Today seems to be that kind of a day when virtually anything that I do ends up sending my mind walking down memory lane, often to those dark bylanes which I consciously (and often, unsuccessfully) seek to avoid. So rather than trying to fight my subconscious and causing further distress in the process, I thought - why not seek catharsis in expressing those thoughts rather than fighting them. Of course, this will more be about observation rather than inference, more about asking questions than seeking answers as I don't find myself in a position to arrive at a dispassionate conclusion.
So what's it that sends my mind on a trip to neverland today? It's that unfathomable phenomenon which we insufficiently manage to define as Love. More precisely, the following words try to frame my thoughts as to why do we 'love' somebody, why we so desperately want someone to be a part of our life, our being - so much so that if not fulfilled, these desires turn into poison for the soul.
I feel that when we say that we 'love' a person and want to be with him/her, its basic human possessiveness at work. The statement that we love somebody, more often than not, simply means that we desire that person on the basis of not what he/she actually is, but on our perception of who or how he/she is. Essentially, it's our own thought that we are in love with and this is what makes it especially hard to let go when things don't go our way. Human beings have an inborn ego (here I mean a sense of self & self-importance) and it is never too easy to accept that we can ever make a wrong choice or that we don't measure up to somebody's standards or that someone simply does not perceive us in the same way in which we perceive them. This, I believe, is what causes all the heart-burn. When we desire somebody, we effectively invest a part of ourselves into that desire and when the investment does not seem to bear fruit, there is this sense of loss that haunts us to desperation. So, what we are essentially dealing with is a sense of self-loss rather than plain rejection or failure. As with other investments, we then assess the extent of loss and having consoled ourselves that we simply made the wrong choices, we move on. But some wounds cut deeper than the rest. Greater the importance we ascribe to a particular person, higher is the sense of desperation. When we are confronted with rejection from the so-called 'chosen one', the self-imposed stigma of failure is that much greater. We are driven to the edge by our own mind which tells us that we could not measure up to what was our own choice. This is what causes all the pain, all the tears and 'broken hearts' around.
I started off saying that I will be writing about why we desire somebody and looking back, I see that I have actually dwelt more on what happens if we are faced with unrequited love. Maybe I will reserve that for another time and call it a day at this point.
Most of what has written above is solely based on personal experience and observation and I will be the first to agree that these are very inadequate tools when dealing with something as complex and perplexing as human emotions. So, if you feel you have something to say, the comments section is always there :)
So what's it that sends my mind on a trip to neverland today? It's that unfathomable phenomenon which we insufficiently manage to define as Love. More precisely, the following words try to frame my thoughts as to why do we 'love' somebody, why we so desperately want someone to be a part of our life, our being - so much so that if not fulfilled, these desires turn into poison for the soul.
I feel that when we say that we 'love' a person and want to be with him/her, its basic human possessiveness at work. The statement that we love somebody, more often than not, simply means that we desire that person on the basis of not what he/she actually is, but on our perception of who or how he/she is. Essentially, it's our own thought that we are in love with and this is what makes it especially hard to let go when things don't go our way. Human beings have an inborn ego (here I mean a sense of self & self-importance) and it is never too easy to accept that we can ever make a wrong choice or that we don't measure up to somebody's standards or that someone simply does not perceive us in the same way in which we perceive them. This, I believe, is what causes all the heart-burn. When we desire somebody, we effectively invest a part of ourselves into that desire and when the investment does not seem to bear fruit, there is this sense of loss that haunts us to desperation. So, what we are essentially dealing with is a sense of self-loss rather than plain rejection or failure. As with other investments, we then assess the extent of loss and having consoled ourselves that we simply made the wrong choices, we move on. But some wounds cut deeper than the rest. Greater the importance we ascribe to a particular person, higher is the sense of desperation. When we are confronted with rejection from the so-called 'chosen one', the self-imposed stigma of failure is that much greater. We are driven to the edge by our own mind which tells us that we could not measure up to what was our own choice. This is what causes all the pain, all the tears and 'broken hearts' around.
I started off saying that I will be writing about why we desire somebody and looking back, I see that I have actually dwelt more on what happens if we are faced with unrequited love. Maybe I will reserve that for another time and call it a day at this point.
Most of what has written above is solely based on personal experience and observation and I will be the first to agree that these are very inadequate tools when dealing with something as complex and perplexing as human emotions. So, if you feel you have something to say, the comments section is always there :)
1 comment:
Hey. Reminded me of d song Mann ki gali, tu phuharon si aa
from Rang De basanti :)
Chill
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