Love More, Hate Less

 I come out of the tunnel and see the light. I smile, have a restful inhale of the fresh air, open my arms and embrace this world, my world. It welcomes me back with a brotherly bear hug. I smile again and close my eyes to look inward and take a sip of peace from the sea of tranquillity inside. Again I open my eyes. Miracle! The world has changed. It’s far better now. I have changed my eyes to look at it differently.

Earlier, it was dark and daunting. It was as much frightening and intimidating as it was painful. The tunnel was as much dug by the external circumstances as the negative tools of my own mind. I had entered a cave, a little recess in the mountainside of life, a routine trouble in the scheme of things. Then I became my own enemy and started digging earth in the direction I shouldn’t have.

I was digging a tunnel, an aimless futile struggle; my depressed, bruised mind digging earth faster and faster. It was taking me deeper into the womb of darkness. Directions became meaningless. No light, no sun, only dense layers of darkness, piled layers upon layers.

It was like digging my own grave. A bruised brain and injured mind are the potent tools of a self-gravedigger.

Sweating, soiled clothes, aching limbs, now I come to the other side of the mountain of life. Out of the self-dug cave that almost became a grave. Life has changed its meaning. The poles have reversed. I take credit for the small act of having kept on the digging job. It’s a new beginning. I know myself better. I even wonder did I even know myself earlier. I stand as a stranger to my old self.

It’s a new sun. The air is so fresh. The earlier life seems futile, all this self-gravedigging job.

However, as I close my eyes, a feeble smile on my lips, and inhale the essence of a new, redefined life, the journey seems worth it. As some wise man said, the moment you reach the treasure trove of your destiny, everything which happened in the past becomes relevant. Nothing goes waste. Even the garbage of the past has played a big part in the shiny present and still shinier prospects of the future.

Life is almost on a pause now; so slow in motion that I see the marvels of nature around. They are for me as much as they are for anybody around: the spring sun kissing the winter-beaten leaves; the songs of birds; gentle breeze ruffling bits of peace lying around; and the swirls of a footloose bird in the sea of cool air.

I inhale the fathomless fragrance of peace, harmony and integrity from the farthest part of the cosmos. Cosmic harmony. Endless orderliness in orbits. Ever-going periodicity. Supportive synchronisation. The fury of explosions and astronomical speeds tamed to harmless, slow acts of space-time continuum. Me and my environment feel like an iota of this cosmic concord.

I allow myself a gentle smile. Ripples of peace cascade through my soul. I close my eyes again and look inwards, deeper than the superficial world of my body and my worldly circumstances. I can travel far deeper than I ever thought. There are undisturbed paths leading to my true self. It’s a replica of the cosmic orderliness. I am on the path to meet my true self, the self that is destined to be happy and at peace with itself.

It awaits there, the self, with unlimited dose of happiness, comfort, compassion and peace. We only deny ourselves the dose of this cosmic healing pill by looking out onto this world, the superficial world of frustration, jealousy, hate, futile rat race, mundane cravings, illusions, assumptions, fears, apprehensions and cravings. It doesn’t allow us to smile, to close our eyes and start the journey inward. No wonder we have hardly travelled in the real sense even if we are lucky to spend hundred years of chronological age in a lifetime.

The journey to the real inner self, on the other hand, is not bound by the puny limits of time and funny horizons of space. It’s open and there are unlimited dimensions. In minutes, one covers cosmic distances. And when you smile and look at this world outside, you see a replica, a reflection of the inherent beauty. You are better now and happier. You look at this world with a healthier mind and sturdier brain. More importantly, you have a better heart. You are capable of loving more and hating less, the hallmark and definition of a human being.