The Negentropy When You Enter Seventy
“Eleven years, right?” Lulu, my parrot, asked me.
“Yes, eleven years since I retired from the ‘corporate career’. Oh, how time flies!” I picked up my diary. “True. But I never considered it as retirement. I was pursuing my hobbies of photography and blogging. Occasionally I tried my hand at sketching and painting.”
“And you travelled to many places.”
“Oh yes, Lulu. You often followed me there. I had been to South Africa, Australia, NZ, Japan, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.”
“Travebug must have bitten you….”
“I went to a gold mine in Johannesburg. And to Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul’s home in Trinidad. Then to Churchill’s war room, Sigmund Freud’s home, I mean Museum, in London and also to the grave of Karl Marx.”
“That’s a great way to spend retired life. Well, we parrots don’t, rather can’t, turn green with envy!”
“And then I made an important decision this April….”
“Not to step out of home during lockdown? You naughty old man!! I know why….”
“Oh, shut up. I decided to stop my consulting practice and devote my time to social work. I joined Aroehan, an NGO.”
“So the third career after eleven years?”
“Call it so if you please. But it is not a career in a conventional sense. There are no monetary rewards. In fact you do not seek any reward from an NGO; the focus is on serving the Society.”
“It’s an interesting turn you are giving to your life eleven years since retirement. That’s because the number eleven is an influential number.”
“Means?”
“The number 11 denotes the ‘Spiritual Messenger’ in Numerology.”
“Really?”
“It also represents changes in metaphysical strengths and a new vision. This is how the number eleven has influenced you. Now it is up to you to take your life on a new path.” Lulu fluttered his wings and jumped to perch on my shoulder.
“Changes in metaphysical strengths and a new vision! Phew!! What does that mean? Same to you, Lulu!”
“Think about it. Life keeps changing directions; it’s like a ship which is guided by the currents in the river.”
“You are turning philosophical, Lulu.”
“Somebody said, I think it was Fritjof Capra, that at a particular level philosophers and physicists, like Capra, speak the same language.”
“Ha ha! They both speak unintelligible language at whichever level they speak. Ha, ha!”
“You will understand if you make effort. Have you heard of Schrodinger?”
“The ‘Schrodinger cat’ fame physicist?”
“Yes. He spoke of a ‘Negentropy’. Negative Entropy. Going from disorder to order.”
“Oh!”
“That is what happens to a people. Like you! Particularly when they approach or cross the sixty-mark. They go from disorder to order. That’s negentropy at work.”
“How?”
“Their vision may become weak, but their ability to ‘see’ things increases. Their ability to hear may go down, but they get better at ‘listening’ to the unsaid. They may have difficulty remembering some words, yet their ability to convey ‘meaning’ increases.”
“True. You said it, Lulu.”
“Eleven years have passed since your retirement and you are sixty-nine today, entering your seventies. It is time to put this ‘negentropy’ to good use. HE gives you ‘invisible gifts’ at every stage of life, do you realize?” Lulu rubbed his head on my cheeks. Parrots see life differently.
Vivek S Patwardhan
”What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Aroehan: Creating Dream Villages in Mokhada by 2025: “No Malnutrition Deaths, No ‘Out of School’ Child, Reduce migration by 50%.”
Feature Photo Courtesy Annette Fischer on Unsplash
Interesting.Can i share it on my linkedin page
So beautifully penned.
These words touched me:
Their vision may become weak, but their ability to ‘see’ things increases. Their ability to hear may go down, but they get better at ‘listening’ to the unsaid. They may have difficulty remembering some words, yet their ability to convey ‘meaning’ increases.”
Wow really bowled over!!
And I did not about number 11. My residence number and is 11 and that energy has been true for me.
Salutations Sir. Keep penning!!
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Beautiful as always Vivek
You have to ability to touch the heart in a very soft n delightful manner
Thanks for sharing
May the negentrophy increase
It is akin to reaching a state when the cacophony outside is drowned by the stillness and calm which previals inside
All open systems exist in connect with other systems in negative entropy. They take from the immediate environment more than they give. Even if one does not see that happen.
In nature, fruits give, because, others take from it. Birds, animals as us too eat fruit. Human Nature, if that’s a concept, is to protect its own interests, before sparing consideration for others. The giver who gets taken for granted gets exploited, no matter what stage of life. In pandemic time, giving is generally virtuous. Mindful giving I feel would be sentient. Intelligent too. Not Everyone cares, even if they say they do. Those who give without claiming they do may be wiser in some ways, naive in other ways. No golden rules in human giving.
So nice.
Lot to learn from.
Much to relate and reflect upon.
Sir, you can write on anything and can make it meaningful and interesting.
Highest regards for your decision to focus on the work of Aarohan. Not many do this. Choice can be with many.
Feeling proud of you.
I am sure the NGO will benefit from your vast experience, besides, it should be a satisfying journey.
Just a bit longer here on this strand of thought.
“Dissect your motives deeper! You will find that no one has ever done anything wholly for others. All actions are self-directed, all service is self-serving, all love self-loving.”
― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession
Hello Sir!
Very insightful and deep thoughts, and very commendable indeed! Wishing you a joyous journey on this immensely gratifying path!!
Dear Sir
“Their vision may become weak, but their ability to ‘see’ things increases. Their ability to hear may go down, but they get better at ‘listening’ to the unsaid. They may have difficulty remembering some words, yet their ability to convey ‘meaning’ increases.” This is so powerful.
I experience this every time we have a dialogue. Thank you for being you. My namaskars to you.