Chasms
HA: Not a story, but just something I wanted to share with all of you…
There are days when I get the feeling that life is a tightrope we’ve been nudged onto without so much as a balancing bar. These are days when I see pitfalls lurking everywhere below me – dark, silent chasms that wait patiently. I do not know whether they actually exist or are only figments of my imagination, but they seem very real all right – as real as the fiery coldness of ice, or the faint whispers of the dying.
These are days when I look back at myself, and see an endless cycle of the same mistakes repeated. Of teetering into those chasms without even knowing I’m falling. Of being reborn only to fall all over again.
My reason for falling? Because every time I get back on that tightrope, I’m so caught up in the moment that I can’t see beyond my nose. I forget the mistakes I made the last time. I forget what it was like to tumble.
I’m not alone in this mindless repetition either. Most of the people I know do it, some without awareness, some in frustrated helplessness, captives of their own impulses. Only a few have been able to ascend above all of us, the lucky few who’ve achieved self-control – who’ve found the keys to the chains that bind them to their own selves.
These are days when I feel pensive and sombre. The realization of my own shortcomings feels like a thick fog that makes it difficult to breathe. And yet, a part of me is reluctantly thankful for such days too.
Every such spell of darkness means I remember the last time I fell.
Who knows – there is always darkness before the first break of light, is there not?
There definitely is. And please, lighten up! Imagine how terribly boring our lives would be if we didn’t make mistakes. That’s the fun, innit? Besides, there IS always hope, and it is towards this hope that all of mankind (except the psychotic subsect) sails everyday, in search of something bigger, something better, something DIFFERENT! I REFUSE to be dragged into this chasm of yours.
P Celebrate your mistakes, because without them you’d be an angel, and I personally thing that the non-angels have more fun, don’t you?
The notorious Usman Malik said something ingenious not too long ago: Life is a sexually transmitted disease!
Have some fun with it – it’s one of the less embarrassing ones out there.
Since this is mostly catharsis, for once, I’ll keep my darn mouth shut and not rate it.
I know what u mean, man…but like Noor said (and quoted a brillian man too!), chill!
I’m totally for making mistakes, but mistakes that do not have consequences outside your own life. I’m totally for learning from mistakes also but only if one does not repeat them again. I am sooo not for repeating them. I agree with Noor, non-angels have alot more fun in life but then again, angels are safer. And I’ve always been a safe player. Not to say that I’m one of the “Only few (who) have been able to ascend above all of us, the lucky few who???ve achieved self-control – who???ve found the keys to the chains that bind them to their own selves” but I certainly strive to be one of them someday.
My theory is a bit boring but safer, we dont have alot of time in life, to keep making the same mistakes again n again. We’ve got a higher purpose and if we keep falling again n again (into the same chasms that is) we wont have alot of time left for achieving what we’re here for.
repetition of the same mistake can be boring…not to mention detrimental, but sidra, take a risk now and then. life is the biggest gamble; play it like a high roller. that’s my policy anyway.
Thanks for your thoughts, peeps. I’m actually all for taking risks and gambling with your chances – or as Noor says, getting on that roller coaster. I agree with both Noor and Usman that life would be dull any other way.
However, the thing that bugs me is what Sidra is alluding to, which is repeating mistakes and not learning from them. Maybe I’m being too snotty and uptight…but how can u gain wisdom without stopping that cycle?
One point you fleetingly mention is being caught up in the moment. And I think that’s all there is to it, to really live, you need to be caught up in the moments…it’s not a vice in my books.
There was this little story I heard somewhere. There’s this monk meditating on some snowy peaks, and he’s attacked by a tiger. So he starts running, and the tiger offers chase. Our monk reaches the end of the cliff, and with the tiger on his back, he starts climbing down. Halfway down he realizes there’s a group of tigers at the bottom, and the tiger who was chasing him is waiting at the top. Caught up in this muddle he looks to his side and there’s the most beautiful flower he’s ever seen. And he just stops there and thinks, wow, what a wonderful flower.
End of story.