MYSTICAL ECSTASIES

Mystical ecstasies, a thought went through my mind, while I was reading a fairytale to my niece. Do fairies exist? Growing up, I remember reading, Enid Blyton's book of fairies, and was wondering, do all kids imagine a world inside them, a world full of tales and characters? And how little imaginations can create stories and questions.. Fairies (fay, faerie, fae) an oldest fable in the world, creates an innocence in the child's mind, and takes you into adulthood of losing that very essence of innocence. As we get older, these little stories, and tales loses it's grip somewhere in our minds. Sometimes just imagining the mystical, takes you on a mystical journey from here and beyond. I know it sounds funny and silly, to admit about it, but logically fairies have been in folktales and mythology for years. Every culture and language out there, has the imagination of it. It is believed fairies, possess an Etheric body, so it kind of makes you go HMMM.... If we really think about the enigmatic things existing in this world, it's quite interesting, and to be honest nothing in this world that's enigmatic has been proved or not proved to the uttermost, and yet we tend to live on those mystical imaginations and convince ourselves to live with hope and faith. Imagination is very important for mental growth, I call it the  "Vital signs" of Life.. It's been proved that Imaginative and Creative people have a healthier outlook in life than an average human being.

 Fairies appear as significant characters in William Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night dream or
writer's such as Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore that featured fairies, such as the Border Ballads. So as you can see there's no conclusive answer to fairies, but the faith is surely instilled. My niece brought back the fairytale innocence, and can't wait to read more books to her. And on the flip side, it has brought a child in me to go back to the world of fables. 

 

FRAGMENTS

 

I have lately been a little more curious about Marilyn Monroe. Not necessarily as a Hollywood Icon, but as a person. This book will change your entire view. This book redefines one of the greatest icons of the twentieth century. It reveals her humanity. We can't help but believe we know all about her, as much as is out there, but there was another side to her, and this book has captured it all. 

Beyond the headlines—and the too-familiar stories of heartbreak and desolation—was a woman far more curious, searching, witty, and hopeful than the one the world got to know. Now, for the first time, readers can meet the private Marilyn and understand her in a way we never have before. Fragments is an unprecedented collection of written artifacts—notes to herself, letters, even poems—in Marilyn’s own handwriting, never before published, along with rarely seen intimate photos.

Jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead, these texts reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances indelible emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so affecting.

Marilyn Monroe an avid reader herself, was always captured with a book...

 

A FRENZIED ART LOVER

 KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY

A MAIDSERVANT WITH A FRUIT BASKET AND TWO LOVERS- 1630-1635

 I am an Art Lover. And the Antonym for Frenzy is Calm and Sanity. That is what defines me, when I am surrounded by art. The painting behind me is by Jacob Jordaens, painted in 1630-1635, the abundance of joy and nature, are the true theme of this painting. 

REMBRANDT:

Standing infront of Rembrandt Van Rijn, " A man in the Armour" painting. I was consumed and intoxicated with the vision of this magnificent art work.

A MAN IN ARMOUR BY REMBRANDT IN 1655

                                                 KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY

INDOCTRINATION

 Okay, so I am back with my new discussion. So here is the thing, lately I have been having or I would rather say, forcefully been in a situation to participate talks about Religion! And tell you the truth, this word had/has gone missing from my world. No, I am not regretting it, I had just lost interest and had no energy to indulge in any debates with those that I could hear clearly, because I can hear them clearly, but they can't hear themselves. So what's the point. There was a time, I used to avoid these religious, political, spiritual debates, but lately they have been activating my thought process. I could be wrong in some of my understanding too, but a person who tries to learn, accept, discover is usually not as wrong vs the ones that have brought a conclusion. I try to think things logically as well pertaining to God and Religion, because I do not think God is illogical. And the funny thing is I am an Agnostic. I am still trying to discover and learn but not from those who have brought a conclusion within themselves and settled with it, those are the ones that never have the answer. You can hear confusion in their exultation. I don't know what I would call myself, but all I know is I am not labelling myself as something and totally confused with the execution of that thought, I rather just be a learner. I have nothing against religious people but I have something against the one's that claim they know the answer and they walk like fools being proud of their non-existent thought process. In today's world, there has been a collapse in the inner language and that's resulting in the detachment with the outer.

Question:  I was recently asked, "Why are you spiritual and not religious, and dont you think spirituality comes from being religious? "

Answer: Religion is an obligation while spirutality is an emotion. And combining the two is like scrapping yourself against the barb wired fence.

A window is much better than a mirror. Spiritual People live around windows, while religious people have mirrors around them. Open windows help you learn and move forward, to look outward, to get a sense of light. Mirrors trap you with yourself, a mirror only shows what you have on and not otherwise. So whatever you have, is all you are going to see, and in that case you could be glancing at a reflection that's based on false interpretation.

The confusion and lack of understanding that showed on his face was like snatching a banana from a chimpanzee. And my intention was not to snatch the banana, but try to peel it for him. Well tough luck, he slipped on it too!!! 

That's what happens to people who base their facts on blinded religion without understanding the real purpose of life and God, they eventually loose a step and everything gets thrown out of their momentum. People think God has a magic wand and he will fix all your problems, the problem with that thought is, Us as human's we stop enduring and understanding the reason behind the struggle, and we come to halt. Spiritual people find a reasoning beyond what's happening and they learn to overcome that by replacing the thought with a better understanding.

I am not saying that all religious people are trapped in the wrong reflection, but I have experienced the majority. And like I said, I have nothing agasint them, I am against their conclusions

. 

"The book of convenience" would be the title of my book. The book of convenience will be dedicated to those who have created their own policies but have forcefully forged GOD's signature. They have used his name under their protocol. 

Growing up I was taught religion, but I was also given the impression that those who believe in God, believe in everything he has created. From Nature, to flowers, to animals and the oceans. He resides in all this, he lives in his creation. As I grew older, I started seeing the opposite. I see religious people busy praying, following an instituation based on baseless morals, they indulge in things that they should not be doing and still choose it based on convenience,  but I have never seen a religious person take some time out and sit in a quite daze admiring God's creation and feeling it. They are too busy making rules for themselves and others. And if you do not follow the rule, you will soon be shifting your base to hell. 

I have recently come across few people who have bored me to death with their constant raving about their religion and how they are God's children and how they are waiting to go up to heaven and start a real life, and BLAH BLAH BLAH.... ( Thank God they are just acquintances, Phew!!)

My question to them is, God spent all this time to make you, gave you this beautiful world, gave you opportunities, a brain to improve and advance, instincts to know the right and wrong, gave you breath, gave you life, kids, marriage, health, Just so you can die and start your life in heaven????

Hmmmm, something's missing alright!!! Yea, maybe the truth is, you will have another life in heaven, but what made you think this is hocus pocus? It's like hiring an employee, putting him through endless training, benefits, high pay, just so you can fire them... DUH.....

It's ok to question your beliefs, It's ok to be lost and loose interest, but it's not moral to believe in things Hotch Potch. Find your base, and your inner working, your inner self. Find ways to believe in him through ways you can understand and not what others imposed you on. Someone might ask me, How would you know this, being an Agnostic?

Well being an Agnostic, helped me reason and ask, and question and understand because I am not bound by any boundaries, I have no fear of the unknown, I know there is a higher power that's watching me, but not like an angry adult but more compassionately, and most of all my non-believing situation is liberating me and making me believe. I am not a chimpanzee with a stolen banana, I am not standing in a lost and found department. I am looking out of a window and not in a trapped mirror.

Like the saying "Not all those who wander are lost". 

I am an Agnostic wanderer looking for God in places no one has been.. A place not re-arranged by humans...

MY CHERRY BLOSSOM TREE

I was sorting out my photos and I happened to stumble on this one. My Cherry Blossom Tree. How I loved those Saturday morning's with my cup of coffee and breathing in the fresh morning air and hear the birds chirping. It was BLISS. My balcony- a sanctuary every morning. If you have never tried relaxing on an early Saturday morning, what you are waiting for? Try it. No work routine, No hassles for the day. It's a day of catching up with friends, books, shopping, playing with your dogs, tucking in and watching a movie or just lounging in your pajamas....

"In the Cherry Blossom's Shade there is no such thing as a stranger."

                                   ~Kobayashi Issa

FREEDOM

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by too many shades of life. I would probably call my life, fifty shades of grey, not the book but the title definitely fits my life perfectly. It's been an interesting journey of people, discoveries, thoughts and realizations. And my new found freedom taught me to live life with no boundaries. Since I have found this life, people's thoughts and ideas have challenged me with a better understanding of the word "Freedom". I will say though, I have always been lucky to live my life the way I wanted, I was never a prisoner but always a wanderer. And not every choice I made was a great one whether it's people I briefly met, the so-called friends, the annoying co-workers, my acquintances etc, etc. But I thank those people today, because of them I found my way. Their illusioned thoughts and herd mentality made me question myself. There comes a stage in everyone's life when we have to make a choice. The real challenge goes to those who go against the accepted norm and choose not to go with herd. I remembered those people or friends who spent their childhood days studying endlessly, trying to fit the perfect society, repressing their teenage crushes by patting their backs for being the perfect kids, tied up by religious norms, and they even got married to escape their repressed life at home and now years later it sounds funny. Recently someone I know asked me " How was I different? "

Being different is not necessarily a Brag or an Ego, it's plain simple - you tend to do things that others have not ventured into yet. As a kid, you try to relate your likes and dislikes with other kids, and as a kid I was always curious about the inner workings of the self. I was the only skateboarder in my town, due to lack of infrastructure we didnt have skate boarding parks, so I used my neighbor's house back in the day, I got my driver's license when I was 14, way too young ( but was given permission to drive with an adult), had a lot of crushes and easily expressed them to my repressed friends, started traveling at the tender age of seven ( thanks to my parents, London was my second home), went rock climbing with no specific climbing gear, took a chance to go riding on an almost collapsing boat especially on a lake infested with crocodiles and so many more... I always had a thrill of doing something adventurous and most all, I did all this at age 13. Back in the day and where I come from, it was a bit unusual for a girl my age to be doing all these things while the rest of my girlfriends were too scared to ask for permission. It wasnt as if they were even interested in this particular way of life anyways... These adventures and hobbies did not define me as being different but it made me realize I have the hunger for exploring. I did not indulge in the same aspect of life as others, especially being brought up in a small town where everyone does exactly the same things as others, it's hard to choose otherwise. I think of those days and it makes me smile. It was like eve's dropping on my own life through my hobbies and likes. It was a realization of not being white or black, I wanted to be grey. I was going to vision things on my own terms and conditions. I had a blank canvas and I painted it with so many shades of my childhood days and didn't have to worry the subconscious indoctrination through society and culture. And reminiscing those days makes me feel like I lived it up and have stories to tell. I grew up with those experiences. People that came in my life, I opened the door for them and people that left, I opened the door for them too. And today in my adulthood, I feel I have grown up gracefully, only because I lived it up, broke the boundary and searched far and wide and made a decision to not only live free but to breath free.

Most of my blogs, I have emphasized on living free, only because I have understood the magnitude and greatness behind it. It opens a lot of different avenues. You will see the world more meaningful. Five years ago, having moved to a new city and making new friends helped me where I am today. The self sacrificing, loyal and ever-present friends who are as wild as my blog.. ( Haha)

And the freedom of mind I have realized now, is the one that I always held within, it just  needed a different approach. I have met people and still do, who try to project the freedom and their prisoned state of mind according to their circumstances. It's like blending oil and water. You can see them smile and long for what others have and somewhere in their hearts they surrender to the familiar ground they stand on, only because they have become conditioned by a certain mentality or way of life and that lack of allingment somehow destroys them due to various circumstances they face in life. Living free does not mean destroying yourself with randomness, it means opening up, accepting things joyfully because you chose it and not someone else. Waking up in the morning with a happy mind. You are the master of your domain. There is no society, religion or culture that can teach you that. I chose a life of no shackles and dependencies. Don't do things because your facebook friends wanted you to, or getting married because everyone else is, or have babies just because that's how it goes, or fake things just because you got nothing better to do. Just like RUMI said, 
" Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place."

I am my own thought. I never wanted to be a prisoner within myself, I wanted to feel the freedom that can only exist within. Sadly the world is so focused on it's mono-cultural aspect, "If you dont do this then you will be excluded from that"... At the end it's all within us to choose. Whether you choose independently or dependantly. I chose Singularity over Marriage, I chose being a Friend over a Lover, I chose having no Religion than being bound by one, I chose Travel over Pilgrimage, I chose Freedom...

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him. 

                                                                                                                        ~Auguste Rodin

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Thus in each flower and simple bell, That in our path untrodden lies,Are sweet remembrances who tell, How fast the winged moments fly. Time will steal on with ceaseless pace, Yet lose we not the fleeting hours,Who still their fairy footsteps trace, As light they dance among the flowers.
 

                                           ~Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806), "The Horologe of the Fields" Addressed to a Young Lady, on seeing at the House of an Acquaintance a magnificent French Timepiece, published 1807