course, is that we cannot. If it is entirely within us, then why do we fail? How do we fail? There must be some reason, and it must be outside of us, for we do not want to fail and we have made the perfect plan to implement any project or plan, and it was something outside of that plan or someone other than us who caused the failure. That is why we fail, not entirely because of us. So, why should we avoid blaming situations, causes, reasons and others for our failure?

Is there any failure in life? If the past was a myth and the future is not as yet true, and if the present is the only truth that there is, how could failure be an actual happening? We could not achieve some part or aspect or the entire plan at some point of time. So, is it a failure for the rest of our lives? No. There is much of life to roll on, and there are more and more opportunities to seek and to try and retrieve the non-success. I would like to recognise 'failure' as a 'non-success'. That is to say, that there are more and more opportunities to convert that non-success in to a success.

We seem to determine that we have failed. That recognition happens deep within us. We have set up a goal for ourselves, and we imagine that we have failed. Why? Because we think we are the most important living beings on this planet, and our success and failure is extremely important. Nothing can be farther from the truth. There is only one truth, and that is, we are of no consequence. Our success and our failure is of no consequence if it is relevant to us. It should be of use and of purpose to others, to nature and to the various living systems around us. Only then is our success of relevance to others. Only then, is our success is of any relevance.

If we fail in completing our goals, when our plan is of consequence to others, we should start again. That's all. It's that simple, actually. Start again.

We fail within ourselves. Our inner self, our thoughts, our mind and our resolve settle themselves into comfort, compromise or conflict. There is usually no convergence unless we determine that there should be. We weaken our plans by not resolving within ourselves to establish a definite plan and to keep working on it. This weakness creates a vulnerable perspective and we destroy our plan by agreeing to compromises such as - we will do it later - we will get it done by others - it is not so important - it is not my work, anyway - etc.

We are responsible for our mind, our inner self and our thoughts. We need to determine how we should think. We should be able to recognise the manner of thoughts that wander within us and we should be able to distinguish it from the ether and create crystal thoughts that can lead to action. We do not do so, most usually. We allow ourselves to be complacent. Let us look at a simple example. We are with a child and we want to convince the child to do some particular action. We can pat the child on the back with our palm and encourage the child to complete the action. We can also violently slap the child on the face with our palm and force the child to complete the action. What is the difference? Is our palm responsible? It is our intention that emerged from the thought within us that created a different action. We could have nurtured the child but we chose not to do so.

There was a road accident in which an infant child, about 3 1/2 years old, died within a bus-stand, when a out-of-control taxi climbed over the footpath and slammed in to the child within the bus-stand. The accompanying mother escaped with minor injuries and was traumatised. Everyone agreed with the mother about the terrible fate of the child and that there was no error on part of the mother, and that the situation was at fault, the road-design was at fault, the taxi-driver was at fault and the working condition of the taxi was at fault. So, the person was not at fault at all. How do we analyse such a terrible situation?

One has to understand that one should be mindful of the location that one is, all the time, especially when we are responsible for the life of the other defenseless person. If you are not going to think out the dangers and the problems that could emerge at such locations, then one is obviously at fault for not assuming that such and such danger could occur. There need not be a similar accident by the hour or every day or every week or every year. There need not be a similar accident, ever, in order to be alert and cautious. One has to understand that there would be accidents, and they could happen anywhere. And, that, they will happen.

Therefore, the most sensible option is to be cautious and to ensure that there is care taken in one's movements in a public thoroughfare. If you are walking about in open roads, through traffic, one has to be careful. Why are you cautious, when you are walking through traffic? Because, accidents can happen. But they do not happen by the hour, day, month or year. So many people walk about carelessly, and yet, they are not killed. So, are they absolutely foolish? No. They are cautious, within the core of their thoughts. They watch the traffic and make their way in a stubborn but careful manner. Except that, it is not obvious.

You are always at liberty to make up your mind. But, you should do so. You should make up your mind. You are at fault when you do not take caution, and you do not assume that such danger could happen to oneself, and to those whom we love dearly. That is when, blaming the situation or blaming the taxi-driver seems to be the correct option. That is simply wrong. We are to blame, for the failures in our lives, because we have not thought out our actions properly.