This is the Credit Card Era. Short-termism and overconsumption are the disease of this century. Everybody  is enjoying transient pleasures they haven’t earned and can’t afford.  We are all addicts squirming to get our next fix. We have an endless list of needs. How is using a Credit Card any different from a smoking addiction? It’s  the same scam, consume now pay later…  pleasure now, damage later.

You don’t have to have the means or resources to seek satisfaction of your needs. All you have to do is wave your magic wand and every  wish comes true. You  can have what you need, and when your satisfied new needs will be created. You can want what others have and you can have whatever you want.  But where does it end?

All of life’s delights are mass produced, neatly packaged and heavily advertised.  We are all dazzled by signs, mesmerized by hidden messages and humming catchy  jingles.  All we have to do to get what we need is keep running  on our ferret wheel; working eight hour jobs and doing overtime so we can spend money we don’t have. It’s not a matter of scarcity of resources  anymore it’s  a matter of insatiable demands.

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off. – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Source: Wikipedia

Kairos is an ancient Greek word that means “the right moment’” or “the opportune.” The two meanings of the word apparently come from two different sources.

 In archery, it refers to an opening, or “opportunity” or, more precisely, a long tunnel-like aperture through which the archer’s arrow has to pass. Successful passage of a kairos requires, therefore, that the archer’s arrow be fired not only accurately but with enough power for it to penetrate.

The second meaning of kairos traces to the art of weaving. There it is “the critical time” when the weaver must draw the yarn trough a gap that momentarily opens in the warp of the cloth being woven. Putting the two meanings together, one might understand kairos to refer to a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved.

In both senses, an artist (an archer, a weaver, an orator) must seize upon the crucial moment to perform accurately and skillfully in order to achieve a goal. The archer will connect suddenly and impactfully with his target; the weaver will forge a lasting bond upon which he can later build. It should not surprise, then, that the sophists seized upon “kairos” as a term defining the goal of effective communication.

To recognize the audience quickly and make a lasting first impression worked hand-in-glove with building a rhetor/audience bond that would last at least through the duration of the argument at hand. Aristotle himself identifies kairos as intrinsically related to audience–that is, it is important to get the attention of the audience, but to occasionally choose a moment to re-awaken them to the attention of the speaker. That moment, recognized, chosen and acted upon, is kairotic or interchangeably, kairic.

Chirognomy: It is the study of shape of hand. The mounts , texture, quality and length of hand and fingers to indicate the basic instincts, nature and temperament of a person.

The idea of synchronicity is that the conceptual relationship of minds, defined as the relationship between ideas, is intricately structured in its own logical way and gives rise to relationships that are not causal in nature. These relationships can manifest themselves as simultaneous occurrences that are meaningfully related.

Synchronistic events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework that encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems that display the synchronicity. The suggestion of a larger framework is essential to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as originally developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.

Jung coined the word to describe what he called “temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events.” Jung variously described synchronicity as an “acausal connecting principle”, “meaningful coincidence” and “acausal parallelism”. Jung introduced the concept as early as the 1920s but only gave a full statement of it in 1951 in an Eranos lecture and in 1952, published a paper, Synchronicity — An Acausal Connecting Principle, in a volume with a related study by the physicist (and Nobel laureate) Wolfgang Pauli.

It was a principle that Jung felt gave conclusive evidence for his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious,[4] in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlies the whole of human experience and history—social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Concurrent events that first appear to be coincidental but later turn out to be causally related are termed incoincident.

Jung believed that many experiences that are coincidences due to chance in terms of causality suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances in terms of meaning, reflecting this governing dynamic.

One of Jung’s favourite quotes on synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says to Alice: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards”

Extracted from Wikipedia.org

Definition  of An Idealist :-  an impractical person: a perfectionist who rejects practical considerations -  somebody with high ideals: somebody who aspires to or abides by high standards or principles

The Impractical / optimistic Idealist

When the idealist seeks perfection, they are seeking what is comfortable and natural for them and that is considered by most people as "idealistic" because:

a) Sometimes those Ideals are impractical and far-fetched

b) What is comfortable for the Idealists is a world tailored to satisfying the needs of their Deeper feeling and higher meanings. The majority of the population wants a world tailored to other needs. What others want is perceived by the idealists differently as the following:

• Useless Traditions: Formal education, thought control
• Unappealing goals: Excessive materialism, goal-oriented mind-set, consumerism
• overwhelming world: over-stimulation, hedonic, thrill-seeking , fast-moving, urban, dazzling, sensory overload
• Social hypocrisy: social graces, social norms, group-think, mindless sheep, moral corruption

The majority of the population is already living in their "ideal" world except it’s called reality. Idealist are rare and their needs are not shared by the majority. The world of the Idealist, is not comfortable and does not makes sense to most people.

Idealist, when optimistic, have a tendency to be self-righteous. They adhere to high-standards which they don’t expect everyone to understand or follow. The reason is, the Idealist in their own minds are convinced that they are more well-informed and hard-working then the "average" ignorant common person.

Idealist is governed by "Deeper Feelings". they seek rewards that satisfy those "deeper feelings" and  try to avoid anything that disrupts those feelings. Those Deeper Feelings are unique in that they circulate around ideals, principles, higher motives rather than instant pleasure, emotional stimulation or hedonic gratification. Idealist, are not the doers or movers, they are not the ones shaping the present,they are the ones who can imagine a better future.It is that  vivid imagination, that allows Idealists to picture a more favorable situation.

What idealists usually want does not always exist in the current reality and a lot of times is unattainable. Most Idealist eventually realize the huge gap between what they consider rewarding and what is considered by society as useful or commendable and what is practical and achievable. They realize that a lot of their dreams are either unattainable or are considered pointless.

 Link: The Logical Song by Supertramp

The cynical Idealist / self-destructive Idealist

“Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist” -George Carlin

The first defense mechanism against the realization of the gap between an Idealists dreams and reality is a pessimistic attitude. It doesn’t take very long for most idealist to become cynical . Early on they are labeled as "impractical" and "unreasonable" and are urged to become more logical. To the idealist this means lowering their standards, accepting mediocrity and giving up on their ideals.

Idealists are very hard on themselves. They consider their true-selves to be their masterpiece. They  are constantly evolving  in order to get closer to their ideal self. This can be very difficult to do when their external environment does not allow them to achieve their personal goals. In the pursuit of happiness the Idealists seeks self-actualization, in reality, this is a project that has to be repeatedly postponed in order to pursue more "realistic" goals. In reality, some of the goals that Idealist set out to achieve can even be damaging to themselves and everyone they are involved with.

If an idealist is not allowed to pursue the dream of being their "ideal" self, or if they fail to see the absurdity of some of their pursuits, they tend to self-destruct. Along with the lost sense of wonder, and a victim mentality, mixed with a bit of paranoia, anarchist views possibly some extreme fanatic tendencies, an Idealist has the perfect mind-set to fall for mind-control by others, or can develop very twisted thoughts of their own. Cynicism in Idealist can manifest itself in different forms such as:

How a society scores on each dimension is an indication of its most respected values. Those values can determine what personality traits are respected by this particular community. For example, a country that scores high on Individualism would prize personal achievement and individual rights . Such cultures are more accepting of diversity and are therefore, likely to reward traits such as independence, self-reliance and open-mindedness.. The majority of individuals in such a society would consider those traits attractive as opposed to individuals in a society that scores high on collectivism who are more likely to admire traits such as Loyalty to family and community and observance of societal traditions.

Societies that score high on Masculinity value high-achievement and material gains. Males and Females are socialized differently in such a culture. The Men are usually expected to be goal-oriented, ambitious and are raised with a “boys don’t cry” attitude. It is acceptable and even required for men in such societies to be more aggressive. The family roles are traditional, therefore the men are expected to be competent financial-providers and the women are appreciated for having traits such as obedience and dutifulness.

On the other hand, Feminine societies focus more on the quality of life and have a flexible family structure. Males and Females are socialized in a similar manner. Men are not appreciated for being aggressive and women are more encouraged to pursue high-profile careers. Traits such as
environmental awareness and compassion are valued and less emphasis is placed on goals and material gains.

To conclude, the variations among the cultures of different societies affect what are considered to be good personality traits, by the community and ultimately the individuals. Those broad values shape the perception of the individuals and inspires them to a develop in accordance to these set Ideals. An individual Failing to match the ideals put forth by society would be considered to possess “bad traits” and would be encouraged to change or develop themselves in order to better meet the expectations of society.
Just as there are variations among the cultures of different societies, there are also variations among the personalities of different Individuals. Each Personality type embodies a unique set of character traits and behavioral tendencies

The variations among individuals in personality account for a large portion of the difference in behavior and character traits. The MBTI offers insight into the cognitive processes of different personality types. (for more details about MBTI read this page) It shows how each personality type has a dominant cognitive function, this function is the core strength and is the most developed. For example, someone who has Thinking (Te) as their dominant function is likely to have traits such as being efficient, organized and productive. The same person, however would have difficulty with inferior functions such as introverted Feeling (Fi) making them less sensitive to others’ feelings and struggling with their own emotions. Each Personality type posses strengths and weakness and requires maturity and development in order to be more balanced.

The Enneagram which is a trait theory that is less scientific and has more of a spiritual interpretation circulates around describing 9 different behavioral types based on 9 vices which are Anger , Pride, Deceit, Envy, Avarice, Fear, Gluttony, Lust, Indifference (for more details refer to The Enneagram Institute website). This framework used for self-development and is a good representation of the virtues and vices different of types.

What is defined as strength or weakness is determined largely by society and culture. As presented before, each culture values different traits, and so unfortunately personality types are judged as “good” or “bad” based on whether its traits match the ideal of society. For example in a society that scores high on masculinity a typical ESTJ male is likely to exhibit traits that are considered favorable and is therefore more likely to be successful without having to dramatically change or grow while an ISFP male would struggle to thrive in the same society.

The same could apply to Enneagram types, depending on the prevalent culture some virtues are more appreciated than others, and some vices are more frowned upon. A lot of times, a culture is so set in its beliefs about what makes a good personality that it fails to reward individuals based on their level of development and personal growth, but rather for being lucky enough to naturally posses valued traits.

In addition, some types are less common than others and are therefore considered strange and are usually misunderstood by the more prevalent types. Those types may poses a lot of strength that are not valued by the community and may not be given an opportunity to use those strengths.

On a more personal level, individuals usually consider people they have a good encounter with as having a “good personality”. “good chemistry” is what  makes a person admire another and conclude that they have a “good personality”. There is no absolute “good” or “bad” personality. It is important to note that how different types interact and perceive each other, is a determining factor in how individuals judge others’ personality. For example, the interactions between a typical ESFJ and a typical INTP might lead to great misunderstanding and each person might even walk away thinking the other has a bad personality but, it’s only the huge difference in perception and behavior that makes it hard for that pair to get along.

Morality and Ethics are also a key determinant of what is considered to be good or bad personality traits but much like culture, each society has its own code of ethics and morality and within each culture each individual has their own sense of morality. It is only possible to agree vaguely in broad terms on what can be considered as important virtues or unforgivable vices. Different societies and different individual place variable level of emphasis on the importance of morality and ethics.

To sum up, societies differ in their values. Those values shape the individuals perception of different personality traits, skewing judgment in favor of certain traits which become highly admired qualities that most people aspire to posses and marginalizing other traits. On a more personal level, different personality types perceive other types as favorable or unfavorable depending on the nature of their encounter and how much they understand or appreciated the qualities of the other type.  Moreover, the higher prevalence of some personality types leads to the exaggeration of the importance of the strengths exhibited by those types at the expense of overlooking the strengths of less common types.

The result is a one-dimensional Ideal personality that shows all of the prevalent virtues and values of its society. A “good personality” is in some way or another matching this ideal. Such an Ideal is for the most part subjective and is not concerned with maturity level but rather a fixation on a laundry-list of “good” traits.  A more objective assessment would be more based on a impartial judgment of the strengths and weakness of an individual taking into account level of development. Society as a whole could benefit from being more open-minded and providing opportunities for people of all types to thrive and be appreciated and for their strengths to be acknowledged.

Source: Wikipedia

The Bouba/Kiki Effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929. In psychological experiments, first conducted on the island of Tenerife (in which the primary language is Spanish), Köhler showed forms similar to those shown at the right and asked participants which shape was called “takete” and which was called “baluba” (“maluma” in the 1947 version). Data suggested a strong preference to pair the jagged shape with “takete” and the rounded shape with “baluba”.

In 2001, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard repeated Köhler’s experiment using the words “kiki” and “bouba” and asked American college undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India “Which of these shapes is bouba and which is kiki?” In both the English and the Tamil speakers, 95% to 98% selected the curvy shape as “bouba” and the jagged one as “kiki”, suggesting that the human brain is somehow able to extract abstract properties from the shapes and sounds. Recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect.   

Ramachandran and Hubbard suggest that the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary. The rounded shape may most commonly be named “bouba” because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sound “kiki”. The sounds of a K are harder and more forceful than those of a B, as well. The presence of these “synesthesia-like mappings” suggest that this effect might be the neurological basis for sound symbolism, in which sounds are non-arbitrarily mapped to objects and events in the world.   

Individuals with autism do not show as strong a preference. Where average people agree with the typical result 90% of the time, individuals with autism only agree 60% of the time.

 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect

Irukandji Jellyfish is a tiny yet deadly jellyfish, measuring  only 2.5 mm. It inhabits the waters of north-eastern Australia. The Irukandji is believed to be the most venomous creature in the world.  But, despite its lethal poison it is very fragile and cannot be held in a  normal aquarium because if it hits the side the impact will kill it.

Irukandji Syndrome is caused by a sting from the Irukandji Jellyfish. It’s sympotoms include extreme pain at various parts of the body , nausea, vomiting, migraines, perspiration, rapid pulse, high blood pressure and even a feeling of impending doom. Irukandji Syndrome could be Fatal.

http://www.jellyfishfacts.net/iracongi-irukandji-jellyfish.html

http://www.irukandjijellyfish.com/