Life's Harmonies

By Njogu

Today I shall briefly walk you through my musings.

"Let no man pray that he know not sorrow,

Let no soul ask to be free from pain,

For the gall of to-day is the sweet of to-morrow,

And the moment's loss is the lifetime's gain.

Through want of a thing does its worth redouble,

Through hunger's pangs does the feast content,

And only the heart that has harbored trouble,

Can fully rejoice when joy is sent.

Let no man shrink from the bitter tonics

Of grief, and yearning, and need, and strife,

For the rarest chords in the soul's harmonies,

Are found in the minor strains of life."

-Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Lately I (along with a few friends) have been searching for a deeper understanding of why things are the way they are. Religion, customs, history, the rules the society is built upon, human behaviour, and most importantly, how my mind works. I guess I could say I've been yearning for a deeper understanding of life.

All of a sudden the smallest things that I would otherwise dismiss like typing on this keyboard right now, the soft humming sound from my laptop, the clock ticking in the background, the birds chirping right outside my window; or eating a watermelon or laughing, or the music of droplets of water falling upon our metallic kitchen sink and so forth; mean so much more to me. The "big things" also hold greater meaning to me. Fear, happiness, anger, love, pain and all that jazz. I have grown, I have been enlightened and I have changed far more than I could imagine was possible in just one summer. I know that change is inevitable. My only hope though, is that I keep growing and being enlightened.

I might be experiencing a maddening feeling of dysphoria at the moment but in some twisted sense this feeling is euphoria because it means that I am alive. For a long time I did not know how being alive truly felt like but I think the paradox above (dysphoria versus euphoria) and everything in between is the definition of life.

For some, all that I have written above does not make any sense. For some, it might seem like a load of bull. Nonsense. Gibberish.

That does not bother me.

...but for such people I shall try and keep it simple. It is the first day of September 2014. Its a beautiful sunny day. My heart still beats and my mind wanders almost as fast as or faster than the speed of light. I am healthy. I still feel. I am alive...

...and I am grateful.

Happy September!

xx
Mimmie