Nuran Mammadov
Stories (8/0)
Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.
These famous words were said by Harvard Psychologist Timothy Leary in 1966. In the following year, Harvard. In the following year, he gathered 30.000 hippies in Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco to start new counterculture revolution. Obviously, he wasn’t aware at that time that he was actually igniting something unfathomable.
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Futurism
Holding the future on tip of our fingers.
What a year 2020 has been. Huh? So many ups and downs, both individually and collectively. How often did we find ourselves staring into the abyss during 2020? Quite often, I would say. But, it also retaught us our long-lost ability to adapt to adversity. Which is resilience.
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Psyche
Getting accustomed to negativity is not a good idea.
Let’s take a minute to imagine what Buddha would say if he saw today’s world. Would he be proud or disappointed of humanity’s growth? In my opinion, latter one is slightly more likely. Did we really improve as humanity? Perhaps, in some ways we improved tremendously such as, technologically, scientifically, economically and etc. But, did we manage to get better in more subtle ways such as, spiritually and psychologically. It doesn’t seem so. We are being selfish. We are being selfish to a degree that it becomes new normal. Betrayal becomes normal, dishonesty becomes normal and hatred becomes normal. We suppose it is the way it is. How many times we were surprized when we found ourselves truly being happy, joyful, content and satisfied? Even though, all these feelings are really constructive and positive, we feel alienated toward these feelings. Because, we rarely experience this kind of feelings. We all suggest to our children that bitterness, rather than happiness, is a form of knowledge. I ask myself, if this is true? If we really get right what we are and why did we choose to become this way? It has always been thought that people who have been around the longest in the world are the ones having the most wisdom. So I set out to ask myself. What is wisdom? I came to conclusion that wisdom is the ability to understand what can and can’t be changed. It is the ability to know reality best we can. And, most of us are very far from that. Ten thousand years ago, we were still on the wheel of life. How many changes have we actually been through yet? It is almost seems we are going back to square one. In retrospect, Buddha would never judge us for our ignorance. He, just like any human being would understand how it is needless to blame anyone or anything. People are what they are. In the same time, he would think that it is more useful to have more insight into our ignorance. And, then, become aware, how we are contributing to bring change into our society.
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Motivation
What is all this fuss arond death?
Have you ever observed how we grieve when someone close to us dies? Can we even make sense of the situation? Death has always been the most popular topic in various religions, philosophies and spiritual beliefs. Some people believe there is life after death, some people not. İn a way, it actually makes no difference whether there is life after death or not. Whether you can regard human life the most random appearance in the dark and lifeless universe or you can regard it as the most precious and God-given gift in the vibrant and dynamic universe. Regardless if we are religious/spiritual or not, we love to grieve for the people who are very dear to us. What? “Love to grieve”? So it must mean “Grieve for Love” as well? Can Love and Death be re-categorized as one and the same? Or is Death a completely different category of our life?
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Longevity
Paradox of not being able to be really happy while being in comfort:
We are dying to be in comfort. Don’t we? First let’s be clear. We don’t necessarily mean relaxation or resting by mentioning comfort. Surely, we are all humans. We don’t have an infinite amount of energy and time. We can get tired, even exhausted time to time. Obviously, there is no problem taking our time off the task in hand. Actually, resting when we are in need is as much necessary as breathing. What we get wrong is that seeking comfort has to be our primal goal. Sadly, we feel like if comfort is non-existent in our lives, we would die out of uncertainty. Now, let’s face the reality. Where do we really find meaning? Comfort or discomfort? If we are honest to ourselves, our answer probably would be discomfort. Take our species as an example. If our ancestors didn’t decide to climb down from the trees approximately 4.2 million years or leave the caves around 100.000 years ago, would we be the people who we are today? Most likely we wouldn’t be. It is as if universe tells us in subtlest ways: “Go and conquer, my children. You may feel afraid, you may feel anxious and you may feel hesitant. But, also know that ultimately, there is nothing to be worried of. I always have your back.”
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Motivation
We either have to love what we do or do what we love.
We’ve always heard here and there that we have to follow our passion. What do we exactly mean by that? Do we imagine there is one particular job chosen by God which meets all of our needs and wants? Not quite, actually. We may suppose that we will be fulfilled if we decide to take our ideal career path. In fact, we likely may. Meanwhile, there is distinction needs to be made. Obviously, İt isn’t job itself that makes us excited, but our feelings towards that particular job makes us content and happy. Relatedly, while there are so many millionaires who are not really satisfied for their life, there are also countless modest gardeners who don’t have bigger expectations. As a result, latter group is relatively more likely to achieve happiness and fulfillment in their lives.
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Motivation
Why we need to philosophize more and worry less?
In times like this being anxious seems inevitable. It is as if like glue we are trying to get rid of. The main player concerned in this virtually inevitable turbulence is deepest part of our brain, which is also called “Reptilian Brain”. This piece of brain evolved in a way that it always keep us alert against any kind of physical danger. We may naively assume that it is only concerned with our physical survival, which is external. But, in reality, it is as much interested in our mental survival as it is with our physical survival. That’s why when our mental survival is in danger we automatically switch into anxious mode. It may seem quite unreasonable and irritating at first. We are not willing to embrace its existence. Most of the times we make war with it. But if we are to look from bigger and deeper scope, we may recognize them as our lifelong supporter. If it had a tongue to say something, it would probably say something like this: “Dear boss, I am sorry to interrupt, but I feel i need to visit you. I hope you don’t mind. To be straightforward, I detected a large dose of negative thoughts in your mind. Because of that, I think you will be better if you spend some sleepless nights. I can emphasize that I may come without any preparation. But, it is necessary for you to be awake and alert. If you listen to my words you will have invaluable insights in your way to greatness. Take your time and conquer the obstacles you face. Your dearest friend, Anxiety.”
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Psyche
Why architecture must be new kind of patriotism.
Nowadays, we love to boast about where some of us happened to be born. By overgeneralizing, we arrogantly claim that particular nation is better than other one. If we dug deeper, we would struggle to give clear and definite answer. What even better nation looks like? What are their lifestyles? What are their difference than other nations? Most important of all, is there really excellent nation? It doesn’t seem so. We, humans, always look for inaccuracies and errors in any part of existence. We especially mastered the art of finding flaws in mostly non-controllable aspects of life, such as landscape, climate, biological diversity and etc. When we find out that some countries “lack” any of these attributes, we will joyfully, but rather mindlessly mock them, even underestimate them. The absurdity of it doesn’t have any satisfactory explanation. That’s why we have to concentrate on controllable aspects of life, such as art, science, technology and etc. Architecture, as a subcategory, must be guiding element of particular nation or country. For example, persian people should be able to contemplate the beauty of geometrical patterns in their mosques and sacred places, french people should be able to grasp the aesthesicity of gothic architecture and greek people should be able to comprehend their ancestor’s minimalist, but calming architectural taste. We don’t only have to think of architecture, but we also have act on it. If we can carefully blend certain regional design with innovative technology, we will be able to witness countless breathtaking sights all around the world. It will not only be visible in external world, but its magnificence will also reflect in internal world in unimaginable ways. After then, we can boast about our newly discovered “patriotism”. Architecture is never empty from subjective interpretation, but it must be, because of its evident inclusivity in form. It is not about just what we see, but also what we don't see. It always allows to find out and grasp new unknown things, while allowing to embrace old ones. We need this kind of vision. We need to search for something beautiful and new. So, why I wrote this story? We should do our best to find it. After all, the future of humankind depends on each of us. The future we create must be sustainable, functional, harmonized and collective. This is why we need new kind of patriotism. This is also why we need that kind of society. We should be totally connected to the nature. Additionally, we’ll need similar qualities to change the culture of mankind. For instance, we need to be able to permit ourselves to be vulnerable. This only revealed our own weakness, but also acknowledges our capability. So, anything that we do or attempt at, it must be done with full attention and knowledge, as to be able to learn something from the whole process. This is the basic attitude we must have. An architect, just as any other professional, must be able to create the best for his job. He must be able to look through the same subjects, to see the already existing value, and come up with the novel thought and solution, for the improvement. Even different individuals can have the same view, and it’s worthwhile to consider it. However, each of us, individually, and whole entire world, collectively, has to understand that every idea we put in, must be thought, formed, evaluated, carefully crafted, and meticulously designed. All those tasks are mandatory to give the reason why we actually exist. If we do not accumulate those reasons, the truth is, we should not fight for anything. After all, we are all living on this mother earth, together, with all other living creatures.
By Nuran Mammadov3 years ago in Humans