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Response to Stoicism

As someone who discovered stoicism whilst at the rock bottom and enabled by it, got through quite some shite so far, I have a few things to share. I admit that it is easy to regard the philosophy as being strictly defensive and on that note, I'll agree but then the philosophy is a tool which enables one to reduce suffering, and therefore it is not about the Dos as much as it is about how to survive the consequences of the donts. So while it does not shed much light on the problems in the society as a whole or how to solve them, it beams down on the individuals in that society and how they individually function in that society. And at that, stoicism teaches emotional resilience—how not to let external affectations take down the individuals in the society, thereby in essence taking down the society itself. The philosophy may itself be defensive but in no way does it make one defensive and 'stoic' (what the word means in the dictionary), rather it enables one to recover from b

The Uberman Series Day 9 & 10

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Not giving up, perhaps, has its own benefits. Things finally seem to be going north again. Now, the only thing to complain about is the excessive microsleeping during the early hours and in general, being blank about what to do with the extra time I have. And the problem often isn't about filling time with something, I have plenty of things I can do and even more that I will never run out of, but having things I can do without passing out, and that's where the challenge lies. In general, my midnights are a lot bearable and one may even put, average. Early mornings have now become gruelling. I wonder if I have managed to somehow just shift the graveyard hours ahead. Dealing with the graveyard hours during the night was better, as it was a transition from being fully awake to going zombie mode but early morning graveyard hours are like going from drowsy to going, zombie. You combat the entire night and run out of things, your willpower is already exhausted and then the early m

The Uberman Series Day 8

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Certain journeys that you take in life will be awfully lonely and success in those paths-less-travelled will be determined solely on how long you're willing to push for. - Tri I firmly believe that you often have to take certain decisions in life which you know will benefit you but no one understands or is willing to pledge you their support for. If you're too full of things people find hard to find any common grounds with, then most of your decisions will be of this nature. You'll have to commit to seeing through to your decisions alone, without hoping anyone will understand them and without ever even trying to justify yourself. If you know deep down you should do it, then no matter how crazy people think you are for doing it, do it. No matter how lonely and difficult it gets, do it. Only quit when it is you who knows that it is time to or you who feels that you probably should and that too for your own sake. Wanting to be polyphasic is one such decision for

The Uberman Series Day 7

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Easy for me to put but difficult to fathom—I've spent 7 days now trying to tame the Uberman and as each progressive day blurs into the next, I have inched closer to uncovering its mysteries. Each and every day is a new challenge, a new lesson and a new test of perseverance all over again and yet those who have that grit to keep going no matter what are the ones who get the holy grail.  Today I ended up hitting the bullseye for all my naps, in terms of the timing as well as the duration, except for the 4 am nap which I delayed by 5 minutes but anyway wrapped up when I was supposed to. The graveyard hours were a smooth transition and with the night fading away to the day, I could see a new day and a new hope arise within me. Today was a significant step taken towards success and one which I shall build upon with all I have. The overall nap quality was better. I was clearheaded and sober in the morning till the 8 am nap, post which I was a little drowsy and tired b

The Uberman Series Day 6

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Today was another of those days I made little to no progress with the routine but learned or incorporated something in that will help me through the adaptation. During the first nap of the day, I was already using a dim light to simulate the dark period and the subsequent wake blocks were better. Yesterday for the first time I was as active and energetic during the 12am - 4 am block than I have been so far. In fact, I looked forward to the graveyard hours with the hope that it would be a different experience today. As I inched closer to and went past the 4 am nap, I still retained my wakefulness. It was relieving. I was happy thinking that I had made some progress. However, in all that happiness, I became careless and began reading in my bed, while leaning against pillows. I equated my wakefulness to the experience during the day time, during which no matter how much I read, I never feel sleepy and, now that I look back, I was overconfident. After the 4 am I may have been reading fo

The Uberman Series Day 5

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It was around 11 pm on day 4 and I was speaking to a friend when suddenly, the lights began flickering violently and progressively became dimmer. Fearing that they were about to blow up somehow, I rushed to the buttons and switched off everything. The room was then enveloped in utter darkness. Uncertain what had just happened, I opened my door and looked across, only to find more darkness. The entire apartment was in darkness now and I was partly relieved that it wasn't something local to my room. The next obvious step was then to check the elevator and the neighbours and they seemed to be as confused as we were. Power cuts are extremely rare in my area and even when they do occur, they never last for more than 5 minutes. Half an hour later when there was still no electricity, people began to panic. It turned out that it was the entire lane that had suffered a power cut—a string of buildings beginning from mine towards the right. The members of the building called up the respon

The Uberman Series Day 4

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The fourth day is turning out to be quite insightful, as far as this journey is concerned but mind you, these insights have come at a price. The fourth day could either be a huge failure or it could be a huge success, even acting as an important ingredient for making this experiment successful. So it all boils down to how I perceive it and given the gravity of what this experiment means to me and my potential of growth, I realized I can't let one failure knock me down. I can't quit so soon and become another beacon of failure on this quest. I need to embrace these failures as part of the experience and a rather important one at that which can mean the difference between making it through this experiment and losing my sanity and health in its pursuit.  At 1220 hours when I had my first nap of the day, I already had this thought nibbling at the back of my mind that this night is going to be a heck of a deal. So far, I have only been purely Uberman twice, separated by an i

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