What does it mean…

…to be alive?

To feel air rush into your starving lungs, and be able to exhale the same in a deep, slow, breath
To sense blood constantly ebbing and flowing; a beautiful, balanced rhythm, from your heart to your extremities
To appreciate the gifts of your God-given senses
To feel both limitless potential and yet feel an insignificant speck of dust in the grand scheme of things
To progress unwaveringly, if slowly
To know that the “I” is not really the “I”
To attune yourself to the presence of the immortal soul
To give yourself to the Maker, over and over again - this is what gives us life over anything else.


…to be human?

To feel a common, transcendent bond with others despite man-made divisions of geography, race and culture:-
To hurt when others bleed
To hunger when others starve
To raise your voice for those who cannot
To know your life is not your own, and yet:
To feel the constant battle between head and heart
To feel the yearn and pull of desires both base and noble
To be able to seek out and enjoy beauty in all of it’s various manifestations
To feel the pain of loss
To strive
To learn
To alternate between weakness and strength
To make mistakes
To be able to laugh at your own failings

To smile


…to love?

Alas, I myself have not much to say in this regard. Maybe I’ll have something to say in a few years. In the meantime, I refer you to the words of the master, Gibran. For the wedding of my best friend 2 years earlier, I recommended that these verses be read out, and they were.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself. 
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: 
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. 
To know the pain of too much tenderness. 
To be wounded by your own understanding of love; 
And to bleed willingly and joyfully. 
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; 
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy; 
To return home at eventide with gratitude; 
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

——————

Stay blessed

I