1.0Drishtikonehttps://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikoneDesh Kapoorhttps://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/author/drishtikone/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="EaOJaheAvP"><a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2008/12/discussion-fear/">Discussion on Fear</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/drishtikone/2008/12/discussion-fear/embed/#?secret=EaOJaheAvP" width="600" height="338" title="“Discussion on Fear” — Drishtikone" data-secret="EaOJaheAvP" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); /* ]]> */ </script> Last night I had an interesting discussion with a friend, Puneet. He is an ex-Indian Army officer and a very dear friend. Also, he is probably the source of a lot of the wisdom that gets attributed to me because of the posts. The topic last night was "Fear". Needless to say, that in the aftermath of the Mumbai Attacks - one thing that has come to the fore is this central human quality called "Fear". It was Fear that set those killers on the journey to kill - the fear of diversity or a world of differences or opinions that do not work with our opinions. Their answer to "fighting" that Fear was to instill Fear in others by killing those "others" that they thought would end this dichotomy of opinions. Little realizing that the differences of opinions are because the minds are different (because the baggage they carry is different). So, killing a person will not eliminate that difference. Once the killings happened, the people in the city and elsewhere were full of Fear. It was a more physical fear and that of the unknown. The unknown nature of this beast that had descended on the country and this society. Everybody's reaction - including mine, those I support and criticize - are fashioned by a certain level of fear. The degree may be different, but fear is at the center of everyone's response. We are not looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that dichotomies and the differences and the diversity (forced and natural) will stay in this Universe (or multi-verse if you so insist). The entire existence itself has a basic dichotomy - of Creation and Destruction. Both are its natural states.