Analysis

1. Vidhu Vinod Chopra makes films like fairy tales. The whole experience is basically based around a central idea. The characters are vehicles for the idea, or to show how the implementation of these ideas changes their lives. So it’s basically a saviour story. Instead of the hero’s journey, it’s a superhero, who brings a new idea into the lives of common characters, characters that normal people can relate to, and then the whole story is about how everyone comes to realize and recognize the strength of this central idea, and why that is something that’s wrong with the world and needs to be fixed. The hero is perfect, without flaws, or has overcome his flaws, and he helps the people around him make this change in their lives as well.
2. I’ve finally analyzed my way out of the supposed “enlightenment”. It’s sensory overload, and neural activity that becomes too extreme and believable. That’s how I presume drugs affect the human mind. They cause a sensory overload which leads us to perceive them as new experiences. I’m assuming that’s the reason I got those feelings, because of heightened neural activity, and over production/replacement of pleasure hormones, which caused a sense of euphoria, and a sense of connection to the whole world. While on weed, I felt like my senses were competing for my attention. I could only focus on one sense at a time, which made me want to recoil and give up on all senses, close my eyes or lay down. And this made me realize that that entire experience of oneness and pleasure, might have been completely chemical, messing with the neurons of my body, and having seen this experience described as enlightenment, or a connection with a higher consciousness or religious, that’s what I labelled it as well. My experience was overshadowed by what I had read, the experience painted in the perceptions of others, in their own words, and their own biases of their times. Meditation or extreme focus might have similar effects on the brain as these drugs, and like any phenomenon not yet explained through the laws of the universe, we label it as religious, otherworldly and as an explanation for the meaning of life. A sense of connection to people highly contributes to this euphoria, and we label this experience as a universal one-ness, or God. And this elusive feeling may lead us to forgo any conscious analysis of this experience, and thereby “believe” without questioning in this feeling of oneness. It might have also contributed to how some religions formed, specially Buddhism and Sikhism. Religion at the end of the day relies entirely on belief. Even after having this supposed experience, we can never be sure whether this was a sensory overload of drugs, or maybe on some dimension or level, this connection and unimaginable experience might be real. There is no real answer. Maybe one could pursue this by studying the effects of such drugs on the human brain, but as we know so little about how the human mind works, I think we are quite some time away from these studies revealing any substantial answers about the world and its’ “realness”. So, I choose to believe the sensory world, the one I interact with, and focus on the experiences here. If I am just another virus born in a meaningless world through the chances of evolution, I’ll make the most of my time here.
3. Only alcohol leads to the senses to be subdued, which causes a sense of euphoria, and enjoyment. Basically all enjoyment is sensory. Movies are a visual and audio stimulation of our senses, which lead to an emotional fulfillment as well, which comes through sharing stories and experiences. It’s a social experience which is important for us in an evolutionary sense, leads to a sense of belonging, connection and love for our fellow humans. That’s the reason we do anything, either evolution or sensory pleasures. That’s why sex is so fun, because it was so weird, that evolution upped the sensory factor to make it so lucrative that it’s the most sensual experience that you can have.
4. On the question of how I spend my time here, I enjoy analysis and philosophy. The reason I enjoy software development is actually designing and building a business solutions that solves a problem. Problem solving is my forte, while technical excellence is something I need to pursue.