
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~Confucius
If there was an image that I feel could do better without words, it would be this one…
Working children is a concept that is becoming more and more foreign to us in the western world, but in developing countries, young children are often forced to join the work force. I find myself showing these images to my daughter on several occasions when a reality check and a need for the right perspective on life is needed.
These boys were paused near one of the wall murals that UNICEF paints on the city streets to educate children through art. It seems to be the right way to deliver a message, as I saw the children totally absorbed in deciphering the message until they saw me and diverted their attention to act playful for the camera.
While searching and researching inside the realms of Ancient Egypt, the unseen comes into focus as the seen gradually gets blurred…
The ancient Egyptians believed that each person hosted in themselves a double, an electrical entity that ushered and guided them towards their true destiny. They called it the Ka. Their Ka was to live beyond the death of their physical bodies and mummifications served as preparations for homes that the Ka would one day return to inhabit.
Their lives were lived in great discipline as to remain pure and adhere to purpose because any deviation from purpose was an abomination of the Ka.
What was most haunting for me standing in front of this statue was the look in its eyes. It was the kind of look that can take you on a journey, far beyond where you would normally be.
Is there anything more inspiring to contemplate than nature? I was watching the snowy landscape and letting my mind drift when it suddenly stopped at the thought of water and its different forms, inspired by the view of the soft powdery snow on this wood and barbed wire fence. I thought of how much depth and how many different truths exist to each one thing. We live in a multi-dimensional universe where water is not just water, but steam, ice, snow, hydrogen, oxygen, hail and even fog. So, how could anyone claim to know the whole truth? Isn’t only those who don’t even know themselves?
Here is to the search for truth in 2012!
We humans are very quick to judge whether a person we see is a success or a failure, we are also very harsh in passing judgement even on ourselves. But the truth is no one is qualified to call another a failure. We are the only ones who can truly judge ourselves and we are mostly even wrong there. Because what is success really? Isn’t success a housewife who has decided to be just that, or the worker, the artist, the cobbler who does their best at every moment of every day? And isn’t it also the person who gives to the poor and shows kindness to others just because they want to. There is great peace in allowing ourselves the luxury of acknowledging and celebrating our own successes no matter how small.
It has been said that the truth of something, anything lies in its essence.
Often this fragile truth is hidden by layers and layers of personality and until those are stripped away, the inner finer core cannot be seen and experienced.
It is the same with everything isn’t it?
The fine being protected by layers of coarse, the soft covered with a layer of hard…
And anything worthwhile must be struggled for.