Myths: True or False, Alive or Dead?

An Image of a Phoenix, that I printed out and coloured a while ago!! 

So, some notes from when I was writing about digital media.  But this one is very important in considering our lives, especially when we are thinking of religions and a way to guide ourselves.  

''Myths are not true or false, but dead or alive.' (Mosco, V, p. 3: The Digital Sublime)

I think of this in terms of Hinduism.  Hinduism's myths are alive, we believe in Lord Rama's Qualities, we believe that Mother Sita's qualities can be embodied.  And it is those values that makes a man worthy of being called, 'Purshottam' (best among men) and Maa Sita, the embodiment of both strength and conviction. 

This one sentence by Mosco allows me to lead directly into many a class lessons!!

Teachings of Rumi

Another one that has resurrected!!  Teaching of Rumi, from shortly before I moved to Fiji. I used to spend endless hours at Barnes and Nobles to simply absorb as much as I could with my favourite tea and calming and cool music in the background.  I had a feeling that I will not get that in Fiji, even though sun and sunny days will make up for the cold and rainy days...in some ways.  Books, and book stores would become rare.  And they were.  They were certainly not as fancy.

This one, I wrote down, during the time I used to spend time with Mr. Montgomery, a senior gentleman who I befriended, and who taught me much about books, and laughing at life, in a matter of 12 months that we knew each other before I left. He deserves a post!!

PS: Do you notice that the writing has deteriorated already?  This is post graduate school.  I already seem in so much rush, and not quite together....as if running out of time. Boy, the things our own handwriting---interaction between pen and paper tells us....

So, here is the beautiful poem:

Drowned in my sorrow

Why do you torment me too?

Bent to the ground by the world,

Why do you kick me too?

I received my life from You,

Tell me, do you want it back?

Rumi, Teachings of Rumi

Dear Tear!!

As I has stated earlier, I am in a middle of massive cleaning organising, ----something I have done for many years---but this is different. This comes from understanding that I have lived in one place for a while and there are many things that I have not used.  And I need to get rid of these things or make a part of my archives --pdfs and jpegs. 

And I have looked at this sheet for a few years now. It was a part of an old planner, may be even from when I was a teen.  After a few years of lugging the planner around, something where I used to log how many letters I had responded to, who needed to be contacted and whose birthday card and git was overdue, I threw the planner out, but kept a few sheets.  This one always brought me a smile and a bit of a sadness. Seriously, what a soppily sentimental child.  And I can say this, since it was 'I' who wrote this--'you idiot, you think you are philosophical!!'

But then again as an adult, I could say, 'its a part of growing up'.  We know ourselves from what we notice.  And what we notice and pay attention to becomes an important part in how we treat others. In that sense, I know for sure that I was always oversensitive to the pain of others. 

So, here it is, verbatim, just for those who cannot read my handwriting, which believe it or not, is much much better than what it is today!!

Dear Tear,

I, a human being, want to write to you about your making an appearance in our lives. 

You never seem to leave us, once you appear in our first breath--you appear in same form with various intensities for various reasons.

Well, for all the questions I have of my younger self, I must say, this is quite profound for a teenager, and while not sure what the following sentences were going to be (this is all there was, I never worked on it afterwards)--its true.  Tears appear for various reasons and with various intensities.

With our first physical pain, even if it was just a pin prick or a bug bite, first emotional pain, when a friend does not like us the way we like them, first really emotional pain, the unrequited love, pain of childbirth--quite literal for women and sympathetic for men, the pain of loosing people we love, and still a very profound pain, that is often not acknowledged--the pain of being invisible, of being ignored, of not being seen.

And on a lighter note, tears also accompany intense laughter, or something as mundane  as chopping onions!!