2012 – a time to reflect

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it

What another would have said as well as you, do not say it

What another would have written as well, do not write it

Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself –

and thus make yourself indispensable.

– Andre Gide, Les Nourritures Terrestres (Fruits of the Earth,1897)

The first foot falls of every New Year forces one to reflect on one’s journey through the labyrinth of mendacity, love and hope simmering in the cauldron of Life. Why do we live like we do? And why is it that the path of least resistance is taken by many among us? Could it be that the skewered nuances of the physical world seduce us away from the metaphysical like a bitch in heat and that the momentary flicker of pleasure soon dissolves on the bed of iniquity?

Someone mailed me the other day after having read my article, Yet Another Year of Living Foolishly, with this comment , ‘It is said that we are complete; it is only our ignorance which makes us incomplete.’

Is this true? And if it is, then this explains why we race around in circles like a dog chasing its own tail and the fact that we repeat our actions instead of dredging our lives of the silt and sailing away with the tide.

Fear is the key. It is fear of the unknown, fear of being alone, fear of losing one’s social status, fear of being penniless and fear of living that shackles us to the block of ordinariness. So we live a life disconnected from the many inner truths that nag us on birthdays, deaths, anniversaries and the New Year. And it is here that religion with all the trappings of delusion sustains our festering world, lighting it up on festive occasions, and infusing a false sense of belonging to a collective consciousness.

So whose New Year is it anyway? Not the Balinese… Not the Hindus in India… Not the Jews…Not the Chinese…Not the Muslims…and the Christians?

Perhaps New Year is the day when we wake to change our lives; when those among us choose to leave the incestuous Pack, to traverse this earth on their own without the safety net of belonging to an unforgiving society that castrates free thinkers.

My hope is that those incubating free thinkers get the message and break out before being contaminated by a menagerie of those afflicted by the contagion of social septicemia.

I leave you now with this extract from a work in progress; Let us share our knowledge freely without reward for the reward is in the sharing. It is only through knowledge that we can free ourselves from the confinement of our encapsulated worlds to create a new year, everyday, for all those around us.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om