Time by itself does nothing more than promise change. But if one does not actively gear towards that change, it will be little surprise if the actual change does not turn out to be anywhere close to what one had expected. Sometimes, that can be good, but mostly it is a disappointment coupled together with a regret of things that could have been done but were left undone, of words that could have been said but were left unsaid.
Even though the tree bears no shade or fruit right now, it is very important that one continue to water and feed it. The greatest asset in life is faith and goodness of one's heart towards one and for all, knowing that one did one's best in all ways, always. It is a great blessing to have lived a life of no regrets.
11 September 2004
06 September 2004
Impossibility of Insignificance
"Only that day dawns to which you are awake"
- Henry David Thoreau [Walden]
Life passes us by in a blink of an eye. Such a familiar phrase, recounted by thousands; each of us has heard it or used it as a remark sometime, somewhere, somehow. But have we really understood what it means? Surely eighty years in not a blink, or is it? What does it mean to be awake, to be in the moment? How do we look back upon our life? Why do we find ourselves repeatedly asking the question – “why me?” Is it possible to never have to ask that question again? May be that is what being awake is all about.
Every moment in the Universe presents a possibility. And in the possibility of that moment lies the potential to bring to life the impossible – that which is not yet. Everything in this world is an impossibility. Not because it could not be or cannot be, but because an infinite number of factors have to be in place for any single event to occur; and hence the uncertainty, hence the insecurity and hence the confusion.
The past is a sum total of all presents. To be awake to the present is to be awake to this connection in life. Who you are is a consequence of whom you have been, what you have lived through and the forks that you have walked as well as those that you have shunned. But this net does not end there. Your being is also a consequence of a myriad other choices made by millions of other people, of a billion other events taking place in the Universe of a zillion other eventualities of which you may never come to know. Hence the unpredictability in life.
To be awake then is to be aware of these infinite eternal connections in life and to cherish and to hold on to and to be present in each and every such moment – not because life is short, but because life is unfolding, life is happening and most important of all – it is not a random event. The importance of the moment lies in the determination our choices make in what this unfolding will be. No matter how insignificant our action, how meaningless our thought, it serves to bring about all that has been, is and will be around. In the recognition of the insignificant lies the realization of its impossibility.
- Henry David Thoreau [Walden]
Life passes us by in a blink of an eye. Such a familiar phrase, recounted by thousands; each of us has heard it or used it as a remark sometime, somewhere, somehow. But have we really understood what it means? Surely eighty years in not a blink, or is it? What does it mean to be awake, to be in the moment? How do we look back upon our life? Why do we find ourselves repeatedly asking the question – “why me?” Is it possible to never have to ask that question again? May be that is what being awake is all about.
Every moment in the Universe presents a possibility. And in the possibility of that moment lies the potential to bring to life the impossible – that which is not yet. Everything in this world is an impossibility. Not because it could not be or cannot be, but because an infinite number of factors have to be in place for any single event to occur; and hence the uncertainty, hence the insecurity and hence the confusion.
The past is a sum total of all presents. To be awake to the present is to be awake to this connection in life. Who you are is a consequence of whom you have been, what you have lived through and the forks that you have walked as well as those that you have shunned. But this net does not end there. Your being is also a consequence of a myriad other choices made by millions of other people, of a billion other events taking place in the Universe of a zillion other eventualities of which you may never come to know. Hence the unpredictability in life.
To be awake then is to be aware of these infinite eternal connections in life and to cherish and to hold on to and to be present in each and every such moment – not because life is short, but because life is unfolding, life is happening and most important of all – it is not a random event. The importance of the moment lies in the determination our choices make in what this unfolding will be. No matter how insignificant our action, how meaningless our thought, it serves to bring about all that has been, is and will be around. In the recognition of the insignificant lies the realization of its impossibility.
14 August 2004
Wishful Desire
Many a times a wish gets granted but yet the desire goes unfulfilled. We have all experienced it most tangibly in our relationships. May be that which we pine for lies not in the achivement itself but in the promise of continued possibility and progress. Every achievement, no matter how great or exemplary, becomes just another proof of progress and we continue to seek to challenge further possibilities. The depth of desire lies not in finding but in having an opportunity to continually seek.
30 May 2004
Healings That Hurt – Hurts That Heal
Is it always a hurt that requires healing? Or do sometimes we must get hurt in order to heal? Do we ever allow ourselves to heal from a hurt completely, fully, totally? Or do we continue to hold on to a few crutches here and there because we are too afraid to get hurt again, too afraid to let go? Sometimes it takes a fall to realize that not only can we walk but that we may actually be able to run as well without those crutches that we had let become extensions to our being.
We know we have healed, not when it does not hurt anymore, but when we are no longer afraid of it hurting again.
We know we have healed, not when it does not hurt anymore, but when we are no longer afraid of it hurting again.
14 May 2004
Do we do who we are?
From time to time, we all confront the question of what we should do with our lives. Over time we tend to shorten the question and ask only what should we do. The 'doing' starts to exercise a greater emphasis over what it may mean to our lives. The danger with this is that one could be busy all of one's life and yet, at the end of the journey, still find it to be meaningless and unfruitful. Much more important than what we do is who we become in the process of doing what we do. How what we do changes us to become who we become? Do we like the person we have become in the process of doing what we have been doing? Should we then, continue to do more of what we have been doing or is it time to stop, pause, take a breath and figure out who we want to be and whether what we are doing is helping us in becoming that who we want to become?
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