33 – Understanding change and change in understanding

33 Understanding change and change in understanding is a book by Richard Saul Wurman. You know TED conferences? He created that. I want to write a lot of blogs (perhaps one for each page from the book).

Professor Mankad gave this book to me, when I requested him for opinions on few of my blogs. The book is very interesting, I will read it again before giving back to him. Today I am referring to a chapter of the book – I am a zoo episode.

The protagonist is astound at the arrogance of man. The author writes – “… they are just so proud of themselves in all their various religious books, the Bible, the Koran, the Book of the Dead, the Bhagavad Gita and many, many more.

In every one of these tomes it was man this man that man, and besides the fact that it was men and women, the arrogance of thinking of ourselves as a single species just amazed the Commissioner…”

“Bacteria, the Commissioner knew, subdivide and reproduce, in effect multiplying by division. The human body… …has many trillions of cells and 90% are bacteria!…”

“I am a zoo, the commissioner said, Because that is what I am. It would be only religious arrogance to see myself as a single species.”

I wonder if the author wanted to say zoo in terms of our thoughts too. We have so many so diverse thought that we are a zoo and a jungle within our mind too.

We are much more than what we think we are. I was recently talking to my father and he suggested – “we are made of various tissues, tissues are made of cells and molecules and atoms and particles. Now each particle is in effect an energy packet. So we eventually are indestructible in that sense.”

What we need to remember is – understanding the change helps in change in understanding!