Chaos.....

For this post, I have written on Write Tribe's #FridayReflections prompt Chaos — how do you feel about it?  I have done a Free Write as suggested by Suzy Que in a previous post.

Image Source

Lot of prompts have been doing a round lately, and some of them have been really good. But for one reason or the other, I have not been able to write- have been either exhausted or busy. This time, the Write Tribe prompt on chaos set me to work...What is it that attracts me so much to the word? I don't know. When I think of chaos, I think also of creation. That's how it has been, right? Out of chaos has come our universe. The universe that we are trying to kill by our prejudices, by our recklessness, by our un-satiating desires. Oceans are dying thanks to the chaos caused by our senseless use of plastic. We try to keep everything clean only by shoving away all that is dirty here and there. But we pretend. We pretend to worry. We make and watch videos. We write and read articles. We like and share posts. We crib and complain over the chaos that is ruining us. But we don't accept that we ourselves are the cause of it all. Rational beings chaotically charged!

So are our thoughts. Where is the order inside our brains? Thoughts seem to burst rather than sprout. We act rashly. We give vent to our anger. We become intolerant because we think the entire world is against us, and hell-bent on hurting us. But we end up hurting only our peace and dignity. Waves of wild anger rise high and wreck our lives. What is left is only chaos. How will we stand again? We need to calm down. We need to stop hurling abuse on others. We need to become receptive. We need to open the gates of our hearts.

Gates - refugees are looking for open gates these days. Fleeing from the chaos caused by atrocity and injustice, they are fleeing to safer places. Many make it, many don't. There are kids who die. Alan Kurdi dies. Omran's picture is trending these days. I writhe in pain at the anguish in those little eyes. My heart bleeds at the sight of Alan's listless body. We are all responsible for their fate. How will we ever be forgiven? Who will grant us forgiveness? How will kids like Omran ever recover from the trauma that has devastated their houses, desecrated the innocence of their childhood, ripped apart their families? Who will bring peace to them? 

Little ones are supposed to smile. They are meant to be bundles of happiness. They are dying - the tiny seeds which were meant to bloom in a well-tended garden - a garden which has been uprooted. I wish some gentle breeze carries them to a meadow of love where springs of love flow. I wish they can smile again.

Smile - it is so essential. It is the thing that can counter chaos. A true, well-meaning smile. Not a sly one. Not a fake one. A smile that is as pure as the laughter of a child who is popping bubbles. A smile that is as chaste as the smile of a baby cooing in response to her mother's songs. 

Why have we forgotten that smile?

Why have we become so tumultuous and explosive?

Why are we ready to burst? 

Why do we love to bring chaos in other's lives when we hate to have it in our own?

My mind is in disarray.

Chaos takes over. 

I can write no more.

Linking to Write Tribe's #FridayReflections

Scream

Scream is a stream of anxious mind....an outpour of an injured heart. Scream is also a deluge of happiness, a rush of joyousness. Scream is emotions, in their extreme form. Sages say do not over-react to situations. They tell us to be calm, to maintain a sort of temperateness of spirit, a spirit that is balmy, still, serene.

I wonder how they do it. I can see pictures of the enlightened Buddha and imagine how gentle he is. Even in the face of adversity. I can read many inspirational stories that tell me to stay calm and unaffected by joy and sorrow. But I do not know how to do it.

I remember the story of Buddha where a woman wailed the death in her family. Kisa Gautami's little son died and she was inconsolable. Buddha asked her to bring a few mustard seeds from the houses of those who had not seen death. Kisa went from one house to another. But she could not get even one. She returned and Buddha made her understand that death and suffering were part of life. There was no escape from that for us mortals. Kisa found solace in the learning and became Buddha's disciple.

I wonder how Kisa did what she did. Maybe the greatness of Buddha was transferred to her. But I do not have that great power around me. What do I do?

In joy, I scream. It is the scream of happiness.
In pain, I scream. It is a scream of sorrow.
When I see some injustice happening around, I scream.

When I read about some horrors that humans wreck on other humans, on animals, and on nature, I scream. This scream has no sound. It is the scream of silence. A silence that is deafening.

Edvard Munch's The Scream is emblematic of all humanity. I am no art connoisseur. But some things just speak to me. The Scream is one such painting. It depicts us humans, the suffering humans. In the expressionist medium, it puts on canvas the plight of our minds. How the entire world comes tumbling down.
We scream. Some scream loudly, some silently. But we all do. We are not the sages. We do not try to be like them. We fail if we try to be like them because we do it with doubt and skepticism, because we do it halfheartedly.

On the other end of the spectrum smiles Mona Lisa. A picture of total serenity, devoid of the dread and angst, free of turbulence, distant from the stormy spirits.

Can we find Mona Lisa in real life? It will be difficult. Can we find the subject of Edvard Munch's The Scream? Almost everywhere.

The Scream (Image Source here)

I remember one more Buddhist fable. Once a man comes to Buddha and abuses him verbally. Buddha asks him, " If you give someone a gift, and that person does not accept it, what happens to that gift?" The man replies, " It stays with you." Buddha then answers, " I refuse your gift my friend. You gift of words." The man is at loss of words. What this fable tells us is to remain unaffected in face of anger. Do not let the other person feed on your reactions. Anger grows when met with anger. Stop the flow of this negativity by refusing to react.

This reminds me of Gandhi and his non-screaming and non-violent ways. This also reminds me of the line that silence is the most powerful scream.



Do spare some time to read my other Blog-a-Rythm entries by clicking the links below:

Silly Stillies

Footprints That Changed My Life


As always, will love your comments!