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Progressive Compromises....!

The great Tamil writer  சுஜாதா(Sujatha) once wrote that our lives are one of Progressive Compromises of unfulfilled wishes and wants.

When we are born, Sigmund Freud said ,that we are born with Id, Ego and Alterego-the three states of our subconscious existence and the interplay between these three manifests in our personality and reflect in our behavioural traits.

Eric Berne wrote a famous book "Games People Play:The Psychology of Human Relationships" where he described how Child,Adult and Parent ego states play and he described it in terms Transactional Analysis for interpreting all the social interactions.He also went on to say that people also play mind games with hidden motives,desires etc. and described such negative behaviours in terms of the ego states dominating the individuals.

For solving the life's problems Thomas Harris wrote a practical guide "I'm Ok, You are OK" by doing  the Transactional Analysis of the behavioural pattern of individuals.This is based on the Johari Window concept developed by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham where the four  quadrants are fit in the understanding of the relationship with themselves and with others:" I'm not Ok, you are not OK', I'm not ok,you are OK", "I'm OK, you are not OK", "I'm OK, You are OK".

So all these stalwarts have explained what is happening in our daily interactions but none of them have looked at what it means to individuals in the long term for themselves or for the society at large.

However, even if somebody is in the quadrant of I'm OK, You are OK, with the right blend of Adult, Parent and Child egos , then with aging there can be "progressive compromises" and that is what writer Sujatha alludes to.

He goes on to explain that in his twenties he wanted to play guitar and buy a piece of Moon. But over a period of time his ambitions mellowed down and finally when he reached the 70s in age , even passing urine daily morning without any complication,according to him, became an achievement in one's life. May sound funny but it outlines a question as to what is the purpose of one's life. is it only Progressive Compromises or something more? We can feel within ourselves that there can be or should be something more to life.

Many philosophers have pondered over this question and in India all the Masters and Spiritual Gurus have categorically told that the surrendering of the self to Bhagawan is the ultimate purpose of life. But the means advocated is like what 15th century Gujarati poet Narsinh Mehta sung:" vaiṣṇava jana to tene kahiye 
                                                                                                 je pīḍa parāyī jāṇe re,"
                                                                                          (Call those people Vaishnav who
                                                                                                 Feel the pain of others,)
So helping those in pain and misery is the means by which one surrenders himself  to Bhagawan.

Is there any better way of explaining the purpose of Life!!May be, but in all humility, I want to say ,I don't know.





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