The Beautiful is the teacher
Of the Philosophical.
Apprehending beauty
Is the dawn of understanding.
Expressing beauty
Is the awakening of knowledge
Living as its instrument
Is our pilgrimage to wisdom.
What is Love?
Love is indefinable
But it needs to be explained
Lest we begin to define it
In terms of our bittersweet experiences;
In terms of what it never was–
An artefact of our desires.
Love,
Even if it were a thing
Would not be the thing in itself
But the spirit that lends itself
To a constitution and
Makes perceptible a harmony.
It’s the melody in a song
It’s the fragrance that emanates
From a flower and then
Fills up the air that surrounds it.
It is the intensity within emotion
That is distinct from the emotion itself.
Our very being is love.
And to the extent we are free
From the hunger and thirst of the heart;
From the endless wanting of the mind–
To that extent we are able
To express our love.
Who Are You?
In a sea of people
You are a wave.
In a country of hopes
You are an expectation.
In a family with needs
You are a sustainer
In an institution of faith
You are belief.
In a group of equals
You are a voice.
Amongst ‘forever friends’
You are comfort and company.
In an industry and the economy
You are a resource.
In passing time
You are a memory.
In changing reality
You are a constant.
In being and becoming
You are but a witness.
Not in the Resumé
For every hour
That one has lived…
Enjoyed… endured…
There has been
The eventual triumph
Of reason, relationships and resolve.
What greater proof of one’s abilities
Than their having lived
Without losing love and hope…
And having sustained their families
Their passions, their disciplines…
Their faith.
Reconciliation
How do we reconcile
The dichotomies of our lives?
–Faith and cynicism
–Hope and despair
–Love and disgust
–Pure being and conditioned thinking…
Doomed as we are
To be vulgar in choosing…
Irrespective
Of what choices we make.
…Or should we just live in limbo?
Eternally unfulfilled…
Except in the art we create
The stories we tell
The poetry we write
And the philosophies we propose.
Grace
That which allows
For both, ecstasy and sorrow
With a steady breath…
That which upholds dignity
And yet endures disgrace
Without bemoaning the loss of face
And without the haste to change…
That which has known both-
Deep affection and bitter estrangement
And knows that both
Are light and shadow
Co-existing in love’s eternal light.
“That” is not an imposition of will
It’s not an austerity
Nor a firm resolve…
“That” is an all-encompassing
All embracing
Grace.
Home
What you return to is home.
It’s not just the familiarity
Of things and routines…
It is their specific melody.
It’s not just the people
Who fill it with warmth and cheer,
It’s the belongingness
Within relationships.
Home is where you feel most at rest.
A home is made
Little by little,
Moment by moment,
Prayer by prayer…
With silent resolve
But more than that,
With faith–
That our home is our temple…
It’s where our devotion lives.
The Real Tragedy
You’re out of sync…
In disharmony with life
When you begin
To see it as ‘yours’.
Your expectations grow
Ambition takes over
Your hopes and prayers
Get oriented towards control…
Life and its circumstances
Must favour you.
Accomplishment becomes your purpose
Love becomes an acquisition
You feel entitled to privilege
And wealth becomes the hub
Around which these revolve.
That which is abundant-
Life- forever giving
Becomes something you perversely
Try to steal for yourself.
When you fail to see the truth
You cling to law, ethics and codes of conduct.
Your education too
Gets appropriated.
It becomes subservient to mediocrity
It remains satisfied in meeting
Systemic objectives.
You graduate in degrees of ignorance
Forever in pursuit
Of the illusory.
Racing through your days
To the finish line.
But then comes a dawn
When accomplishment feels like failure
All acquisitions become soul-destroying
You’re unceremoniously stripped off
Your sense of entitlement.
The notions around which
Your life was anchored
Get swept away
By the currents of time.
Nothing lasts…
Except life.
The tragedy is not death
The tragedy is life not understood.
The System of Production
The system of production
Has become the system
Of work
Of family life
Of education.
We come together to produce…
Produce what?
That which is marketable
Why do we produce it?
Because our worth depends on it.
What if the demand
For what you produce falls?
You are problematised
Counselled, guided, re-arranged
In the system…
So that you may
Learn. Align.
And become
What the system
Wants you to be.
Your passion
Must generate a buzz
Your leadership
Must be led by the system.
Perception is what the system manufactures.
In a controlled world
Where our system-induced lifelessness
Loses the ability to absorb life
We consume experiences.
We confuse excitement for passion.
The system of production
Is designed to give you
What you want.
It cannot profit or sustain itself
By giving you what you need.
Midlife
What happens
When the heart breaks
Repeatedly?
How does one continue to feel?
When feeling is risky…
So painful…
Pain is an indication
Of unresolved grief
When there has been no
Acknowledgement of hurt caused
No apology. No gesture. No words…
That rushed in to soothe the pain
Pretence, resolution…
Explaining the other’s motives
In a sort of quasi goodness–
Are the defences used
To shield oneself
From the pain.
In inhibiting the pain
One also inhibits feeling
A collateral damage…
Life now is understood as a function.
That must be carried out.
Its difficulties endured.
Feelings get used strategically
At anniversaries, birthday parties, on Instagram.
But emotions are kept at bay.
Keep the heart functioning optimally.
Work on its efficiency.
Keep the pace on the treadmill.
Wit. Wisdom. Wonder... 