Posted on by solangesuri2015

Of Course, The World is Disappointing

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Pain Can Release You From Suffering

Emotional pain is a shapeshifter
It can take on endless forms
The more you try to escape it
The more persistently it stays with you.
Suffering is the price you pay
For being a fugitive in life.

An ache-less heart is no solution
It is the most ignoble form of suffering.
It reeks of weakness…cowardice…denial.
A habitual dulling of pain
Through a vapid indulgence in the pits of pleasure
Cannot really be an indication of wellbeing.

To be free from pain
One must climb its walls
Refusing to be imprisoned by it.
One must see
The want it points to;
As that is the need of your soul.

Wisdom is coming to know
The unreality of dichotomies.
Our pain is not the problem;
It points to the problem.
Our pain is not a signal of things dying
But is the harbinger of a new possibility.

Posted on by solangesuri2015 · 2 Comments

Adapting

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

To Think Deeply

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

About Endings

The pain of an ending
Is never so much
As when you know it.

And yet the sobs are silent
Muffled as they are
By the gags of normalcy.

Decency ensures
That the lines on your face
Are drawn into a smile…

That pretends to keep you social
While ensuring
That your façade reveals nothing.

You are close, yet far
In continuation
But discontinued.

Remembered
But not needed
Loved, but relegated.

‘Forever’ is no one’s destiny
It can only be our prayer
…Our hope.

And hope- we forget
-Can only convey us…
It makes no promises.

Separate we must.
All beginnings must end
All journeys must traverse a destiny.