Realism versus Delusion

The idea for this post started with this video



But this idea goes beyond the business world...it can be generalized to life and almost everything else too.

The basic idea is that Realism (art of identifying objective reality of an idea) leads to a concrete helpful solution than delusion-based-solutions in the REAL world.

Let me explain from my personal experience.

I was a stammerer for all these years and it cost me many things in life. For all these years i was suggested to ignore stammering and concentrate on the other abilities i had and it helped a lot to strengthen them but stammering pulled me down at the very moments i needed to jump off the cliff and get my aims. The delusion-based-solution of ignoring the REAL PROBLEM led to the conflicting behavior where i would go along with an idea just for the heck of it. Lately, i understood finally that the problem needs to be sorted out on a real platform and first step towards sorting it out is to acknowledge it, then identify it in real time, find real solutions, work on them and succeed. My success is a proof about this approach.

But i must also add that realism helps in long run but delusions CAN BE solutions for a short term (provided we remain conscious about that delusion). At some points of times, i believed in the delusion that if i am the speaker, then i hold the stage in the sense that all listeners are idiots. But it was important to realize that this delusion is acknowledged and it just helped to overcome the mental blocks (which are critical for stammering). It wasn't the final solutions but just a "virtual" stepping stone.

Realism should not be confused with standardization of reality where ideas are ascribed definite values and our abilities are judged according to the fact whether those values are achievable by these abilities or not. Instead realism is simply acknowledging the objective reality of a fact however inconvenient it be.

The best example in this regard is the movie "Gattaca" and my review might help you to get more insight regarding the idea i am proposing (though you will have to see the movie for yourself). Here the fact that genetically, Vincent is inferior to others, is a reality but so is the reality that "there is a way out". He works on BOTH the realities together and gets what he wants. The delusion based solutions would have suggested him to strike head-on without any concern to the fact that his genetic material do not match the requirements and he has to do something about it.

As i said earlier, realism is valuable to many other sphere of life including relationships, professional carrier, personal aims in life, motivating others if asked for, advising others etc. Perhaps its one of the most important facts of life.

Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw explains this very idea which he used to win a war in 12 days...

1+1+1+...=1

Recently a dear friend of mine, Atousa, posted "to be honest 1+1=1" as her Facebook profile status. This seemingly funny expression, easily ignorable as a mistake, did interest me at that very moment and i went ahead to ask what does it mean (since i could take out many many meanings out of it). Instead i was asked to put up various meanings i could take out from this expression and I went ahead with some within few minutes, like:

1+1=1

1. a man and a woman in love
2. right hand side one is bigger than two left hand side smaller ones
3. paradox of life like life don't follow strict logic
4.  "to be honest" one has to accept that 1+1=1 will come along this way i.e. dishonesty will come their way and they would have to live with it
5. however high you add up things and people in your life, you end up same i.e alone in life

There can be numerous other imaginative meanings of this expression. Mathematically it might be incorrect, but this expression holds tremendous power in imaginative world.

The fun part began today when she wrote a new status saying "to be even more honest 1+1+1=1" and here a whole new world of branched imaginations sprouted out of last days arguments. While readers may independtly post their own imaginations, i would like to post few of mine which i could come up within 5 minutes right now:

1. power of one
2. read between the lines as in "middle finger salute"
3. singularity
4. After some time, a"+" becomes "=" as in, after some time, you have to conclude instead of keep adding things for infinity.
5. love of being single
6. boasting solitude
7. there is only "one" chance
8. Everything adds up to one single fact, the singular ultimate and absolute truth
9. To transform from "honesty" to "even more honesty", one has to take "one" more step.
10. Add up as you may, it will result the same
11. To add is to fool yourself (metaphor related to "things" in life)

This game is turning interesting now. As i proceeded to another level, i question what would it mean if we replace all symbols with another ones like "multiply", "divide", "substract", and logical symbols of "union", "intersection" etc.

This blog will expand as i get more ideas on each symbol and it will further expand when i increase the series with mixture of symbols.

Please feel free to put up your imagination in the comment section.