IT’S A GREAT CHASE

All human activity is driven by fear; fear of pain. From ever and ever, pain has been a constant and irrefutable attribute of human existence. Whether it is born out of physical conditions, intellectual fretting, or emotional cravings, the fear of pain is the driving force behind all human endeavour.

All enterprise - all training, all education, all need for advancement, all commercial effort, all learning, all education, all health training, all technological advancement - arises from a deep-seated insecurity bred by centuries of pain. 

The pain of bodily hurt or damage, the pain of hunger, the pain of old age, the pain of being attacked by other forms of nature – animals, humans, water, fire, heat, cold, and calamities of countless kinds – the pain of disease.

The pain of emotional distress, the pain of dependence, the pain of loneliness, the pain of rejection, the pain of childbirth, the pain of growing up, the pain of physical labour, the pain of death, the pain of waiting for pain.

The pain of not knowing what lies ahead. The pain of trying to anticipate and pre-empt pain.

Ten years of apprenticeship or growing up in one’s accepted hereditary occupation has been replaced by twenty years of study in order to define an occupation. The driving force is an attempt to insure security, to beat fear, to overcome the certainty of pain. The building of strength and muscle, the honing of talent, the amassing of wealth and power, are all efforts to be on the winning side. The thrill of victory is momentary, the need for victory is eternal.  

All of us tread the path of life trying to dodge, run away from, fend off, or pre-empt pain.

We probably only manage to create a bigger number and variety of pains! Something like those mobs of robots in the movies who keep multiplying and mutating and coming at the humans…

And Time? She mocks us!

By the time one seems to have the answers to the fears of childhood, it’s a thing of the past and adolescence brings more armloads full. When one is grown up enough to handle teenage, the count has crossed the tens... All middle aged people know the answers to the problems of youth.

The curse of apprehension does not stop at oneself. The mass of parents have all suffered their fair share of pain, and the fear is now transferred. The supremely egoistic beings that we are, we are convinced that we were specially equipped or capable to have shouldered our share of pain, responsibilities, and the travails of life. But now we are afraid for our children! We would like to spare them what we’ve been through!  We are now afraid that they may not be able to handle what we have been through!

Are we somehow assuming that they are weaker than us? That they are less blessed? That they are children of a lesser god?  

The wisdom of the elders is revealed only to the elders, when life has gone by in the effort to ward off the day that is now imminent. Only they that stare death in the face, knowing that it cannot be warded off much longer, can live a life not given away to hysterical effort and enterprise! Only they who have understood that the only cure for pain is its passage through time, and it is not to be feared, know that they cannot grudge the younger ones their trials.

Only they that see it all slipping away can appreciate that the younger ones need to live! To see it, to experience it, to absorb it, to be one with it all!

My forays into the desert sands or the eternal snows cannot be transferred to my children. My passage through the forest that took away my terror of snakes cannot be handed over in words. My experiences in love and hate are not enough to teach them their lessons. My lessons and experiences, my victories, me tragedies, my roses and my thorns have made me what I am; can I deny them that which will make them the wonderful beings that they are destined to be?

My fears have not been overcome because I was a hero who could take what life had to offer and my children are not. What fears I had have fallen prey to the passage of Time and died their natural death, that and only that! And new ones have taken their place.

I wish today to protect my child from use and abuse, from rejection, from heartbreak... 

...just more fears that I must shake off...

Do I wish to let her grow, or would I rather keep her as she is, maybe 17 forever? What I am today is the sum total of my experiences; would I wish any less upon my children?

Go, my dear ones, face your world! Grow with God in all His manifestations!

I rejoice in all your ‘mistakes’, in your ‘uncertainties’, in your ‘wrongs’, in your ‘faults’.

I bless you with your fair share of sadness, of hurt, of death, and of rising again and again from the depths you fall to!

I bless you with learning! Learning from turmoil the value of peace; learning from hatred the meaning of love; learning from despair the need for hope; learning from yesterday the bounty of today; learning from clinging the joy of letting go!

Go, my lifeblood, and live out your lives to the hilt! I grudge you not your fears and your pitfalls, for they make you the superheroes that you will all become!

“Zeina Glo brings you the radiant glow of inner peace, good health and attendant beauty.

Zeina Glo helps you strip off layers of inhibitions, hesitation, and cynicism, allowing your thoughts and emotions to flow freely.

Zeina Glo helps to douse the flames of insecurity and guilt, to open the windows of mind and body to the cool fresh breeze of love.

Zeina Glo encourages you to spread inner peace, good health, radiance, exuberance, warmth, joy and the glow from your inner being.

Zeina Glo brings the beauty of your own thoughts back to you!!”

For, questions, criticism or advice, please post comments here, or write to zeinaglo@rediffmail.com or zeinaglow@gmail.com