Thanks Garima, for this beautiful piece. Finally, got to read it in peace.
Also, shared it with a student and friend from Uzbekistan. I agree about SM being a bulletin board for all sort of emotions and everyone screaming victimhood or trauma. But I personally think that is a reflection of lack of community. That was an interesting observation of living outside of India, where much was shared in bars, under the influence of alcohol--only to be forgotten the next day. Both teh conversation and the person who it was shared with. It is a reflection of a society that was shattered long before SM came. In fact, SM fit right into the gap that left from breaking of an interconnected family of uncles, and aunties and neighbors and grandparents--who could put things in perspective. Today, the young look to the young for solace....the intergenerational connection of understanding grief,, sorrow and pain is thinning.
Trauma is real. And it becomes more so in a world where everyone must work and we are bound by money to loyalty towards employers but not to provide the same loyalty/time/attention to family members and friends, because our time is divided.
I loved this sentence, and have always thought the same: Not in the sense that our lives and our stories are short-lived, which they are, but that anything anyone has ever experienced has been experienced countless times before we were born and will be experienced just as many times after we are long gone. This means that our specific perceptions, especially the immediate ones, are often just illusions."
Yet, how strong are these illusions that we feel a pain of abandonment by the self if we consider them illusions. Waking up of the real SELF is a long process that may never even begin for younger souls.
The complication comes when we forget that we have souls with different karma and at different consciousness level interacting on this planet. It's bound to be messy.
and what you write here is is IDEAL...."The task of being human is to consistently deepen and widen our perceptions to reveal more and more realities."
its a slow, painful process and most are not ready for it. For there is no reward, except this calm that we are promised or that those around would benefit for us. But we are much to selfish and enjoy this world..like Indra when he incarnated as a pig, refusing Narada's offer to go to vaikunth, "“I am happy here with my friends and family members. My wife, my cute piglets all are dependent on me. If I leave then who will care for them.”
A few break the prison, a few. Fewer return to guide others. Most of us, deal with half baked humans, trying to taste the world with our unimpressive senses.
Thanks for writing this and making us think. keep writing.
Thank you so much Charu for such a thoughtful comment. I really appreciate you reading this deeply and taking out the time to share your insights.
I completely agree that SM has filled a gap but my hunch is that it makes things worse somehow than making them better. I like how you put it here, "the intergenerational connection of understanding grief, sorrow and pain is thinning". This is very true. Ultimately emotions are manageable but they need to be managed properly, wisely, and in a timely manner which is what I feel the modern state of things makes impossible. The speed of life, the instant gratification of sharing one's life online, and self-absorption that comes from having every thought plastered on a digital wall to which you can keep going back to-- this is unprecedented in the history of humanity.
And I think in this context, the most important of our emotions, i.e., love, becomes the biggest victim. Relationships of all sorts, even professional ones, require a degree of maturity and depth that we simply don't encourage as a society anymore. Even the modern movement of therapy and emotional intelligence makes everything feel so mechanical. Emotions are about flow and this flow can take any shape or form at any time. We do not have the space to align with that anymore, at least not in peace. This further fractures our sense of hurt and trauma more and more. This vicious circle will keep on becoming worse if we don't consciously rethink everything that we have been taught to take for granted by modern mass media, socio-economic, and cultural trends.
Finally, the bit about soul and karma. Once again, I feel it is a travesty that the modern world does not take this perspective too seriously. I think if more and more people began to accept that there is something called destiny, karma, and soul, we'd automatically slow down in life. Again, as tough as this process of going within and understanding the soul is, it's something we humans have done since time immemorial and will continue to do for just as long. We have just made it much tougher today in so many ways.
I hope your friend from Uzbekistan enjoyed the piece? In any case, thanks a lot once again and hope you have a great week! :)
Anytime. I know you write beautifully but also choose topics carefully. So it is a delight to engage in them. Some of these ideas are a concern of mine too. .
Agree about the modern state of mind. While we have outlets, we have not learnt to process them. People use SM as a therapist, or hope it would work that way. For a short time, it Is good to vent. But after that....??
I have a similar issue with all the advice online about how to remain positive. Grief, sorrow, pain, loss have to be experienced. The problem is that internet is considered a solution, while it is JUST a platform--open to ALL KINDS OF VOICES. Which sounds great, but can be unhealthy.
You are right that..." Relationships of all sorts, even professional ones, require a degree of maturity and depth that we simply don't encourage as a society anymore. "
I think people do not invest in relationships and leave them the moment they get dificult. That is why festivals and family gatherings were important. While they can be a source of stress, they can also work as the opposite...provided there is a process to it. I do not like this idea of "cut the toxic people out" of your life either. People go through phases of that toxicity sometimes. If leave anyone who goes through a negative phase then we create imbalance.
In the end the most important aspect that you mentioned was Destiny, karma and fate. Imagine how we would do therapy if we incorporated all that.
Yes, my friend really enjoyed it and supplemented the email with some more history for the dance. I watched only a bit, and absolutely lovely the fluidity of it.
Dance is another story...and can have books written on it. and how in itself it is a healing process. Thanks again.
Life itself is toxic, even Rumi knew that. Not sure why modern therapists and their supporters don‘t :) Am glad to know someone from Uzbekistan liked it, thanks for sharing with them!
Thanks Garima, for this beautiful piece. Finally, got to read it in peace.
Also, shared it with a student and friend from Uzbekistan. I agree about SM being a bulletin board for all sort of emotions and everyone screaming victimhood or trauma. But I personally think that is a reflection of lack of community. That was an interesting observation of living outside of India, where much was shared in bars, under the influence of alcohol--only to be forgotten the next day. Both teh conversation and the person who it was shared with. It is a reflection of a society that was shattered long before SM came. In fact, SM fit right into the gap that left from breaking of an interconnected family of uncles, and aunties and neighbors and grandparents--who could put things in perspective. Today, the young look to the young for solace....the intergenerational connection of understanding grief,, sorrow and pain is thinning.
Trauma is real. And it becomes more so in a world where everyone must work and we are bound by money to loyalty towards employers but not to provide the same loyalty/time/attention to family members and friends, because our time is divided.
I loved this sentence, and have always thought the same: Not in the sense that our lives and our stories are short-lived, which they are, but that anything anyone has ever experienced has been experienced countless times before we were born and will be experienced just as many times after we are long gone. This means that our specific perceptions, especially the immediate ones, are often just illusions."
Yet, how strong are these illusions that we feel a pain of abandonment by the self if we consider them illusions. Waking up of the real SELF is a long process that may never even begin for younger souls.
The complication comes when we forget that we have souls with different karma and at different consciousness level interacting on this planet. It's bound to be messy.
and what you write here is is IDEAL...."The task of being human is to consistently deepen and widen our perceptions to reveal more and more realities."
its a slow, painful process and most are not ready for it. For there is no reward, except this calm that we are promised or that those around would benefit for us. But we are much to selfish and enjoy this world..like Indra when he incarnated as a pig, refusing Narada's offer to go to vaikunth, "“I am happy here with my friends and family members. My wife, my cute piglets all are dependent on me. If I leave then who will care for them.”
A few break the prison, a few. Fewer return to guide others. Most of us, deal with half baked humans, trying to taste the world with our unimpressive senses.
Thanks for writing this and making us think. keep writing.
Thank you so much Charu for such a thoughtful comment. I really appreciate you reading this deeply and taking out the time to share your insights.
I completely agree that SM has filled a gap but my hunch is that it makes things worse somehow than making them better. I like how you put it here, "the intergenerational connection of understanding grief, sorrow and pain is thinning". This is very true. Ultimately emotions are manageable but they need to be managed properly, wisely, and in a timely manner which is what I feel the modern state of things makes impossible. The speed of life, the instant gratification of sharing one's life online, and self-absorption that comes from having every thought plastered on a digital wall to which you can keep going back to-- this is unprecedented in the history of humanity.
And I think in this context, the most important of our emotions, i.e., love, becomes the biggest victim. Relationships of all sorts, even professional ones, require a degree of maturity and depth that we simply don't encourage as a society anymore. Even the modern movement of therapy and emotional intelligence makes everything feel so mechanical. Emotions are about flow and this flow can take any shape or form at any time. We do not have the space to align with that anymore, at least not in peace. This further fractures our sense of hurt and trauma more and more. This vicious circle will keep on becoming worse if we don't consciously rethink everything that we have been taught to take for granted by modern mass media, socio-economic, and cultural trends.
Finally, the bit about soul and karma. Once again, I feel it is a travesty that the modern world does not take this perspective too seriously. I think if more and more people began to accept that there is something called destiny, karma, and soul, we'd automatically slow down in life. Again, as tough as this process of going within and understanding the soul is, it's something we humans have done since time immemorial and will continue to do for just as long. We have just made it much tougher today in so many ways.
I hope your friend from Uzbekistan enjoyed the piece? In any case, thanks a lot once again and hope you have a great week! :)
Anytime. I know you write beautifully but also choose topics carefully. So it is a delight to engage in them. Some of these ideas are a concern of mine too. .
Agree about the modern state of mind. While we have outlets, we have not learnt to process them. People use SM as a therapist, or hope it would work that way. For a short time, it Is good to vent. But after that....??
I have a similar issue with all the advice online about how to remain positive. Grief, sorrow, pain, loss have to be experienced. The problem is that internet is considered a solution, while it is JUST a platform--open to ALL KINDS OF VOICES. Which sounds great, but can be unhealthy.
You are right that..." Relationships of all sorts, even professional ones, require a degree of maturity and depth that we simply don't encourage as a society anymore. "
I think people do not invest in relationships and leave them the moment they get dificult. That is why festivals and family gatherings were important. While they can be a source of stress, they can also work as the opposite...provided there is a process to it. I do not like this idea of "cut the toxic people out" of your life either. People go through phases of that toxicity sometimes. If leave anyone who goes through a negative phase then we create imbalance.
In the end the most important aspect that you mentioned was Destiny, karma and fate. Imagine how we would do therapy if we incorporated all that.
Yes, my friend really enjoyed it and supplemented the email with some more history for the dance. I watched only a bit, and absolutely lovely the fluidity of it.
Dance is another story...and can have books written on it. and how in itself it is a healing process. Thanks again.
Life itself is toxic, even Rumi knew that. Not sure why modern therapists and their supporters don‘t :) Am glad to know someone from Uzbekistan liked it, thanks for sharing with them!
Life itself is toxic: turn this into a meme.......:)
Very well written Garima! Keep writing such beautiful articles. God bless you!
Thankyou 🙏🏼😁