Searching For The Significance Of Your Soul
Everything is paid for, nothing is free. Beware the dream that costs too much.
Hope resides within us all for a greater life, a richer existence, but sometimes the road to that dream is paved with broken glass, and the goal you find is empty, a shrouded thing, shimmering within your grasp, yet hollow and worthless.
I fear such a thing.
The grass is always greener on the other side because the gardener is full of shit. He will hold up dung and tell you it is gold, touting its glory for all who will hear, trapping any who dare dream of living in his garden.
But true gold exists, I know it, I’ve seen it. It hides not in the ground, nor in a fat man’s wallet, but in the eyes of the one who grasps it true. That is the goal, the existence we all crave, though some know not. The paths to this quest vary greatly, but the goal is the same. It is purpose, it is fulfillment, it is worth.
Some already have it, walking through life unknowing of what they possess. They appear charmed in all they do, but it’s an illusion. The true source of their wealth resides in their soul, a certain completeness within them they bear like a talisman. Watch them, envy them, and believe what they have is out of reach.
Or maybe not….
Happiness is within reach for all who truly seek it, though most don’t know how. They reside within chasms of loss, hiding behind walls of trepidation, desperate for another to show them the route which they alone can find.
You must seek it with all your soul. Hunting, like a predator in the darkness, for that first tiny flicker of the wealth you so covet.
It could be something so simple as a flower, the only one of its kind, that will mean nothing to any other living thing for all eternity, but means everything to you, because it’s yours. Or it might be so vast as world domination, in all its shapes and forms, that eludes you, and it is only at its loss that you realize you held it all along.
I hold no answers. There is no simple solution or else this world would be a paradise and not a bucket of fools all clamoring about unfairness, crying to whatever deity they worship to make their lives right.
Save your breath; help yourself.
The treasure you yearn can only come from struggling through the mire of odds to a glorious horizon. There is no easy route, and to think so is to set yourself upon a course doomed to failure. Prepare for all hardships and your way will run strong, and if by chance you arrive sooner than you thought, smile. You’ve found your way home.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Topics: Personal, Serious | 2 Comments »
A Visual Story of Hope.
MOMENTOS from Nuno Rocha on Vimeo.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Topics: Images and Video, Serious | No Comments »
Words From the Past to Inspire Us Into the Future
The video below is Charlie Chaplin giving the final speech in a movie called The Great Dictator, produced over seventy years ago. I watched it recently and was amazed at how much things haven’t changed in seven decades.
I originally posted this clip on Facebook, but something about it inspired me as few things do. I am not an activist, rarely outspoken against the governments of the world, my universe is generally more self-contained. But sometimes an external element triggers a vision within me, a belief in what mankind can truly achieve if properly motivated, and this clip did exactly that. Cynicism fills us at times, and we are often led to believe all is lost, but I hold hope for humanity, that before the finale there will be a revelation of spirit such as has never been seen before.
I’m not talking about religion, though its focal points are generally aimed in the right direction. Rather I am arguing that man will eventually do what’s right for no other reason than it is right. Selfishness will be cast aside and the greed of many will be overwhelmed by the need to do good in the face of all adversity.
Perhaps I am naive. There’s no way mankind could do something of such magnitude when self-indulgence is so embedded into our civilization, when a larger television is more important than the life of a child. And yet the fact a man who portrayed such a bumbling fool throughout his many screen roles could deliver such a blisteringly powerful speech of hope makes me remember what people are capable of, and my faith blooms again.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Topics: Images and Video, Personal, Serious | 3 Comments »
Crawling Upon the Path of Shattered Dreams
Breathe in hope. Exhale despair.
I scream silently, tearing apart with each agonizing inch I draw closer, falling to pieces and drawing together with each moment I exist. This cannot be worth it, but I cannot turn away, not now. I have come too far, sacrificed too much not to see it come to fruition.
Dreams wither and bloom with each gasp. I cry to God for help but He ignores me, realizing the torment I endure is something I must undergo alone and His touch will surely shatter the task completely. My soul is burning, but it is not ashen yet. I must go on.
Everything has become a blur of pain, agony beyond measure, but the knowledge others have trudged this path before me gives hope, and hope is like water in the desert to a dying man. I would weep and gnash teeth, but to do so is pointless, I must go on.
The monotony of each day drags on like razor-wire, each task laborious beyond measure.
I cannot go on. I must go on.
There is no choice in the matter, but it is a task almost beyond me.
I have already come so far.
Others surpass me, flying to almost unbelievable heights seemingly without effort. Their accomplishments are met with heralds and accolades, yet my own pass seemingly unnoticed. It does not matter, nothing matters anymore, only the pinprick of light in the distance which never seems to draw nearer. It remains constant in my mind, but always appears so far away, so unattainable, like trying to grasp the ocean and hold it tight. The harder I try the more it seems to slip away.
And so I will continue along this path of shattered dreams, cut and broken, but still whole enough to make it. For every now and then along this road someone appears to make it all worthwhile, a stranger with words of praise for the work I think nobody sees, and my blood surges whole once more. My wounds heal and I can again walk like a man among the corpses that litter my road, those who came before me and failed.
But I will not fail.
I will endure.
I must.
For those who give me hope, for those who would see me fall, for those who have borne my pain while I have crawled – there is no other choice for me. I will get stronger with each injury, ignoring agony which cannot be borne, gasping acid and exhaling light, for that is what I must do in order to achieve what I desire. Whining will not do it, complaining will not aid me, only fortitude and perseverance in the face of what assails me will see me through.
And so I crawl on, each day bringing new hope that it might be my last upon this path of shattered dreams….
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Topics: Serious, Writing | 5 Comments »
Religion
It gives hope when all hope is gone; faith in a celestial force which will protect and guide you through life and even beyond it, making mortals more than mortal, enabling some to endure the fear of breathing without purpose.
There will be something better.
There must be.
Life sucks so terribly at times the need for something beyond menial becomes more than just a wish, it becomes an absolute necessity. The question of why we are here has echoed through the halls of time as mankind has fumbled its way from rock drawings to nuclear physics and space travel – and yet we are no closer to an answer now than we were back then. In an infinite universe we are a mere speck of dust floating upon a larger speck of dust around a ball of flame which would seem microscopic in comparison to the space which surrounds it, and yet we flatter ourselves that we are knowledgeable.
Yeah. Sure.
Just as the men of old were certain in their knowledge that the world was flat and the sun was a god called Ra, so people of now proclaim there is nothing out there and we are alone in our intelligence. They do this to avoid the inevitability of reality in that we are individually insignificant, each life meaning less than nothing to a universe which will never notice the passing of man.
But God loves us.
So they say. The preachers cry His name to the heavens, cowering within the walls of a building they call His house while beyond it they avoid the touch of those fallen beneath what is considered humanity: the poor, the addicted, the sick. The infirm flood the streets and plains of our planet while the coffers fill and the preachers drive in gilded chariots shouting praise to a being they do not know and hardly care for as they condemn the lives of those they don’t agree with. The ignorant flock to these fools and hide behind their words, hoping that by doing so they will be saved for not caring about the world which surrounds them. The powerful proclaim war in His name in hopes the ignorant will follow blindly, throwing away their lives as their leaders cower and screen themselves from harm. We destroy this Eden we were given, blindly poisoning the air, water and land with our waste and ignorance, and instead of funding its healing we use money to create weapons and instruments to kill and maim.
Why would a God love creatures like us?
The answer lies in a baby’s smile as it looks to those who gave it life, in the mother’s grief as she fears for the safety of that child going away to a war that makes no sense, at the father’s tears upon burying his son killed and chalked up as a statistic. It lies in the stranger offering a hand of hope to those fallen from society, in the life given freely in the hopes others will live better, in the trials and failures of individuals fighting to protect Eden from demise.
It resides in hope.
The existence of God is a focal point for that hope, something for people to draw upon in order to do what’s right, and only those seeking to hide behind his name and hunt redemption for not caring would claim otherwise. Hope exists while one person knows love and shares it with another. In this way humanity matters to the universe that might still not recognize it, but those affected will know, and that is a universe unto itself – a universe of caring. Most religions are founded upon this premise, regardless of any disparities with other faiths; they are based on caring for others when you do not need to, on doing what is right when the right thing is difficult, on avoiding the selfishness this world has to offer and focusing everything on something beyond the self. The teachings might lie in a book, but the reality remains in the hands of those who hear the words.
I do not know if God exists, but I would like to think so. I call on him at times and it would be nice to think he answers me in His own way, though at times my requests seemingly echo out into nothing. It is at times like these I remember that nothing given freely is of great worth and only a person without hope is helpless. I have hope, and I have faith, both in myself and in a God which may or may not exist. To look at the atrocities provided by the world we live in and turn away from hope would be easy, but to remember that baby’s smile and know it is being repeated around the world every moment of every day makes me faithful that hope will survive.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
Topics: Serious, Writing | 7 Comments »
