23.Again and again =repeatedly

Again and again =repeatedly

Repetition is an inevitable aspect of life and living. 

Everything starting from the invisible microbes to tiny ants to huge elephants everything and everyone repeats many things. 

Either the repetition is very frequent and essential like our breathing or is after a long duration but inevitable like our birth and death. 

Life and everything about life is a cycle and hence inevitably repetitive.

Repetitions can be dry, dull drudgery or they can be interesting activities with modifications, improvements and enhancements. Be it sleeping or having sex, all species have to repeat certain activities. We repeatedly eat many times every day or at least once every day, probably we may eat different items/dishes.

Repetition, like imitation, is a process and practice proceeding towards progress and perfection. 

Hence it is ubiquitous in all aspects of life. In a way all progress and perfection are the results of repetitive endeavors executed with sharp observation, attention and awareness. 

That’s why any change takes root only by making its way through some pores or passages of some existing repetitive practice as it offers a cushion of comfort for seamless transition; change emanates also a result repeated attempts towards progress, and , besides change takes place  because of the interplay of two major aspects of life , namely the concrete and abstract, while all repetitions are part of concrete aspect of life while the abstract aspect of life every now and then interacts, influences and injects itself into the concrete aspect of life and thus throws up the surprise elements in the form of change. 

Whole world is interdependent, interconnected, interrelated and interactive so no one or nothing can afford to be aloof, alone and away from the rest. It is only the intensity of interdependence, interconnectedness, interrelatedness   and interactivity that varies from person to person, from one thing to another and with different persons or things or even with the same person or thing at different times.

In a way biologically, even evolution and growth are a result of repetition, starting from the cell which initially evolved and grew in number through reproduction by repeatedly dividing itself into halves or smaller fractions and all species evolving through repeated performances of different forms of sex and then effecting growth through repeated intake of some food. 

Evolution in general and in brief, is constant and repeated attempts to improve existence and life. 

All mutations after all are the manifestations of submicroscopic factors repeatedly attempting to evolve infinite interrelationships. 

All the senses, organs, structures and components which science and philosophy have categorized and languages have labeled and those yet to be categorized and verbally labeled have all evolved out of life’s repeated attempts to understand, to use, to be of use, to fulfill its needs with its environment.

 Religions pamper, promote and propagate repetition either by asking to repeat a /some specific prayers; repeat a name/s of God/Gods/Goddesses or a /some mantras, some songs, forms of worship; repeat visits periodically to places of worship; repeat performing some /many rituals; repeat calendared observation of certain events; repeat reading a/some specific scriptures etc.

Science has scaled great heights through research which involved repeated experiments and attempts. Even the so called chance discoveries and inventions are the result of relentless and repeated dabbling in certain activities. These concrete activities every now and then  get co-operation from certain abstract elements or aspects which throw up surprises producing or helping to produce a positive result.

All technological advancements are the result of repeated attempts by human beings to aid their activities and/or ameliorate their life.

Perceptions are basically the result of repeated reference to our accumulated storage of knowledge, experience and thoughts.

Life, as it is mostly lived, rightly or wrongly, is in fact caught in the vicious circle of repetition, as I understood from the philosophy of the great J.Krishnamurthy, with probably some exceptional and extraordinary deviations, variations and enlightened emancipations away from the vicious circle of repetitions. You may wonder what I mean by vicious circle of repetition, simply explained it is like this, we act or react in life , either physically, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, philosophically, socially etc based on our existing storage of experience, knowledge, thoughts, memory etc irrespective of whatever situation we are in. Then, based on our action or reaction we gain new or more or similar or same knowledge or experience and again this newly gained experience or knowledge is added to our storage of thoughts as additional memory or as a confirmation of our existing thought or knowledge base. So all our perceptions are confined to or caged within or conforming to this vicious circle of action/reaction based on our knowledge, thoughts, memory, and experience and so on.

No w we need to honestly accept these two major facts, namely, one repetition, which  is an inevitable part and parcel, if not the whole of our life and two that almost most of us normally do and are capable of acting, activating and achieving most of the things in life within the vicious circle.  Having accepted these facts, we need to ensure what best we can do in our life and how best we can make our life meaningful and worthwhile based on these two facts.

Repetitive activities become our habits, our second nature [sometimes totally obliterating or taking over our original self] and thus lead to form our character, personality and overall identity physically, psychologically and socially.

So we need to ensure how best we can deal with these two facts. First of these is repetition. We must develop healthy routines, by healthy routines, I do not mean any specific religiously or socially sanction and approved activities. What I mean by healthy routine is anything that makes you happy, healthy and peaceful without harming yourself in any way, others around and the environment; anything that contributes to improve or increase the intrinsic value of either your body or mind or enlightens soul or spirit or contributes the overall welfare of the society or all or some of the above.

Now,  what to do with the second aspect, namely, vicious circle  which  has many aspects like knowledge, action, thought, experience etc all of which are too complicated, relative and therefore difficult to define clearly. But then, here too we can adopt the same principle, act and think of anything that makes us happy, healthy and peaceful without harming ourselves in any way, others around and the environment; anything that contributes to improve or increase the intrinsic value of either our body or mind or enlightens soul or spirit or contributes the overall welfare of the society or all or some of the above. Helping us to  do these two things with optimum level of efficiency and effectiveness is precisely the basic work of all types of education be it religious or scientific [please do not confuse this with academic qualifications] and worldly wisdom [please do not confuse this with enlightenment which forms and functions in totally different realms]  is when our routine, i.e. repetitive activities and our ‘vicious circle’ of operation are as effectively functioning as described above.

But life as it is, in its totality and reality, not as lived by most of us, is both beyond and besides all forms of repetition, with either the same splendor, or perhaps, greater splendor than the life that we live and perceive and practice with repetition and within the confines of the ‘vicious circle’. This is proven repeatedly beyond doubt if we observe nature in many of its micro and macro manifestations. This fact also has been repeatedly demonstrated by great souls and spirits that have lived and live still, whom we have labeled as extraordinary, excellent or enlightened and set them on a high pedestal, deified them or secluded them as aberrant species, eccentric individuals or exceptions not worthy of  being part of the normal society.

However, if we study and pursue carefully the annals of repeated events and peruse attentively the channels through or in which repetition plays a major role either as a factor of influence or as a fact of life, we would notice that predominantly they are confined to the physical and mental aspects of life.

This is so because body and mind operate in just one part of dichotomy of life, namely the concrete, the other being the abstract. Body and mind are mostly in the realm of the concrete and all repetitions are mainly and mostly the inevitable factor of the concrete aspects of life.

Therefore, to enhance our physical and mental aspect of life can we develop certain activities and/or some forms of thinking that enable us to move ahead as better human beings? Or adopt new and different thought processes? O r new methods of perception? Or adopt new forms of observation? O r new and multiple frames of reference? If so what are they? Are they the same everywhere for everyone at all times? Or develop multiple labels to classify and categorize whatever we think, hear, see, feel, imagine etc? Starting from Benjamin Lee Whorf to Sapir to Boroditsky many have come up with very valid theories that language and the words in our vocabulary influence our thoughts, perceptions etc to a very great extent. This is obvious because human beings can easily understand things with names and forms. That is precisely the reason all concepts, wild dreams, hyper imaginations, and all forms of abstract ideas are also given linguistically understandable, logical and identifiable terminology and /or sometimes even image and symbol/s accompanying them. However, this need not necessarily  , nor it does, exclude smarter, greater and higher perception beyond the confines of name and form , but as mentioned earlier for the normal and average ways of life  caught within the web of or capable of perceiving the repetitive modes and functioning within the ‘vicious circle’ these hold good.

So to sum up, to encounter better and enhance the concrete aspects of our life, namely our body and mind, we need to follow healthy practices physically especially taking appropriate cues from nature and for both the body and mind sharpen our awareness; use multiple scales of observation; adopt  suitable, sober, and sensible frames of reference; refine, redefine, refresh our thinking; prepare it to proceed from and towards multiple aspects and angles so that nothing gets omitted from our thought process; properly define , label and categorize everything for suitable identification and reference for life enhancement; in all the above matters allow variety to flourish; understand the oneness of everything; accept everything without getting attached to anything; never resorting to hastily defy or deny the importance of anything  or anyone; while following scrupulously all these things be open and eagerly await the abstract aspect of life to play its part in a mystic marriage with the concrete aspects of life to make life a wonderful splendid spectrum because  the soul or spirit is free of the influence of repetition. That’s why real and great philosophies and spiritual experiences, totally creative artistic works etc emanate from and are part of something that is beyond the body and mind and are not easily understood by most human beings and very often not that easily well communicable either. This is one of the signs of enlightenment.

Repetition creates patterns which then attracts attention, produces familiarity, and helps memory and understanding. The human brain loves to repeat what it likes and that is the reason all forms of music, poetry have repetition. Language  and literature employ plenty of methods of repetition to emphasis and ensure what is spoken  or written is drilled into the listener’s brain and delve deep down. Our brains love to recognize patterns. Some of which we encounter every now and then elucidating, enticing, and encouraging us to eagerly explore further or enjoy the sonic effects like Alliteration.

Repetition resorts to recapitulation, summarizing to remind the convincing aspects as in Anacephalaeosis.

Repetition of a word, phrase is made at the end of a sentence to start with, start with the same word or phrase the next sentence as in Anadiplosis.

Repetition of a word or words used at the start of successive clauses,  start of successive phrases, start of successive sentences etc as in Anaphora.

Repetition of word/s used with different meaning[s] every time to emphasis a main point and the main point being emphasis as in Antanaclasis.

Repetition of a clause, with reversed wording in the second clause is a way used to get through any important message effectively and the important message must get through the way reversed wording is used effectively as in Antimetabole.

Repetition of a word /s in a different form, order, function to effect a specific impact impacting effectively using different forms, functions and order of the same word/s as in Chiasmus

Repetition of words from an earlier/a previous phrase/sentence are used in the reverse order ensures the ensuing elucidation effectively dispels doubts as doubt dispels effectively more than elucidation and ensures orderliness than reversals as in Epanados.

Repetition of words made at the end of successive phrases or sentences effectively to put across your point of view, to emphatically get across your point of view, to ensure that everyone at least listens to your point of view and ultimately try to make everyone accept your point of view as in Antistrophe.

Repetition is used in a hidden manner to enhance the importance of a good idea by presenting it as better and great, and ultimately ensuring that it is the best and greatest of all as in Auxesis

Repetition is used subtly to extend the utility, to enhance the importance, to exaggerate the greatness and above all to amplify something on the whole as in Correctio .

 Repetition is built up, stacked up like dominos, consciously accumulated, and then broken down suddenly with a contradictory twist or turn to create an impact to ensure attention as in Dysrhythmia.

Repetition of a word/s is made at the end of phrases, clauses, or sentences to draw the attention, to retain the attention and ultimately ensure total attention as in Epistrophe.

Repetition of a word is made with emotionally packed voice, emphatic stresses and pauses, sentimentally charged vocabulary, psychologically appealing terminology to effect vehement impact as in Epizeuxis.

Repetition of a word or phrase used to draw the attention with just few intervening words which in no way affect the attention but rather ensure the attention as in Diacope.

Repetition is used by restating a point in different words, varied vocabulary, multiple expressions and myriad jargons to drive home a point as in Exergasia.