Just one book

Books are a very integral part of my life; they are the portal to my imagination, that beast that lives within me and brings all the fantastical worlds inside books alive for me. When I first read the Harry Potter series, I imagined Harry to be very different from what I saw in the movies. This is not to say

that Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played him, did not suit the role, because he did, but the portrait my imagination drew for me was different. Unfortunately I can't remember the exact details of his face anymore, as watching the movies made my imaginary Harry fade away, but my mind's images of him and even Hogwarts were my own, unique.

Moreover, books help me learn about our insanely beautiful world. They can be very informative, and be it my textbooks through out my education, or the non-fiction books I have read that gave me a glimpse into some great minds, my mind has been irreversibly influenced by the knowledge I gained. The decisions I take, the choices I make, and the positions I stand on, are all in some small way influenced by the wisdom I have gained from what I read. Of course, real life experiences are irreplaceable, but books give us the courage to go out and have those experiences ourselves, once we have read about them. The greatest writers have inspired men to give their lives, with just their words.

But this does not mean that I have stopped reading, having gained considerable knowledge. My voracious appetite for books is not in pursuit of a book that would be the end of my reading. Learning is a never ending process, for I know I have a whole lifetime of reading ahead of me, as no one book or even a collection of books can even begin to encompass all the facets of life. Knowing this I can never be bound by the words of just one book. In essence, what I am trying to say is, that one holy or religious book can never hope to be my sole guide to the universe. I would give a holy book just as much importance as I would to any other book of fiction, in that I might gain a little wisdom from it, but to give it the power to run my life is asking too much. Giving that much significance to one book is an insult to all the others that I have read before it, and all the ones I am yet to read. Long is the journey of life, many are the twists and turns, and the unknown destination is the greatest joy. Therefore I am glad, that I do not know it all, nor do I pretend to, for of what joy is such a journey, when the destination is known in advance?

That is why I know that I can never be a part of any of the religions, which seem to be intent on taking the joy out of my search for meaning in my life. They would tell me it is all planned out, or written down, what is to happen in my life. I can't for the life of me empathize with anyone pretending to have understood all of life with just one book. Life is not, and can never be so simply explained. Maybe some day we will have a better understanding of life, and I am sure it is the books we read explaining that understanding that will help us appreciate the magic of being alive.

Desires and other ills

Imagine if our world wasn't such a hard place to live in, if so many people didn't have to struggle for a living, if more children could live past five years of age, if the polar ice caps were not melting as rapidly as they are, if more people had access to two square meals a day and one glass of clean water to drink. Is that such an impossible dream? How much worse does the average human's life have to become before we sit up and say, let me put others before myself? Let me give a helping hand, and do what I can to change another human being's life for the better?

The concept of utopia is a far fetched and rather impossible one for most people, but to be honest we don't even need to get close to a utopia to improve the human condition by leaps and bounds. As the guys at theminimalists.com point out, many people have much more wealth, possessions and properties than they could possibly ever need in a lifetime. Saying that its your rainy day fund makes no sense in a stable economy like what many of the developed countries today enjoy, and in any case these rainy day funds are usually so bloated they could save an entire town if disaster struck. The mad chase of materialistic desires that many people today are involved in can only lead to further discontentment, for as the great Buddha once said, 'Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship'. So if we look to achieve these three things in our life, we can go closer to true happiness than ever before. Such an attitude would also enable us to help the poor and destitute, the orphaned and those whom fate has struck crippling blows. It is in helping others find happiness that our happiness lies, and this is the kind of joy that soothes the soul, and gives us contentment like no other. 

I dream of U

I dream of endless skies of blue
blotted with clouds
that lightly flew

I dream of rippling waves of seas
streaked with sunlight
stalking the breeze

but most of all
I've dreamed of you

Your curvy lips spread in a smile
your fingertips touching mine

A lock of your hair, black as sin
across your face, grazing your chin

I've dreamed of you, whispering softly
singing me a song, dancing not so properly

I run to you, to hold u close
before you vanish, utterly to my woes

Haunting my dreams, just to make me suffer
coz when I awake, in pain i utter
cries of despair, not finding u there

Dreams of joy, dreams of wonder
everyone dreams, they love going under
one would think, i am loathe to dream
on cold nights, waking to a scream

but most of all,
I've dreamed of you...