Plan B

'For far too long, I struggled with my conscience. Until one day, it died under mysterious circumstances; and since then, I've been at peace.'


It seemed like a revolutionary concept, born at the end of a laughter filled night-out with friends. It was a crazy idea, to be jokingly ignored; until suddenly it wasn't. It was out there, and we realized that it always was, just never in our conscious minds. The idea of a life outside boundaries and rules; not in recklessness, but with careful analysis and prior understanding. A mutual agreement between two people (or more) to live and behave with a certain freedom, without the drag of routine expectations and disappointments. Everybody in the world runs after the prototype dream, the ideal life, the normal relationships.. their Plan A. Lets call this Plan B.

Here's the idea in a nutshell. Suppose there's something you wish to do, or even a lifestyle that you wish to have. Society does not approve of it (because society never does). You create a controlled environment, involving as few people as possible, making sure that everyone completely understands the point of it all. The timeline remains decided right from the start, during which you live the life of your choice, hurting no one. If it ever slips or you lose control, or someone gets hurt, you stop everything and walk. And of course, there will be no relapse.

It all comes down to expectations. What you expect from others, what they expect from you, and most importantly, what you expect from yourself. Control that, and you probably control your life. And this is just what we have been told, by so many schools of philosophy. In 'The Gita', Lord Krishna advises Arjun to perform his duty without thinking of the outcome. Buddhism is based on the principle that all of our sadness in life stems from our desires.
Unfortunately, it's because of expectations that our plan doesn't work. Nine times out of ten, our brain stops thinking and starts dreaming, of how things can get even better, if only we were to do this and someone else were to do that. The one time where it does work, well, congratulations; I'm sure it must be beautiful. If only...

We're a mad race, us humans; and getting madder by the day. We want too many things in too little time, even at the risk of ending up with nothing. We want the best, even though we're not sure what that is or how do we get it. We don't wish to hurt others, just get them out of the way. And we hate contradictions in life, even though we're a couple of internal conflicts away from spontaneous combustion.
It's a wonder we manage to get anything done. But atleast it's good to know that we now have two ways of screwing things up.

So whats the plan?


Credits : I wish to thank S.A.M, without whom I would never have gotten these terrible thoughts. Thanks guys.