Reflections in the red eye

How do you fight thoughts? How do you disconnect emotions from memories? By losing consciousness. Most people sleep through their entire lives without even realizing it. They are blissful in their ignorance.

Among the few who do perceive reality - they are the ones who see the gray that lies just under the facade of color, and the brilliant colour that lies past that gray - there are fewer still who are able to process the overwhelming barrage of sensory input and actually make something of it. The wise cut the glare by looking through a visor composed of patience and detachment. To the rest, however, reality is so loud, it's deafening and beyond comprehension - for the symmetry of the universe eludes the impatient eye. To see it for even the most fleeting of moments can precipitate an epiphany.

It is such an epiphany that can complicate things somewhat for an individual. For he now knows the endpoint but not the path that will lead him there. And in searching for this path, one learns repeatedly, the limitless extent of human inadequacies. Some are driven by an indescribable inner flame (call it curiosity, if you will) to to try again... and again. These are people who know the true nature of hope and see its beauty. Others, however, give up on the quest and even end up regretting their awakening, so to speak. These are the ones who try consciously to sleepwalk through life (a combination of fatigue and sleep deprivation works rather well, actually). It would smack of hubris for one to pity such sleepwalkers, especially so for one who has knowingly wasted years. The decent thing to do would be to offer hope and encouragement.

So, I shall end with a rather popular and often abused quote from Swami Vivekananda - "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."