When Every Soul Matters

October 1,2017. A night that many will remember, a night that brought us to a realization that horrific incidents can happen to anyone and to any nation. It was a kind of night that Las Vegas and its people weren't prepared for. At 10:07 pm, a heavily armed white male sprayed bullets over a crowd of 22000 people, give or take. It was the third and last night of Route 91 Harvest Country music festival. Jason Aldean was performing on the stage and attendants were enjoying the festival to its bits. Some thought it was fireworks that is expected to happen by the end of the festival while some thought there was a technical problem with the acoustics. Nonetheless, Jason Aldean left the stage in a hurry, strings of guitars suddenly came to a stop and people who were singing and dancing in front of the heavily lit stage silenced. They started looking left and right to see the response of their fellow attendants. Some realized that bullets have been fired and there are numerous wounded people moaning and crying in pain, asking for help while some couldn't even ask for help. It was an open-air festival and the assailant had a bird's eye view of the whole arena from the 32nd floor of renowned state of the art Mandalay Bay resort and casino. There was a panic and sense of urgency developed among people in no time. They started running in every direction whenever the sound of showering bullets stopped and started ducking when the sound started again. A fully automatic gun was being used by the shooter and it only takes seconds to spray hundreds of bullets with that weapon. It was not a kind of weapon that is used for self-defense. In no time, entire strip was in a palpable shock. Cops arrived at the scene within minutes and vantage point was identified amidst spraying bullets. Goal was to neutralize the shooter as soon as possible so that no more people fall to his bullets'victim. And that goal was achieved under supervision of gallant and highly competent Sheriff of Las Vegas Police Department.

No one realized at that very moment that how much damage that psychopath had done until after few hours. 59 innocent lives were wasted and more than 500 people were wounded. There was a state of emergency in almost every hospital of the city. Numerous weapons were recovered from the room of the gunman. Motive, still unclear. Ambulances roaring all over the city. Injured individuals were also being transported by the first responders in their private vehicles. It was a blood bath in Vegas.

Silenced prevailed in the ensuing hours. Strip was closed and thorough investigation began. Everyone was at sea to hear about this horrific act of terrorism. Police department in conjunction with FBI handled the incident with terrific bravery. Many questions were born after this incident and many are still unanswered. The real question that we, as a nation, should ask ourselves is,are we safe now or we should be prepared for such attacks in future too. No one can answer this question yet, no one will be able to answer this query even in the future probably. I am not concerned about what we are labeling this incident as, either he was a 'lone wolf' or a 'terrorist'. we have different standards for different individuals nowadays depending on their age, gender and most importantly, the ethnicity. The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism as an attempt to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. And to be charged with terrorism, a person has to be suspected of acting on behalf of one of nearly 60 groups that the State Department has declared a foreign terrorist organization. I won't go into the details of that because it is not going to have an impact of what has already taken place. Innocent lives have been wasted, happy families have been shredded into pieces and a city full of happiness and joy has seen the darkest of times. Things will be back to normal in a few days for all of us and we would barely remember the date of the incident but for those who have lost their loved ones, things would never be the same again.

Pray for Las Vegas, Pray for humanity.

A Conscious Mind

My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings-what we sometimes call "mind" are a consequence of its anatomy and physiology,and nothing more.
                                                                                                  -Carl Sagan

It's hard to define consciousness. All we know is that it's not synonymous with mind. In fact,Consciousness is a versatile dimension that encompasses mind as well as our physical existence.It is the consciousness that makes us what we were,what we are and what we ever will be. Understanding of how our thought process occurs is vital to our survival.

Thoughts are formed by virtue of our perception. We perceive through our five senses which include vision, olfaction, gustation, audition and somatosensation. These are the sensory inputs to our body that shape our reality. How much information gets into our physical body is wholly dependent on the amount of the sensory input. But this information makes up our thoughts,not necessarily our consciousness. Consciousness includes all that sensory information, processes it,some of it is stored in the form of memory in our brain,specifically Hippocampus. It can be Short-term or Long-term memory. What information to bring forth depends upon what information we need at a specific time. It's like there is tiny robot sitting in our frontal lobe of the brain who receives the message,goes to the designated drawer and take out that piece of information we need and sends it out through outflow tracts. There is a humongous number of neurons in our brain that are connected to each other via synapses. Neurons are the electrically excitable cells in our brain that receive,process and transmit tons of information every day. The information flows from one neuron to the other in the form of electric currents and that's why relay of information is lightning fast. Sensory neurons carry the information from the body to the brain and then the cerebral cortex processes that information and sends signals back to the body by virtue of motor neurons and that's how we become capable to move our arm or leg or talk etc. Brain's fuel is primarily glucose.That's why when someone is hypoglycemic,they get altered in terms of their mental status and that mimics stroke. Stroke is basically decreased blood supply to the brain that affects the functioning of the brain leading to paresis or paralysis.

As described above, the entire universe is part of our consciousness. If you look at the sky with naked eye,you will be awestruck to witness the infinite universe. Eyes are immensely sophisticated structures that makes us aware of our surroundings.Vision depends on light and that is why we can't see in the dark. This phenomenon doesn't stand true for all living creatures as some animals can actually see in the dark and that makes us confused in terms of what truly is darkness and what is not. If we close our eyes and try to stop the sensory input from external environment, we see darkness inside us,not outside,it lets us focus on our inner self,how we breathe and how we perceive information through other senses.

Perception can be fallacious. Thoughts can be a muss. If you have no thoughts,means you had no experiences in your life as thoughts are entirely based on your experiences,whether good or bad. Thoughts are a finite resource. They are basically recycling of the already present data within your brain.Life is full of experiences and that shape our reality.The more diverse your experiences are,the more vivid and intriguing your thoughts will be.

A celebrated theoretical physicist and New York times bestselling author of numerous books,Michio Kaku, defines Consciousness in his book 'The Future of the Mind' as "Consciousness is the process of creating a model of the world using multiple feedback loops in various parameters (e.g.,in temperature,space,time,and in relation to others),in order to accomplish a goal (e.g.,find mates,food,shelter). This is probably the closest we can ever be towards defining consciousness. In addition,he also divides consciousness into different levels (0-III) and these levels correspond to the rough evolutionary levels we find in nature. Also,the number of feedback loops determine the level of consciousness with Level 0 having least and Level III having the most complex feedback loops. Level 0 exists basically in stationary or limited mobility organisms,Level I exists in fairly mobile organisms who have a central nervous system, Level II consciousness let the organisms create their place not in terms of space but also in relation to each other. Presence of Limbic system is a vital part of Level II. Only humans have Level III consciousness which helps us simulate the future. Humans have a well-developed prefrontal cortex which animals lack. Animals basically have developed strong survival traits but they don't think like we humans do,they don't want to explore Mars or worry about global warming or invent electric cars and so forth, They want to hunt and live. Humans,in contrast,are more refined in terms of the awareness of their consciousness and their purpose in the cosmos.

In a nutshell,conquer your mind,declutter your thoughts and you will be on cloud nine by virtue of the clarity in your mind. Learn to live and live to learn.

Farhan Rashid MD

Insight..!!!!

                                          

                                       Seeing is believing. A vibrant look can disguise. People think,then act,then lose. They lose their controls.They lose everything,even their intuition. Taking a glimpse at a high mountain doesn't mean that you can actually climb it's peak. Perils wait for you. They are everywhere,testing the severity of your desire and will. To get tangled yourself in a predicament brightens your mind's capabilities to act,to act sharply,to think immensely,to show your your heat and soul the courage you have and the faith you contain.......

                          Have a look at your paraphernalia. You are constantly attracted towards things,the material ones. Mind is receptive,prone to stimuli,whether anxious or noxious. You leave no stone unturned to modify your inner self to be the way you are meant to be.But what meant to be is still unknown to you.That's called curiosity......

                                         Knowing someone doesn't equilibrates understanding someone. Your loved one's can be the hatred one's of other's. Fate is absolute.Time is a flowing river. You are constantly and efficiently driven towards your "Ema"-the desires and wishes you carve on the walls of your beloved heart. These make you distressed,provoking fears and anxiety,making ur inner self to doom badly.

                                        Turn the tables. Know yourself, judge yourself,love yourself because you are the one for yourself...........!!