Every time I see the azure sky spotted with clouds lazily drifting by, lush leaves of plants gently swaying to the whims of wind, the crepuscular rays of sun shining through the trees, a gentle folding of skin by the eyes of my mother when she smiles, little kids playing with water accumulated in the field after heavy rain, small frogs frolicking by, the glow of recognition in the eyes of long-lost acquaintances, I am reminded of the words of Virginia Woolf, “I belong to quick, futile moments of intense feeling. Yes, I belong to moments. Not to people.”
It was about two years ago when I came across this quote and owing to my attention span of a fruit fly I read it, found it beautiful and forgot about it. I was caught up in bigger things, I was aiming for the bigger fish with the bigger bait then. I was exhausting my mind and body clinging to this ideal of grand achievement and grand success, thinking I will be satisfied in the end. But this promise of fulfilling satisfaction at the end of grand achievement is a sham, there is nothing but an illusionary joy followed by pure desolation and a big question of “what now?” and “Is it just that?”
When your head is up in the clouds you forget the ditches ahead in the path, but you also forget the magnolias of midsummer, the passing glance of a stranger, you forget the bees, the hellos and goodbyes. The remoteness you traverse will shut you out of familiarity, and you will be a stranger in the throng of familiars. I was that absent figure, I had made home in the clouds and I lost so much on the ground.
Then, I really started seeing, for the first time. When perception is brought out of its sheath in a most gentle and loving manner, sincerely keen on observation, then the magic happens. Each moment flowers into the simplest yet the most enriching and fulfilling experience like William Blake once said, “To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in your hand and eternity in an hour.”
You start treading moment by moment in the ivory tiled steps to ecstasy, and every moment shines forth with vehement significance. Your heart wells up in cathartic release that leaves everything smothered in such rapturous swell that you cannot help but release a note of sonorous sigh from your mouth and bestow love and care upon everything.
It starts with the careful examination of everything and everyone around you, it is amplified by the attention and consideration you give, and ultimately it leaves you with a touch of divinity and nothing but love to give. I know it sounds like a really utopian fantasy of a mind, but it is a worthy of an ideal to pine for. You may judge, but I say try it for yourself once. And it’s very easy to start with, you just have to look, and they will come rushing to you- the moments.
So next time you open your eyes, remember to look, really, really look. Who knows what magic waits for you at the corner of your eyes!
