Of assembly lines, thresholds and breaking away...

This probably will be the first time I'll come straight to a point (even though, the temptation of digressing simply to invoke humor or for that matter confusion, is huge). The so called MBA, that i'm pursuing, has finally evoked some thoughts in my head. In fact, all through my education these thoughts always lingered till they reached a boiling point here when I realized that with higher education I am simply narrowing my outlook. I wonder why a Mechanics subject becomes bullshit for an Electronics engineer, or, for that matter, a Finance lecture is of no use for a Marketing guy. I remember being taught, as a kid. that knowledge imparted, from whichever source and in whichever field, should be grasped gleefully. However, as I grew up not paying attention at such instances itself (when knowledge is imparted) became a fashion.

So, the bigger picture (and this. after having pursued education in perhaps the best institutions in their respective fields) is that more and more folks come to learn with the intention of not learning and if they do come in to learn they put in their best to restrict themselves to a certain 'Course' since, empirically its proven that life is full of instances straight out of that 'Course.' I wonder what happened to learning just to quench curiosity, but for that I'll have to wonder what happened to curiosity in the first place!

It got lost in our love to produce assembly line. An assembly line of men and women who are successful because they are well educated. They ensure the path they take is at least taken by a 100 other people and they believe that paths to success are only known to the ones who have already succeeded. Plus, as more 'batches' come out they start making the production of coming 'batches' simpler.

The little originality left is reduces with every batch. That is why, seniors help juniors to restrict the 'Course' further and the juniors are glad they would succeed by knowing less without even flinching about the possibility of having missed vital insights. But then, why would they care for some stupid vital insights if their 'goal' is achieved? And is not the 'goal' the only relevant thing? Maybe, it's all got to do with the thresholds for 'happiness' the society sets for itself and strangely, the whole assembly line becomes programmed to derive its happiness from exactly the same things. It's always about the best job or the most satisfying job-the one which everyone wants and the one which everyone wants is invariably the one with maximum monetary returns! Could we ever try to break free from this assembly line and think for ourselves? Again, I'm not saying this since I believe I have broken free. I myself am a proud production of this very assembly line. I'm merely pondering if there was ever a way we could break free.

Breaking away would mean shit load of books and undefined courses (in our students' terms) or more broadly put, challenging the thresholds set for happiness. By encouraging your own self to think the earth is round when everyone else knows it is flat. By maybe, for once, not restricting oneself to defined courses and instead exploring those topics which always interested one as a kid. But then, who would put such a lot of effort? Ermmm, but who exactly said putting less effort is better? In the one life we have, we try our best to work the least since that way life is more exiting? We tend to define and restrict our learnings since less knowledge would mean a more satisfied life? We jumped into this ironical world of ours just because we started blindly believing in the sacred 'thresholds'!

Life is more about deriving maximum satisfaction. Which would rationally come from making the most out of life. Unbelievably friends, we all have our own perceptions for making the most out of our lives and i'm pretty sure spending years of our lives studying restricted courses features in no one's perception. It's sure an uneasy thought and for the first few times you will refute other 'non-assembly' perceptions till you reach a point when you will define our own happiness. Just wish, for you as well as for me, it does not end up being too late.