Happy does not always mean ‘not sad’
Silence does not naturally mean ‘peace and harmony’.
Disagreement does not mean ‘disrespect’.
Struggle need not mean ‘suffering’.
Anger doesn’t necessarily mean ‘hatred’.
Interpretation is the limitation of understanding.
Antonyms are not always
The opposite condition
Synonyms are not always
The same thing.
Art is not the created object;
Art is Creativity that is
In the process of searching
The beautiful, the meaningful,
The melancholy, the strange,
The wondrous, the banal,
The ugly…
The right and the wrong.
These qualities cannot be created
By will…by intention…by mastery of technique.
They can only be expressed as
An understanding-in-process.
The artist therefore, is not the creator
But the perceiver, the feeler and the thinker
Whose work it is to converse with life
Authentically; and therefore artistically.
Time is a fabric
That we’ve all been given.
Fashioning it is our art.
Some of us proportion it
To the pleasures our bodies seek;
Some to the moods of the mind…
Some to the imagination of the intellect…
Some purpose it to be
An offering of love.
The art of fashion
Is an ancient art
Its actions and office
Pre-dating runways, designers and brands…
How we pattern, cut and stitch together
Our fabric of time…
And how we imprint our sentiments on it…
Or how we embellish it with our hopes…
Is a fashioning action that is imbued with intention.
The way we style our time
How we weave together
Our experiences and our memories
Or crochet together our prayers and dreams…
Or knit into a warmth
Our relationships…
Or layer into a look our old and new–
Is ultimately an expression of who we are
And also, what we are hoping to be.
Morality is not a garb
That you put on
To appear better than others…
Neither is it a yardstick
By which you measure others
And gauge their integrity.
To be moral
Is to keep intact your character
So that you may stand strong
Against the onslaught
Of all sorts of demands from the world.
Unaltered. Uncorrupted.
The question to ponder on
Is who or what
Determines your actions?
And are they, or those things
Going to be responsible
For the outcomes your actions will yield?
Morality is always intrinsically determined
And almost always-
Extrinsically challenged.
The world is a mirror…
But one that stands sullied
By the dirt and grime of ambition.
To be moral
Is to reject the surface
And seek answers within a quieter oasis…
And through a clearer reflection.
The world cannot guide you
It is not designed to give you direction.
We create the meaningless
When we pursue the meaningful
And then,
The more we pursue the meaningful
The more meaningless it becomes.
It’s only when we stop our pursuit
That we’re able to give to
And receive from everything
Regardless of its meaning.
Life is not so much an externality
As it is an internal movement
Of pulse and impulse
-Unknown cause and
Its sorrowful effect….
Between which man must learn
How to be. Should he be
Defined by his fears and
Limited by his desires?
Or, refusing all definitions and
Rejecting the impulse for an identity
He should give up the idea of being someone?
Achievement (of anything in this world)
Cannot be a worthy goal
If it is pursued for its own sake.
It becomes liberating
When it entails
Leaving behind the need
To be accomplished
…To be someone distinctive
In the vastness of existence
That is the real need;
The real poverty of consciousness
We need to be free of.
Why expect anything
Of real value
From a world
Designed for disappointment?
Then what? What else is there
Apart from this world?
Of what purpose its enticements and its promises?
What is the ultimate fate of our hopes, our efforts?
The world’s vacuousness
Becomes your ache
A sorrow that leaves you wondering
About what counts as real happiness.
The world is a provider, not a giver
The individual can only find meaning in giving
He can neither satisfactorily take
Nor meaningfully provide.
To make something
Of what is provided
Is the art of man.
This art cultivates him.
Through his art, he transforms his ignorance to faith
He learns to stand unaffected and un-compromised
By the vagaries of the world.
His artifice reflecting a profound wisdom.
The lies of the world cannot be changed
By the activism of truth.
Truth is in being
Not in dreaming.
The truth just is-
unlimited, infinite in its possibilities.
It’s neither an idea
Nor an ideal.
If the world feels like a disappointment
It’s a time to grow
It’s an opportunity to cultivate new means
It’s time to recalibrate your perception of the world.
Adapting
I’m coming to see
Is not as benign a process
As it is made out to be…
Generally suggesting a soft compromise…
New conditions
Can appear before you
As a real threat
To your values, your hopes, your orientations
…all that defines you.
You stand disoriented; destabilised
By the disappearance of foundational principles;
A humiliating reminder
That all that you considered to be real
Was the false at its deceptive best.
Continuity, in the world
Operates differently.
It means continuous change
Brought about by osmosis
Truth and singularity are not its virtues
And yet dishonesty and susceptibility cannot be yours…
Is the world nothing but an illusion?
Is your individuality an illusion?
To adapt means to let go
(Sometimes with great spirit)–
Of your definitions… your ideas… your certainties.
Because those are the real illusions.
To think deeply
Is to question
The known.
It is to wonder
About the origins of our faith
And of faith’s true meaning.
It is to learn…
Not so that the learning
Becomes our new way,
But so that
One can recenter
On the path one is already on.
To think deeply
Is to express life’s experiences-
Good or bad- aesthetically.
To think deeply
Is to put thought to work
And action in deference to wisdom.
When the minute
Inspires the hour;
And the hour
Builds the day;
And the days
Deliver the week;
And the weeks
Accomplish the month;
And the months
Grow the years;
And the years
Create a lifetime…
You realize-
It’s the little things
That matter.
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 