Posted on by solangesuri2015

Fashioning Time

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Do You Have the Time?

What have we done with time–
Pathologically molested it!
It holds us now
In its crumpled bosom
Perpetually agitated.
In a curious twist of irony
Whatever man has tried to control
Has in turn, controlled him.

We stand today
Beggared
Impoverished of time
Given that we chose
Consumption over contentment
Money over wealth
Productivity over art
Activity over stillness.

Seeing you today–
So glorious… so beautiful…
Pausing to admire you–
Was a gift…
Precious… momentary…
I had to rush though–
‘Now’ had fallen off a cliff
Pushed over by ‘You’ll-be-late!’

Posted on by solangesuri2015

The World Cannot Give You Direction

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015 · 2 Comments

What Are You Chasing?

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.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Step Up. Step Forward. Step Back.

Life is a Tango
Best performed like a dance.
Be attuned to changing rhythms
Be light. Be ready. Be responsive.
Tease life. Challenge it. Own it.
Be graceful.

Grace is about offering yourself
To the divinity of the moment
Knowing that glory
Lies in defeating limitation.

Are you-
Feeling low? -Step up.
Feeling hopeless? -Step forward.
Feeling confident? -Step back.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Grow Within

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.

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The Other

Who, or rather
What is the Other?
Your hope? Your helplessness?
Your expectation? Your indifference?
Your need for control?
Or that which you hate?
Or that which you fear?
Or, a target for your anger?

You exist in a vacuum.
Your chronic need to be someone
Creates the Other
–The matter to your anti-matter.
They are what they are
Because of what you wish to be
The Other is that part of you
That you have disowned.

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 · 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

Beauty’s Designation

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.