The Jedi Code & The Sith Code

The Jedi Code:
There is no emotion; There is peace.
There is no ignorance; There is knowledge.
There is no passion; There is serenity.
There is no death; There is the Force.

The Sith Code:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion
Through passion, I gain strength
Through strength, I gain power
Through power, I gain victory
Through victory, my chains are broken
The Force shall free me

So what am I? Jedi or the Sith Lord? The Jedi code seems to be the way to go, even if it sounds like Buddhism, but total elimination of passion is next to impossible. Or may be I am not willing to let go (As Master Yoda tells Anakin : Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose). The darker side of the force is calling and who can resist its call. (If I go on further I will end up in 'What is the purpose of life', so stop here I must)

Mustang, here I come! Montoya, here I come!

I am travelling to Austin tomorrow, for a month's stay. No body knows why I have to go to Austin to do the same work, I have been doing(or not doing) all the while here. Anyway, at least I will get to take that Ford Mustang for a spin again. That was the part I loved most in my last trip too.

But thats not all. We have to grow up. We gotta keep doing greater things. So I am gonna watch one Mr.Juan Pablo Montoya drive one car called Mclaren in one Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a event called Formula 1 U.S Grand Prix. Let me pinch myself again. 3 weeks ago I wasn't sure I will watch an F1 race in my life time. In two days time, its gonna be a reality. (if all goes well, that is)

What next? I am planning a vacation in London on my return journey, subject to the British Consulate in LA giving me a visa. What with my gang-mate NaveenRaj in London assuring complete sponsorship for the vacation and my company sponsoring my travel this is one helluva deal of a lifetime to tour London for free...

Have kept the rest of my schedule pretty open to accomodate any wacky ideas me and my friends there can generate(A visit to NYC is on the cards..) So stay tuned to hear my exploits.. (No. not like the one from my last visit where I banged my Mustang against a Dodge Ram! or that tumble down that ski slope without my skiing sticks!!)

Probability for God's existence - 0.666 !?!

No. I did not derive this probability value. In fact I think of probability, statistics etc. as unscientific approaches or 'psuedo-sciences' as I like to call them (More on that later, if you are interested :)

I happened to glance across this article in some very old Outlook magazine in a restaurant a long time ago, while waiting to get seated. Half the page was torn so I couldn't get the writer's detailed arguments, but there was a summary box which outlined his article. He tried to list out the arguments supporting and denying the existence of God. I don't remember them exactly but they were something like these.
For:
* There is no totally satisfactory explanation as to 'Why and how the universe exists? or why life exists on this universe? how life came into existense' (or something like that)
* --Dont remember the second point :)
Against:
* Apparent lack of God's interference with the universe. If he is out there, he is not maintaining justice in this world as he is supposed to be. The universe seems to be working as per a standard set of rules(framed by God?). 'God is not playing dice'
So the writer arrives at this 2:1 ratio and says that the probability of God's existence is 2/(2+1) : 0.66

As I said, the probability value is meaningless to me(unless it is 0.0 or 1.0). The truth is something that fits all the available evidence. Not a probability of the percentage of evidence that supports the assumption. As Sherlock Holmes would say, 'When you have eliminated all the other possibilities, whatever possibility remains, however improbable it might look, is the truth.'

Anand Swaminathan, to answer your comment in my previous post 'World's most widely spread disorder'. Yes. I do think about God a lot. Atleast about the questions for which the scientific studies haven't been able to give satisfactory answers. Questions for which the 'believers' believe the answer is God. Something on the lines of
* Why universe?
* Why life?
* What is the start/end of time and space? (I couldn't understand Stephen Hawking's explanation that time-space is spherical and doesn't have start/end. Somehow doesnt seem to make sense)
* Why these rules that govern the universe? (To what extent can scientific study provide answer to the question 'Why'. How atom exists? Because of protons and electrons having opposite charges and they attract. Why should opposites attract? Why not repel? I mean, who framed these rules? Is this where science ends and religion starts?)

BUT, I am not ready to take 'God' as the default answer for the lack of even some flimsy piece of evidence to support it, except for people's belief(and how many billions of them for how many ages)

Hasta La Vista, Chennai!

இது நாள் வரையில் நான் என்னை முழு பெங்களூர்வாசியாக நினைத்ததில்லை. வாரத்தில் 5 பகல்கள் 4 இரவுகள் பெங்களூரில், 2 பகல்கள் 1 இரவு சென்னையில், 2 இரவுகள் பெங்களூர் மெயிலில் 'Side Lower berth' இல். இது தான் என் கடந்த மூன்று ஆண்டு கால வாழ்கை. ஆனால் இந்த வாரம் முதல் நான் ஒரு முழு பெங்களூர்வாசி. கடைசியாக hosteler வாழ்க்கை முடிந்து உண்மையிலேயே day-scholar ஆக போகிறேன்! Lets see how a full-fledged life in the IT capital turns out to be.