Dr Dosti Regmi Blog

Derrida's deconstruction, Buddha's dependent co-arising, and Tao's yin-yang: Cause, condition, and context. -Dosti Regmi Language has flaws. We have seen words break things in our lives when they carried meanings we did not intend to express. When we have a dispute, the grudges we hold will be over certain words or phrases that were used. Noble Silence is Budha's advice for word-weariness. They say, "Speak only when your words can improve on your silence." We are often misunderstood and we cannot mend the word inflicted wounds. Words are fatal. They inflict violence upon the truth we hold. Words and bullets cannot be reversed they say. But words often fail to hit our targets. The essence is missed in the translation of meanings to words in the sender's part and words to meanings in the receiver's side. Buddha says there is no essence irrespective of the cause and conditions. Another flaw that logocentrism carries is the binary view of the world.  Good ...

Will words ever truly represent reality? Who will truly understand what you say or want to say? Sometimes, you may not even find someone to listen to you, just like the cabman Iona in Anton Chekhov´s short story "Grief." The cabman's son recently died. The cabman desperately and unsuccessfully tries to talk with the people he meets and tell them of how shattered he is. No one bothers to listen to him, and he ends up talking to his horse, which does not interrupt him and chews his grass and breathes on him.   Even if you get lucky enough to express it. Will the word represent your true thoughts? Suppose you feel uneasy with someone in a relationship and are trying to observe and understand the relationship. A friend comes and tells you, "How can you even survive in this relationship? It's a toxic relationship." The introduction of the word "toxic" makes you align your evidence to match it and forget the evidence that does not align. So, is the word ...

    Ordinary is extraordinary. The book " How Proust Can Change Your Life" by Alain De Botton shows how  a great novel can be nothing less than life-transforming. It can be a companion  to read  Michel Proust's masterpiece “ In Search of Lost Time” which was published in 1913 is a seven-volume novel with 3444 pages that follows its narrator also named M arcel   as remembers his life from early childhood to imminent death in aristocratic 19th century France. Reading is therapeutic. Proust says while we are reading we are reading ourselves. We habitually match the characters with people from our own life. A piece of literature is alive by the ways in which it parallels our own life. At first, the character’s manners might seem remote and their concerns irrelevant to us but we will soon find points of resonance between their lives and ours and be drawn to them. Reading Proust will also make us less lonely. We find comfort in the experiences we share wit...

Satipathana Sutta : The basis of the Mindfulness Meditation, Vipassanna, Introspection and Cognitive Therapy.    -Dosti Regmi Human beings are deep wired for chaos, complexity, chase, and  dissatisfaction because of the dichotomy between the impulsive limbic brain and the reasoning of the neo-cortex. Human being is the only species of animal that regrets the past, is fearful of the future, and is dissatisfied with the present. Our emotional excitements often lead us to dissatisfaction in life which is called suffering (dukkha). Our thinking traps and cognitive distortions make us think in unhelpful ways. Buddha’s teaching is to live intentionally, choosing our own emotions and thoughts wisely. All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil mind, ‘dukkha’ follows him just as the wheel follows the hoof print of the ox that draws the cart. All mental phenomena have mind as their ...

The ambiguous and subtle dharma in the epic of the Mahabharata.   - Dosti Regmi Gurcharan Das was the CEO of a company.  He took an early retirement, learned Sanskrit, and delved into the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata for the answers of morality and dharma. Just like reality, morality and dharma are also ambiguous and subtle. The concept of dharma is not static and can be adapted to the myriad challenges of life. Dharma has many meanings. It can mean law, duty, and doing the right thing. And it is not written in the stone. There are no commandments or references to turn to. You are left to your own devices for that. The answers we have to search for ourselves. Das highlighted that good moral reasoning leads to good moral action, rather than an absolute path. So the burden of good reasoning is on the reader. I do believe the best books do not give you gimmicks, quick fixes, and promises. Neither does this book and I love this book for the same reason. It did no...

  “The You you don’t know: Covert influences on your behavior” by Webster Riggs, Jr., MD Today I saw this young lady in my radiology suite. She looked beautiful, calm and resilient. Yet it juxtaposed with the fact that she was there for Barium swallow study for strictures she had in her esophagus due to ingestion of lye in an attempt to suicide. She had a tattoo itched in her skin in her arm reading "perfectly imperfect". It was a poignant reminder that even the most seemingly resilient individuals could be battling inner turmoil. I started musing on the paradox of her tattoo. What determines perfect and imperfect? What determines what we think and do? Are we really in control of what we think and feel and do or are there covert influences that we are not even aware of. Keats wrote, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all”. Hindus have this satyam-shivam-sundaram , which means truth is beautiful and beneficial. We accept this because it’s pleasant or have we really ...

  Introvert’s world: Restorative bliss in a solitary niche. Dr Dosti Regmi Earlier, when I had visited a swimming pool in my neighborhood for a couple of times, I had observed people swimming, sunbathing and playing music and toasting beer for their health. But today’s visit was a bit different. Since winter had arrived, the swimming pool was deserted. No human could be seen there. Yet I found myself so much in peace. I laid in the sun, meditated on the ripple in the water and breezes in the trees. I felt at home, just like you feel at home, or say at your own home when the unwelcomed guests have left. It was brimming with a peaceful energy, the same peace that used to be abducted by the crowd during summer. I have always been choosy with friends since my childhood. I really enjoyed the comfort of a best friend at a point of my life. I was not outgoing but always found my peace in books. Most of the time I was comfortable with what I was, but I must admit that there were time...

Male loneliness: Dostoevsky, Kafka and  Bukowski -Dosti Regmi "Crime and Punishment" is one of Dostoevsky's best literary works. Raskolnikov is the male protagonist of this novel. Out of his rationalism that if the end is good, the means doesn't matter and he kills a pawnbroker. Maybe he dreamt of being a hero like Napoleon who also was a common man before his rise. But then follows a deep psychological dilemma and turmoil. He is isolated and only after a tender love from another unfortunate but religious-minded Soniya he confesses and gets relieved of his turmoil. Dostoevsky's male character is isolated but finds solace in love. Franz Kafka was a prophet of Nihilism and doom. Gregor is the main character of Kafka's story - "The Metamorphosis". He works as a traveling salesman to provide money for his family. He wakes up one morning finding himself transformed into an insect. After the metamorphosis, Gregor becomes unable to work and is confined to...