TED Community » Mathai Fenn

About Me

I am a psychologist with a Ph D from IIT Bombay and about 9 years experience teaching business management at XLRI Jamshedpur. I am fascinated by the question of what makes me ME........ mythology, metaphor, depth-psychology and cognitive psychology, consciousness and spirituality......


Since my birth in 1963, I have spent most of my childhood going from one mental hospital to another. No, not because I am a lunatic (back then they hadn't recognized that in me), but because my dad is a shrink (psychiatrist), and quite often we lived in or around the campus of psychiatric institutions. Endless dinner table discussions over the nature of man and related matters made me more curious, at least so I can hold my own at the dinner table. My sister, on the other hand swore she would have nothing to do with psychology and took to literature instead.

Franz Kafka once wrote a story of how a man changed into a cockroach. I have often felt the transition within me. In many ways I feel a kinship with cockroaches. Like roaches, I too live in the shadows and cracks between things. During my Ph.D., I lived between the cracks of Psychology and Critical Theory, between Personality Studies and Healthcare. In my current job, I live in between work and family, between Organizational Behaviour and Consumer Behaviour. From my vantage point, the world appears very different from the way it appears to most people. I prefer living in the shadows, venturing out at night. I enjoy exploring the refuse of human civilisation, whether they are people or ideas. I may not sound like much, but if humans do start a nuclear war, do you want to take a bet on who surives. Despite this, I am a pacifist and against any form of physical aggression. HEY!! WATCH WHERE YOU PUT THAT FOOT OF YOURS! LIVE AND LET LIVE…

Location:
India, Bangalore
Current organization:
The Talk Shop
Past organizations:
XLRI Jamshedpur, IIT Gandhinagar, American University of Armenia
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
Hermeneutics, Semiotics, Depth Psychology, Psychoanalytic Psychology, Consciousness and Human Potential, Knowledge & Learning Methodology
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More About Me

I'm passionate about

How we understand the world and other possible ways of looking at the world. Utopian ideas of social justice and equality. LIFE as AS AN ADVENTURE, A GROWTH EXPERIENCE

An idea worth spreading

I AM a story. What I understand of myself is merely a narrative I have put together by selectively choosing experiences of my life to fit a story. This is how I understand myself. Its like a box full of beads from which I choose to create a beautiful necklace. If this is true.

1. Can we CHOOSE a different set of beads to make a different pattern for my necklace?

2. Most of the time we are un-aware of how we create our necklace because we LIVE it. How can I "see" the pattern that I am living?

3. Ummmm......lets see what else I have in my box. Its fun to RECREATE oneself now and then.

Talk to me about

Strange experiences that have happened in your life, or openness to such experiences. Or do you EXPERIENCE life differently from others?

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