I recently came across the concept of Subjective Reality. It is a belief system which claims that there is only one consciousness. You are that singular consciousness, and everything and everyone in your reality is a projection of your thoughts.

None of the other people you encounter are conscious in a way that is separate from you. Nobody else can have intentions. The only intentions are yours.  You are the only thinker in this universe.

There is only one source of intentions in your universe – YOU.  The walking, talking bodies that you observe in your reality all exist inside your consciousness.  In simpler words, the concept of Subjective Reality claims the life is just another type of dream. A dream that seems solid because you believe (intend) it is.

When understanding the concept of Subjective Reality it is important to correctly define ‘You’. You are not just your physical body. You are the single consciousness in which this entire reality takes place.

If you were having a dream, are you the physical manifestation of yourself that you see in the dream? No, that’s just your dream avatar.  You are the dreamer.  The entire dream occurs within your consciousness.  All dream characters are projections of your dream thoughts, including your avatar. You can even switch avatars in your dream by possessing another character. In your dream you can do anything you believe you can.

Physical reality works the same way.  This is a denser universe, and hence changes occur a bit more gradually here.  But reality still conforms to your thoughts just like a sleeping dream.  The idea that other people have intentions is an illusion because other people are just projections.  Of course, if you strongly believe other people have intentions, then that’s the dream you’ll create for yourself. But ultimately it’s still an illusion.

I was watching the news yesterday and saw a piece about the spread of Swine flu in India. There is mass panic in the country; it was the same situation in Mexico as well. This got me thinking about fear. Why does the virus always cause panic and worry wherever it surfaces. What are we so afraid of?

Are we afraid of death? At least three people in any city of the world die everyday, in road accidents. Rape and murder claim more lives than we can count. Still, we aren’t afraid of the road. We aren’t afraid of the hundreds of people we cross in the street.

Are we afraid of the flu? We know what causes the disease. The symptoms are clearly defined. If caught early on it can be cured. In a few months time there will even be a vaccine. Then there are diseases like cancer. We don’t know what causes it, the symptoms are varied and erratic and we may never find a cure to cancer. When we step out of our doors, we don’t even think about the fact that when we come home we may have cancer, or HIV or a hundred other dangerous diseases. So we’re not afraid of the flu, the flu is nothing new. We’re afraid because there is nothing we can do to fight it.

We can however, have faith. Faith in the fact that even as we read these words, smarter and sharper minds than ours are getting closer and closer to finding a cure. There is no point in panicking. There is no point making a hue-cry, because sometimes our fear is only a response to feeling helpless.

The wind leaves a mark on the rocks that it passes over. It gives them shape and form. A tire leaves tracks on the ground it rolls over. The passing sun makes an impression on the world that passes below it. It marks the earth with both heat and shade. The people we meet shape us like the wind; they leave impressions and they mark us with both their love and their hate.

People leave footprints on our hearts. We remember the first time we were hugged, the first time we were scolded, the first time we fell in love and the first time we fought; each memory a different print left by a different person. These memories are what define who we are. They are the lens through which we see the world. It is the memory of getting burnt that reminds us to stay away from fire.

If any of these experiences were to change, we would not be the people we are today. If we had been scolded instead of hugged, if we had been rewarded instead of punished on any occasion; the lessons we took away from that moment would have been very different. Consequently we would be very different.

Some of these prints are seared into us. Feelings we will never forget. Others are like footprints in the sand. The tides of time wash them away. It is important to hold on to these memories, and more importantly, the feelings associated with these memories. It is only when we forget our childhood experiences that we truly become old.

The secret to eternal youth is not in the discovery of some obscure fountain. Eternal youth lies in the heart that has not lost the prints of its childhood feet.

We’ve all grown up listening to fairytales. Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and so many more. Aren’t they typical? The prince always gets the princess, the step mother is always evil, the witch always pays for her deeds, the poor wolf always gets killed and of course, everyone lives happily ever after.

Fairytales are important for a child’s development. They have their own charm, I don’t dispute that. My only complaint is that they are too one dimensional. Good is always good, and bad is always bad. This may be true in magical kingdoms far, far away, but it is far from the truth in the real world.

The real world is not black and white. Things are not what they seem, nor are they so cut and dry. There is so much more to our lives than just happiness and sorrow, good and evil.

There is anger, hate, passion, love, lust, greed, joy, mercy; the list is endless. The world is made up of the seven colors of the rainbow and grey. Good people sometimes do bad things, and bad things happen to good people. Bad people can sometimes do incredibly nice things and good things happen to them too.

It is not always clear what the right thing to do is. Growing up is about making some very difficult decisions. We can’t always guarantee that our actions are going to have a positive effect. With so much moral dilemma, what code of conduct should one follow?

I say, forget ‘codes of conduct’, the only thing you should worry about, is doing the best that you can do. Always do what is right in your opinion. Sometimes, it’s best not to worry about the bigger picture.

A 26-foot-long dying shark washed ashore Tuesday on a Long Island beach. I’m sure the first reaction to this news will be fear and worry. After all 26 feet packs a lot of bite; but there is no need to fear, the basking shark is not a threat to humans as it feeds on plankton. There is cause for worry though. The cause of death of this mighty beast is still unknown; but the lack of any obvious outer injuries to the fish, raises some very troubling questions. We cause so much destruction to the planet, even by simply carrying out day to day tasks, that we can no longer tell if something is our fault. It is very possible that authorities will discover, some kind of human interference is the cause of the shark’s death.

There was a time when we would pray to God for rain. After all a drought was an effect of the environment, we had no hand in it. Today we blame our governments for water shortage. We cause the droughts. We have even started cloud seeding and cloud farming. Though these are environmental issues they have a very profound effect on our society and hence on our businesses. We leave such large footprints on the environment these days that it would be disastrous for any business to not be environmentally conscious.

For all the harm we do to our environment there is a price to pay, If not by us then by our children. Every time there is no rainfall in India, the price of cotton worldwide goes up and clothes get more expensive. Today our environment affects our economy and our actions affect the environment. It is time each person thought of the consequences of his actions. Ask yourself ‘What have you done?’