Rethink Your Thinking- Essay

Rethink Your Thinking

Introduction     

“Rethink Your Thinking” is an essay written by C.L. N. Prakash. He is closely associated with the British council. He has served as a teacher, trainer and author. In this essay, he asks the people to change the way of their thinking for effective problem solving.

Visual Thinking

                Generally, people are trained to think in words. Any thought comes to one’s mind in the form of a sentence. But, most of the creative minds in the history used to think in pictures. Einstein said that he rarely thought in words. William Harvey got the inspiration about open heart surgery while watching the exposed heart of a live fish. David Hilbert found the concept of infinite numbers by imagining a hotel with hundred rooms and hundred and one guests. Newton’s discovery of gravity was also based on visual thinking. So, one should visualize an idea instead of verbalizing it in order to solve a problem.

Lateral Thinking

                All people are trained to think either vertically or logically. Such thinking is analytical, sequential or purposeful. This aims at a traditional solution to any given problem. Edward Bono popularized an alternative way of thinking called “Lateral Thinking”. According to this, one should make ‘jumps’ while trying to solve a problem. Also, one needs not follow a logical path. He illustrates the usefulness of lateral thinking through various examples. An employer displays the photograph of  the work place from 9.00 a.m. onwards. As a result, the employees started coming to the work on time. Like this, a telephone company solved the problem of job-hoppers by employing only differently-abled persons. Thus lateral thinking can bring unusual solution to a difficult problem.

Imagined Boundaries

                When there is a problem, people limit themselves to find a solution. But a creative mind should be allowed to roam freely. So that solution can be identified. The author explains this idea by asking us to join nine dots in four straight lines without taking the hand off from the paper. This is not possible unless one goes beyond the boundary to draw four lines. Further, the author strengthens this idea by asking the students to take a ping-pong ball from a cylinder. He provides some materials also to do the thing. But he does not restrict the use of other materials. If one pours water into the cylinder, the ball can be taken easily.

Use of Setting Limits

                While advising people to go extra mile to find a solution, the author talks about the importance of setting limits for our imagination. Rollo May considers creativity as a ‘phenomenon’ which requires a certain limit. Moreover, creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them. It is true deadlines help one to accomplish a work.

Conclusion        

                Thus C.L.N. Prakash, in this essay, makes an appeal to all to change the traditional way of thinking to find out an easy solution to every problem.

Humanities Vs Science by Dr. Radhakrishnan

Humanities vs Sciences            

-- S. Radhakrishnan

Dr. Radhakrishnan was an Indian philosopher and statesman who was the second President of India. Since 1962, his birthday is being celebrated in India as Teachers' Day on 5^th September.

According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the three obstacles in the way of national development are ignorance, disease and poverty. By eradicating ignorance, the other two can be eradicated. Educated people, who have competence and skill, sense of direction and a social purpose, can transform the world.

Technological education

 Dr. S. Radhakrishnan points out that technological education without the complement of humanistic studies will be imperfect and deficient. Science divorced from moral values is not acceptable. Therefore, he recommends an integrated study of humanities and sciences.

Science is both knowledge and power. It has interest as well as utility. It demands discipline and hard work. It develops an attitude of tolerance, open-mindedness, freedom from prejudice and hospitality to new ideas. It shows us the richness of the world. Scientific knowledge is essential in the modern world. However, science must be oriented in the right direction.

Humanities

Humanities are equally important because they tell us about our own nature and how we have a deeper meditation over the subject of life. In addition to technological knowledge, we need wisdom and humanism. In the ancient times Indian wisdom was connected to the wisdom of other parts of the world. For example, in the field of medicine or mathematics we find the influence of the Greek, the Roman and the West Asian. Our religion emphasizes the concept of “Tat tvam asi” (That art thou).

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan focuses on two important principles:

1.    We are members one of another.

2.    There is no decree of God or man which compels us to be sick and hungry.

Search for Truth

God is Truth and so the search for Truth is the search of God. The advances in science were brought about by different people such as Newton, an Englishman, Kepler, a German, Copernicus, a Pole, and Galileo, an Italian. All the discoveries prove that both science and religion travel together. Truth is indivisible.  Whether it is historical truth, scientific truth, literary truth, the approaches may be different, but the ultimate gain is the same. The problem with universities is that they produce either seers or men with mechanical skills. A blend of the two is possible.

Conclusion

All disciplines lead to one end, that is, the growth of wisdom. It is not weapons that destroy us but lack of wisdom that creates problems. Increase of knowledge alone is not sufficient. The aim of an institution is to help an individual attain self-awareness. Knowledge of the self is the greatest science. An education that does not orient a student is not desirable. It should help an individual to approach life positively with a human heart.

The Gift of the Magi - Analysis

The Gift of the Magi

-      O. Henry

“The Gift of the Magi” is a well-known short story by O. Henry. The original name of the author is William Sydney Porter. This story was first published in1905.

The story narrates the life of a young married couple James who is known as Jim and Della Dillingham. The couple lives in a modest apartment. They have only two valuable possessions: Jim's gold pocket watch that belonged to his grandfather and Della's long hair that falls almost to her knees.

It is Christmas Eve. Della wants to buy Jim a Christmas present. But, she has only $1.87. When Della looks at herself in the mirror, she suddenly gets an idea. She sells her hair for $20.00. With that money, she buys a platinum chain for $21.00. She is very happy about the present. She thinks that the chain will add beauty to his watch.

When Jim comes home from work, he stares at Della. She prays to God that he should not find the absence of her hair at first sight. She admits that she sold her hair to buy his present. Before she can give it to him, however, Jim pulls a package out of his overcoat pocket and gives it to her. Inside, Della finds a pair of costly decorative hair combs that she admired once. But, they are now completely useless since she has cut off the hair. Hiding her tears, she holds out her gift for Jim- the watch chain. Jim tells Della that he has sold his watch to buy her present. He asks her to forget about the presents and enjoy the Christmas eve saying “They’re too nice to use just at present”.

The story ends with a comparison of Jim and Della's gifts to the gifts that the Magi, the three wise men who visited Baby Jesus. The narrator concludes that Jim and Della are far wiser than the Magi because their gifts are gifts of love. Those who give out of love and self-sacrifice are truly the wisest since they know the value love. Their deed is nothing but, as the writer says, “generosity added to love”.

The Gift of the Magi is a classic example of irony in literature. The author ends the story with a twist which surprises the readers. Thus, O. Henry illustrates true love in the story “Gift of the Magi”.

Ode on a Grecian Urn- Study Notes

Ode on a Grecian Urn

-      John Keats

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is one of the master pieces of John Keats.  In this poem he talks to the urn as if it were alive. He has created a Greek urn in his mind and has decorated it with three scenes. He calls the urn as "unravish’d bride of quietness". Here, the poet talks about the purity and the antiquity of the urn.

The urn is called the "foster-child" of Silence and slow Time. The true "parent" of the urn would have been the Greek artist who created it. Keats calls the urn as ‘Sylvan Historian’ who can narrate better stories. In fact, the urn is a better storyteller than the poet. The urn tells flowery stories using pictures, while the poet uses "rhymes."  The poet portrays the different actions found on the urn buy asking so many questions:

                      What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

                      What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

   Some people are going and they resemble Gods, A maiden is moving away unwillingly, a lover madly pursues the escaping lover, someone is playing the pipe under the tree and there is wild ecstasy over there. 

          In the second stanza the poet comes out with his immortal line “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard? Are sweeter”. He says that the melodies that we don’t hear are "sweeter" than those we do. This claim is a paradox. Here, the poet points out that the music is played not for the physical ears but for the soul. This can be enjoyed by the individuals at their own levels and pace. Hence the sweetness of the unheard music makes sense. Keats teases the young lover found on the urn telling him that he can never kiss her though he is very near. Further, he comforts him saying that “She cannot fade”.  She will remain beautiful forever and the excitement of the present will also continue.

Keats conveys that the season remains unchanged on the urn. There is Spring always and it never “bid adieu”. So he addresses the branches as “Ah, happy, happy boughs!”.  Similarly, "melodist," is also "happy," like everyone else in this world. He never gets tired of playing music. The songs played by the musician are always fresh and new. That’s because the world of the urn never changes. He thinks the music and "love" go hand in hand, so more music means more love.  In this stanza the poet points out the never ending physical love and erotic pleasures in the line “For ever panting, and for ever young”.  The lover is like a person stuck in the desert. “A burning forehead, and a parching tongue” indicates that as a person craves for water in the desert, the painted person longs for love.

Now the speaker is looking at the third scene on the urn, which depicts an animal sacrifice. The altar is covered with leaves and vegetation that make it green. The poor cow moans or "lows" at the sky. Its sides ("flanks") are dressed in a string or "garland" of flowers. The “mysterious priest” is leading a crowd of people to the place of sacrifice. The speaker infers that this crowd must have come somewhere from the "little town. It is situated either by a river, a sea-shore or on a mountain. He imagines that a small "citadel" protects it. The town is "emptied" because it is a "pious" or holy morning. Although the speaker knows that everyone is headed to a sacrifice, he doesn’t know what the sacrifice is for, and he can never find out. Because, there is "not a soul, to tell" the reason for the holy day.

The final stanza contains the beauty-truth equation. The poet observes that the art surpasses time and life. The depiction on the urn is "overwrought," or too complicated. Keats views the urn as a world where things never change and can never be destroyed. At the end of the poem, Keats conveys the concept of eternity in his most debated line "Beauty is truth, truth beauty”.  He seems to say that both beauty and truth are the same things.  Here beauty may refer to more than just pretty pictures and writings. It is anything that gives us that sense of grandeur and a meaning larger than ourselves. Truth is not something that can be "thought." It’s too remote and complicated, like the idea of eternity. It can only be felt. This super-radical view makes Keats one of the most Romantic of the Romantics. Hence he was hated by many British conservatives when he was alive.

Through the poet's imagination, the urn has been able to preserve a temporary and happy condition in permanence. The urn is a teacher and friend to mankind. Because, it repeats the same lesson to every generation: that truth and beauty are the same thing.  So everyone should try to find beauty in truth.

Keats follows an unique technique to write this poem. Each of the five stanzas in “Grecian Urn” is ten lines long, metered in a relatively precise iambic pentameter. It is divided into a two part rhyme scheme, the last three lines of which are variable. The first seven lines of each stanza follow an ABABCDE rhyme scheme, but the second occurrences of the CDE sounds do not follow the same order.

The Slave's Dream By Longfellow- Essay

The Slave's Dream

-      Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Slave's dream is a beautiful poem by Longfellow which depicts the poet's support to abolish slavery. This poem is about an African slave who dreams of his native land and family.

At the beginning of the poem, the slave is very tired from the day’s work and lies on the ground. As he sleeps, the image of his native land comes to his mind. The poet describes the beauty of the land through various images. The “lordly Niger” flows through the country. The land is filled with trees and the animals.

The slave perceives himself as a King in his native land. He fondly visualizes his "dark eyed" queen and his children whom he is missing. The very thought makes him shed tears. His sleep is disturbed by the ride of the king through the forest along the river. He hears the king’s “caravan descends the mountain-road”. He is able to hear the shout of liberty by “myriad tongues” in the forest. The desert, “blasts” a claim to uninhibited freedom. Both the forest and the desert are personified, by the poet, here.

The poet ends the poem in an ironic note. He announces that the slave is liberated from the clutches of tyranny. He will not feel the pain of the whip and the burning heat any more as his soul breaks away the fetters leaving behind the enslaved body. Only death brings solace to the slaves. Here, the poet presents the painful reality that the slaves can only dream about their freedom.

Ozymandias Essay

Ozymandias

“Ozymandias” is a sonnet written by P.B. Shelley. This poem talks about the impermanence of human life. It also records the power of time and art.

A traveler tells the poet that he saw two huge stone legs in the desert. It was the statue of the Egyptian  pharaoh Ramses II. He was also known as Ozymandias. Near the statue, on the sand lies a damaged stone head. The face is distinguished by a frown and a sneer. These expressions are the evidence for the skill of the sculptor.         

The king has engraved the following words on the pedestal of the statue to proclaim his power and pride:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

 Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

But, around the huge fragments there is only empty desert. The poet points out the irony of life in these lines. The king wanted to immortalize himself by erecting a statue. Even he asks the people to see his mighty palace. But at present, nothing is available. The poet calls it as “colossal wreck”. As the statue is now destroyed, the engraving is a mockery at the pride and ego of the king.

Through this poem, Shelley records that the art is more powerful than mortals. The king is dead and gone whereas the statue remains. Also the poet stresses that time is the most powerful thing in the world.