Title :A Book of Wisdom
Genre: philosophy
Age Group: general
Total word count: 35700 words


1. "Life is like a Ponzi scheme..." I will let Bernie Madoff complete the sentence.
2. "I can think for myself the big issues but you got to solve small issues for me, like where my next meal is coming from."
3. “There was never an accident that I have forgotten. If I missed a step and bruised my knee I bear the scar still. If I lost an opportunity because of a missed flight or any other I can still see its consequences. I bear the accidents in life. Only what I missed was that accident, -which also is an accident I believe, and it could have put all in its proper place and value.”
4. "Hopelessness of a situation in life is not decided by what we must do without; but what we may learn to draw strength from hope an unknown quantity. This hope is all we can tease out of ourselves- religion, morality and social identity are all mercurial colors that we flash in translating it. Our hope must stand the wave of helplessness that is from without. Those who have survived shall know when the storm is past they found strength because it was a genuine article, their character".
The second part is under the heading of essays. Short essays on many topics are given.
On Sleep

As a child I thought sleep was glorious. I still think so. One would think certain habits like hitting the sack at a regular time or waking up by break of dawn would pall with passage of time. No. Man goes to sleep like a beggar with his worn out nerves and thoughts soiled by activities of the day. Even a saint is somewhat dented by it. I go to bed poor but wake up rich, feeling a power that I never thought possible. Every time. Over a cup of coffee when I have the whole world all to myself I command it to silence. My power is such even a cock crowing from a barn nearby cannot annoy me. With all that power at my command what I do? Like a beggar I polish my ivories that are ready to drop off, clear the nasal passages that are chokeful of phlegm and drag about my bones almost breaking apart,-osteoporosis sounds solid uh?don't you believe it!, and make water. Indignities heaped over me by day do not end there. I am an unmitigated fool to attend to great many silliness of not my making. Come day my age shows its unseemly, sordid side. Only company of people, those who make much of me can make me survive till I once again go to bed. Asleep I do not need the world or its uses. Even the one who warms the cockles of my heart is left out. Sleep, it is too potent to be shared with anyone.

Sleep is where I come to my proper estate. The whole universe and even God, host of angels belong to me, me alone. With such company who can tell me I am a nobody?

benny