Absent minded

1. ABSENT-MINDED
Absence of mind doesn't mean you are careless or lacking in focus; it
just means the mind is meandering through fascinating labyrinths
invisible to the open eye

2. Contd..
Raising his eyes heavenward in a `not again' mime, he
patiently asked, “Have you looked in the peanut jar?“ He
wasn't being facetious. For that is exactly where we found
them last time they were misplaced, after a thorough
house hunt. My son consoled me with examples of
Einstein's absent-mindedness. I was reminded of my
history professor who, walking next to her bureaucrat
husband, complained of the city's uneven roads, only to
have him point out that she was wearing heels on one foot
and flats on the other! All of us have moments when we
lose track of the present, traipsing off into another world.
Scientists, poets, philosophers and creative people are
most notorious for their absentminded ways, hence the
`absent-minded professor' syndrome. Several anecdotes
revolve around Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton due to
their scattered, forgetful ways.

3. Contd..
Einstein once called the University he worked at to ask for his own address! Newton would
forgetfully keep visitors waiting for hours, and had to be reminded to eat; Einstein too needed
reminders to eat and take his classes! GK Chesterton once kept trying to open his door with a
corkscrew he borrowed from neighbours, rather than the latchkey in his other hand.
With multifarious distractions and mind-boggling technology today, the `absent-minded
professor' syndrome strikes in newer ways. Forgetting where you kept your car keys; having that
panicky moment when you think you misplaced your cellphone, before you realise you are
talking on it; forgetting why you walked into a room or why you opened the refrigerator, or
forgetting why you called when someone takes the call are commonplace.

4. Contd..
A colleague reported trying to open his house door by swiping his i-card. An
other kept trying to use her cellphone to increase the TV volume. I extended
my hand holding the cellphone, try ing to rewind a movie scene in a cine ma
hall, as I do at home with TV! To a mind focussed on the here and now,
absent-mindedness may seem a negative that holds you back from worldly
success. Children are repri manded for daydreaming and taught the virtues
of staying focussed. But, wait a minute. Who says that to be ab sent-minded
is to lack in focus? The absence of mind just means the mind is meandering
through fascinating labyrinths that are invisible to the open eye. Or, that it is
focussed on something else that is not of this world an elusive element that
we seek to chase, understand, grasp and perhaps bring back into this world
as poetry, writing, a sketch, a unique thought, or a great discovery! It points
to a mind lessness that allows us to soak up ex periences and knowledge that
too much mindfulness of the present real ity cannot give us.

5. Contd..
In The Last Samurai, Nobutada, son of the leader of the Samurai rebellion
tells Tom Cruise, “Forgive me, too many minds...“ and counsels him that to
be a Samurai, he must seek a stillness of the mind “No mind, no mind...“ he
advises.
When the mind phases out and floats away, it takes away with it any sense of
ego. “I“ ceases to exist and you float in mindlessness, like an empty cauldron
ready for new, unique expe riences. We no longer see the world so lucidly,
though we see more clearly facts and truths hidden from us earlier.
Sufis say that in order to reach God in this life, we need to die before we die.
Rumi says that in order to open the doors of heaven on earth, we need to
melt down ego. `Fana' is to melt down the consciousness of “I“ and to be re
born here and now, in the conscious ness of the Divine. And from such Di
vinity, flows great beauty.

6. Contd..
Meditation and sexual climax, when all thought shuts for a while, are
two extreme paths to mindlessness. In this moment of mindlessness,
Osho says you become the Divine. Rumi says mindlessness helps you
unite with the Divine. For Rembrandt, Paul Gauguin, Turner or Bach,
mindlessness united them with their work. For Einstein or Newton, it
fetched unique concepts. So the creator and the created become one.
How can you separate the dancer from the dance? When you become
mindless, you unite with the Universal flow, allowing the right brain to
take over. You are in a unique position where you absorb, understand,
dis cover, become One and create.
So, what's wrong with being absent minded? Far from being a negative,
it is a desirable state that everyone can, or even should, aspire to!