I like to think of myself as a person whose strongest attribute is idle curiosity and a very fertile imagination.  In the final year of my Physics graduate studies in 1970 I had a eureka moment where I thought that I had discovered the origin of the universe.  Dutifully I wrote about my discovery to the Head of Physics Department, Rajasthan University, Jaipur.  The department politely informed me that what I had proposed was already a part of existing cosmological research.  Despite this the University overlooked my misguided claim to fame and magnanimously offered me a place in their Physics postgraduate (MSc) course.   

While my failed attempt at discovering the origin of the universe did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for Physics, it fell on advanced mathematics to achieve that goal by brutally crushing my ambitions in a tangle of unfathomable equations.  When I asked my Physics teachers to explain some of the more complex equations I was told that they were beyond the scope of the curriculum and just had to be memorised.  This took the air out of my enthusiasm for Physics as I could not contemplate studying it for two years without fully understanding the underlying mathematical logic.  This in combination with a poor memory affliction, left me with no option but to give up my postgraduate ambitions in Physics as a bridge too far. 

After giving up my scholarly ambitions I took up a career in the Indian Air Force as a Ground Duties Officer and subsequently as a Legal Business Manager in Local Government on my move to London in 1986.  I also dabbled in business for a few years in between my two main careers. 

However, Physics continued to be a topic of great interest to me which over time expanded to philosophy, religion, history, management and human psychology.  My sole goal in perusing all these varied topics was again idle curiosity accompanied by the joy of discovering new realms of understanding.  During all this reading I continued to dream up new ideas about the origin of the Universe! 

All my life I have read extensively to satisfy my craving for knowledge and adventure starting with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Hindi pulp fiction at the age of 9 – 10 and continuing ever since.  I read where ever my fancy takes me and I am fortunate enough to enjoy a wide range of books from Agatha Christie murder mysteries, Louis L’amour, PG Wodehouse to Brian Green, Tagore, Tolstoy, Ayn Rand, Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.  

I consider myself a traditional conservative who as a Star Trek fan believes in “to boldly go where no man has gone before”.  However, I also believe that our search for new frontiers need not follow a scorched earth policy which always leaves death and destruction in its wake.  As in nature, change and progress are best achieved by the process of evolution which allows adequate time for adaptation and system debugging.  Change is successful only when built on the foundations of the past traditions and not on its corpses.  Forced and rapid change always risks the fate of the dinosaurs or the horrors of communism in China and Russia.  Forgetting this will condemn us to repeating the mistakes of the past and consign us on a regressive path. 

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”.  Muse Week aims to examine and add value to our lives by scrutinising our beliefs and how they impact our lives. This blog is not so much about promoting any particular set of beliefs but more about examining the ones we already have.  Contrarian views extend our knowledge and are a necessary ingredient in its expansion.  The combination of Socratic questioning and Darwin’s law of evolution should propel us continually and naturally towards wisdom and truth. 

Limitations of my knowledge and experience will naturally result in my drawing from the pool of knowledge I am most familiar with which is mostly Indian and British.  However, it should not be construed as a reflection on the primacy of these cultures because wisdom is universal and imbues all cultures and nations.  On the contrary, I hope the limitations of my knowledge and experience will spur us to explore the rich and bountiful treasures of knowledge from all nations, races and religions to base our opinions on.  

It may be important to emphasise that my blogs and musings are not written with any sense of superior knowledge or enlightenment. My search for knowledge and wisdom has taught me the utter fallacy of such a belief. However, in the same way as undigested food can cause illness, pains and aches, undigested knowledge also has the same adverse impact on our lives.  The best remedy for processing and digesting the ever increasing flood of information and knowledge in our lives is by writing down our thoughts and evaluating them in the stark light of reason leaving nothing hidden in the dark recesses of our emotions and bias. I am hopeful that my musings will not only help me but also serve as a platform for you to evaluate your own beliefs. 

Anil Gupta
London
25 March 2018