Random Replies

Still in response to “The Egoistic Me”, and “Cruise Control”:
Okay, yes, I admit I digressed a lot in my previous post, due to its irrelevance to the context you brought up the “ego” issue. The Ayn Rand’s book is nevertheless a good read, and is still in context, by the way. Now that you wrote another post that tangentially takes off on the concept of ego, I shall try to organize my thoughts on both these posts.

Ego doesn’t necessary mean bad, I reiterate anyway. What makes ego bad is disrespect towards others’ ego. About the bad ego, I am with you. Luck, in itself, is inexplicable, and how snugly it fits into the picture of ego is a different thing. What you said is right – people blame luck when they lose or the other one wins, and this is bad ego. However, as long as you regard others’ ego to be as big as your own, I think you’re not wrong or overconfident in assuming that it was your capability and planning that helped you achieve. Well, that’s enough said about Ego.

Routine is always monotonous, in fact, on the road or not, since the ride goes on. You’ve got a good analogy there – about road and life – but it’s only partially seen. Like we spoke, road is largely under control by rules of the government, and life is only influenced, not governed, by the rules of the society. It’s your choice to take which road you want, when to drive, how to go about the whole ride, who to take along, etc., and all this, in my humble opinion, is as important as the analogy that you struck on.

There’re other ways of looking at the Ferrari example – the Ferrari is neither your ego nor does it depict the lack of chance to prove yourself; it may be that you are in no hurry, and want to let the Cadillac pass anyway, with due respects to the “old Cadillac”. Or, may be, you do not want to be in the big bully’s path! See? Are these bad too?

By the way, is “cruising ahead” the soul goal or not? You seem to have contradicted yourself! I might agree that cruising ahead is not the soul goal, but then, staying put is not allowed by the rules of the society anyway; you should move anyway – choices, such as the direction you take, the speed you go, etc. are still in your hand! And, why do you think “reaching home safe is the foremost goal” for the soul? Is there a home, anyway? Which one are we talking about now?

Delay is not defeat, yes, but isn’t “defeat” the word in the dictionary of “ego” most of the times? Is that bold-facetype font addressed to the ego of yourself and/or the co-passengers? Ah, the co-passengers! You call them “real mess”? That’s only when you let them speak so loud as to influence or disturb your concentration on the road. Play your own music, and make sure they enjoy it too!

Continue blogging and I’ll ride along too.