Skip to main content

Exhausting Being Human

 There is so much that life has to offer. The human experience, however, gets too inhumane sometimes. And not all are equipped with the strength to traverse the muddy waters without splash. The many gifts of life become invisible; hopelessness takes over, and the rejection (or inability) of the world to stop (or even slow down) for a bit requires one to travel in darkness (often pretending to be without fear).

Ok. Maybe the world does not need to apply brakes for every little wuss out there who finds difficulty in carrying some burden. But, maybe, the need may be acknowledged; maybe some way could be devised to reduce the burdens, or to accomodate the overwhelmed for a while. You will say such efforts will be misused, and if misuse is the argument then please demolish all human institutions. 

Just create some scope for rest, reflection, peace and meaningful solitude. The effort to be human is increasingly painful - the mores are continuously adding new things; evermore we're required to do more. Being human is all about being more and more. To what end, God knows. Also, most of these burdens arise from human relationships. The unknown standards, the misleading morality, the slavery of household and work, all bind the individual (with no consideration for the individual). A loved one may die, the world continues; your personal loss is yours to deal; without any accomodation, because others never lose people. Gone through a heart-break; carrying the luggage of severe depression, trust issues, abandonment issues, feeling the burden of existence - all that must be kept deep inside somewhere. What good is being human, if being human is all about appearing inhumane, dealing with the inhumane, accepting the inhumane! 

Life is earnest, precious and what not. But in rhetoric, in poetry. Longfellow wrote a Psalm on it. But beyond Psalms there are humans, actual living humans, whose hearts are beating like 'muffled drums'; mostly because the muffled beating is the dictated norm. Let not your emotions be shown, lest you appear human. There are many gifts of life - all lost because being human with you all around is exhausting. 

Popular posts from this blog

The Second Self

Aristotle once described a friend as a “second self,” and I feel that love, in its truest essence, surpasses even this. When one experience such a bond, the one they love receives the same care and dignity that they grant their inner self. Another way to put it: "There is no distinction between how I treat myself and how I treat them; both dwell within the same sanctuary. To harm or disrespect them would be to attack at my own essence. To invade their space or violate their being would be no different than self-betrayal." Love, when it flows from this depth does not seek to diminish either, but instead unite both in the integrity of one soul. And yet, when suspicion arises where only reverence thrives, it pierces deeply. It is a unique kind of hurt, not because devotion falters, but because words seem powerless to explain what is so certain within: "I cannot and will not harm you. You are too intertwined with my very core; harming you would be self-destruction. It create...

No attraction without intellectual intimidation

So what is it that makes someone attractive?  I mean, it is only a fleeting biological urge that turns a head – a spark that flashes and fades in a moment. But then there is another kind of attraction — the kind where a single set of eyes become the only reality in an ocean of people. They have a pull so magnetic that the sense of self willingly surrenders, eager to submerge itself entirely. This is not mere infatuation; this is nothing like the experience of romantic love. Unlike the usual relationship urges – which are controlling, obsessive and largely selfish – this is complete and utter devotion. What makes someone ‘ that ’ attractive? How does a person become so vital to your being that they become impervious to the doctrine of severability —where to remove them from your memory would be to strike down the very foundation of who you have become? I mean to say that even when they are not with you, they move with you constantly like a physical absence in your being. I suppo...

An Interest in Nothingness

We distinguish between ' an interest in nothingness ' and ' an interest in nothing at all '. The latter feels no call at all - neither from existence nor from the non-existent, not from the visible or the invisible. No internal or external pull (or push) moves him. This is a disinterested apathetic person moving through life in a state which could be written off (by some) as anhedonia.  The other - i.e., the ones interested in nothingness - do not suffer the lack of the ' pull '. Their object of attraction, however, is the transcendental - formless, attribute-less, timeless, and even witless. This pull is a way in which the search for the absolute truth expresses itself in our heads. It generates an obsession with  निर्गुण,  निराकार, and  निर्विकार. Why (and how) does one develop a taste for such unmentionables could be fertile field of inquiry, but I'll dare not foray lest bitter realizations arise to haunt me! But such tendencies sure have larger consequen...