Images and Images

I spent half a life building a self, modelling it after the glimpses of images and reflections caught through a variety of lenses and mirrors.

The remaining half, I will spend deconstructing the self I have built, trying to transcend it in sane moments, and unconsciously conforming to it in the more frequent, routine ones.

How should I respond to it? When I consider this logically, it depends on how I think about this process.

Having noticed pretty much everyone has been going through this, pretty much since the beginning of time, if I, consciously or otherwise, subscribe to the idea that this could have been done better, I feel unhappy.

On the other hand, if I believe that this is a natural process, and that everyone has to go through it by himself and that’s the best way for it to happen, there is some chance of me accepting it and feeling comfortable about it.

But that’s the logic of it.

There is also an intuitive gut feel we have about this process. It’s not immutable – it is influenced by logic though it’s often a slow, roundabout process. The intuitive gut feel is also influenced by what we do and how things work out.

It’s the interaction of the logic, the action and the intuition that determines – in multiple, non-linear ways – how we respond to life. There may be some way of going about it, that can help us find a way out of the emotional bondage**.

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**
The Gita bases it’s message of action on a philosophy of life. (…. ) It does not advocate a fanatical devotion to the practical, to the disparagement of the dignity of thought. It’s philosophy of the practical is a derivative from its philosophy of spirit, ब्रह्मविद्यान्तर्गत कर्मयोगशास्त्र। Ethical action is derived from metaphysical realization. Sankara urges that the essential purpose of the Gita is to teach us a way out of the bondage and not merely enjoin action, शोकमोहादिसंसारकर्मनिवृत्यर्थंगीताशास्त्रम् , न प्रवर्तकम्।

– Professor S. Radhakrishnan, in the book “The Bhagavadgita”, 1948.