Lyric Engineering!

Today I read a little about Madan Karky and boy, I was surprised.. He's Vairamuthu's son!
Never had I known this! Also he is a PhD in Comp Sci.
How I got interested in him? He invented the Kiliki language in Baahubali and it's a scientific invention process.

Reading more,  I stumbled on his explanation and invention of Lyric Engineering.
I had also read from GVM's post abt his Agaraadhi - a Tamil English Dictionary.
So fascinating! One of the best innovations I'd say.
Also he's an Associate professor in Comp Sci and runs many interesting projects!. Very impressed!

http://madhankarky.blogspot.in/2009/11/lyrics-lyric-engineering.html

http://lifeandtrendz.com/in-an-exclusive-chat-with-madhan-karky-vairamuthu-lyricist-research-associate-software-engineer-and-film-dialogue-writer/

http://www.thehindu.com/features/lit-for-life/all-about-lyric-engineering/article6802046.ece
 

Tending to your inner garden and healing

From brainpickings.
Rainer Maria Rilke
 Rilke on What Winter Teaches Us about the Riches of Life and the Tenacity of the Human Spirit

Tending my inner garden went splendidly this winter. Suddenly to be healed again and aware that the very ground of my being — my mind and spirit — was given time and space in which to go on growing; and there came from my heart a radiance I had not felt so strongly for a long time… You tell me how you are able to feel fully alive every moment of the day and that your inner life is brimming over; you write in the knowledge that what you have, if one looks at it squarely, outweighs and cancels all possible privations and losses that may later come along. It is precisely this that was borne in upon me more conclusively than ever before as I worked away during the long Winter months: that the stages by which life has become impoverished correspond with those earlier times when excesses of wealth were the accustomed measure. What, then, is there to fear? Only forgetting! But you and I, around us and in us, we have so much in store to help us remember!

Philosopher Joanna Macy’s soul-gladdening A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke — which also gave us Rilke’s magnificent letters on how befriending death helps us live more fully — includes an excerpt of this letter, translated by Macy herself thusly:

You might notice that in some ways the effects of our winter experiences are similar. You write of a constant sense of fullness, an almost overabundance of inner being, which from the outset counterbalances and compensates all deprivations and losses that might possibly come. In the course of my work this last long winter, I have experienced a truth more completely than ever before: that life’s bestowal of riches already surpasses any subsequent impoverishment. What, then, remains to be feared? Only that we might forget this! But around and within us, how much it helps to remember!

In his final letter to Heise in February of 1924, by which point she had gotten back on her feet, Rilke echoes this faith in the tenacity of the human spirit and our resilient capacity for joy. Needham’s translation:

Do you not have an increasing sense that underlying one’s own preparedness to accept whatever fate may bring there is a warm, sincere, frightened yet daring unchangeability? And what does living come down to but bringing about those changes in ourselves which we have daringly attempted and which can free us to enjoy a richness and closeness with everyone? After so much honest progress you have now come thus far: that you can live humbly and with the clear expectation that nothing untrue will, nor indeed can, ever find its way in to your heart, for you have that voice within you which merits your safe trust, your utmost faithfulness, and your joy.

Dan Millman and The peaceful warrior

Through my NA friend Anand I got to know about The Peaceful warrior movie.
Anand had quoted the movie in an article. I watched the movie and it though it was good, it fell short.
They rushed through so many complex topics without giving a background.

But then, me being me, researched abt the author.
I read the book's reviews. I somehow did not feel any urge to buy the book.
Today, somehow I landed on another of his books.
The four purposes of life. I read sections from the Career part.
It was simple, straight forward advice.
You don't have all the wisdom, knowledge and clarity in your 20s to pick the right career. You'll make mistakes and learn.
Your career may not be your calling. It may never merge at all. That's fine.
Some people use whatever circumstance they're in, to contribute and experience positive feelings.

So, this is the short review of that section. I don't think I am particularly impressed with this author though he does give out some good stuff.

Distilling and Filtering what we read, to remain sane

Everyday I am inundated with blogs, news and articles and books on the internet. There is so much to read. Even if I devote all my time to reading, I cannot finish those books that I have shortlisted. I cannot see the top 100 movies. What to do?
This has put me in a fix. I now filter a lot. Then I filter even more... and I read some.
Sometimes I wonder, have I missed on something that was worth reading? Was there something out there that could have changed my life, that I missed? I used to attend every possible concert (without knowing anything abt music) and theatre in the hope that I will find my calling. Now, I go to very few ones - ones that I MAY enjoy.

What does one do when inundated with so much knowledge?
Linda Holmes seem to get a hang of my lament and wrote about it:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/04/21/135508305/the-sad-beautiful-fact-that-were-all-going-to-miss-almost-everything?sc=tw

I then jumped to:
http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/does-anyone-want-to-be-well-read

and from there to:
 http://jeromestueart.com/2011/04/17/the-nudge-the-monument-and-the-fan-base-thoughts-about-the-endurance-of-writers/

I picked one of the writers Paul Goodman and read a bit. He echoes education outside school.

"It is in the schools and from the mass media, rather than at home or from their friends, that the mass of our citizens in all classes learn that life is inevitably routine, depersonalized, venally graded; that it is best to toe the mark and shut up; that there is no place for spontaneity, open sexuality and free spirit. Trained in the schools they go on to the same quality of jobs, culture and politics. This is education, miseducation socializing to the national norms and regimenting to the nation's 'needs'".^[7]
Goodman thought that a person's most valuable educational experiences occur outside the school. Participation in the activities of society should be the chief means of learning. Instead of requiring students to succumb to the theoretical drudgery of textbook learning, Goodman recommends that education be transferred into factories, museums, parks, department stores, etc., where the students can actively participate in their education... The ideal schools would take the form of small discussion groups of no more than twenty individuals. As has been indicated, these groups would utilize any effective environment that would be relevant to the interest of the group. Such education would be necessarily non-compulsory, for any compulsion to attend places authority in an external body disassociated from the needs and aspirations of the students. Moreover, compulsion retards and impedes the students' ability to learn."^[7]

• "It is by losing ourselves in inquiry, creation & craft that we become something. Civilization is a continual gift of spirit: inventions, discoveries, insight, art. We are citizens, as Socrates would have said, & we have it available as our own. "

After all the confusion and disappointments and fears.. I have come to believe that books will find me.. authors who I'm destined to meet, will come knocking at my door or jump at my browser.

Should I read and re-read what I already have instead of buying new books?
Should I do a course on Literature and philosophy to discover these greats?
I'm confused. May these authors guide me in my quest.