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Contemplations on 2024

I didn’t think I’d live to see this year. 

But wait, this piece is not as dark as that sentence claims it to be. Let me explain. This is more a critique of another than a confession of the self.  


'Living in the moment' comes highly recommended by our very own eastern spiritual gurus, who have gone to the west, and I believe, sensationalized quote-unquote ‘living in the present moment’. The argument is that all that we have in our hands, is the present moment, and only that is certain. Seems like a straightforward idea, coming straight out of Buddha himself, right? 


Well Buddha, after this year, I now believe it is an incomplete proposition. Hear my rebuttal, Buddha! 


Well, with all due respect to your well-acknowledged wisdom, I would like to place a caveat that my claims could stem from a flawed execution of ‘living in the present moment’ from my side, which had me looking down at the ground while I walked, keeping my eyes on the next few steps -because what is certain is the present moment that I had with me. I never looked up. Never held anticipation of the future. Never thought of the hues of the sky I could one-day see, only if I looked up. 


Buddha, you tell me that what is certain is the present moment, but there were possibilities of the future, that would and did turn into certainties of the present, and I was unprepared for them. Most of this year came as a shock to me. Which in retrospect, should have all been experiences I anticipate. For the first time in my life, I was away from home, away from my language, away from my food, and my present-moment awareness made me glady hop into 2024 without knowing what that would mean. I lived with strangers who in time turned to friends, and gave strange cities a chance at acquaintance. I didn’t think I’d live to see this year, and all that happened in it because I never looked up, and looked forward to it. I didn’t think for once that I would live to see this life. Because I didn’t think.


Not looking forward to life and its experiences, not because of dejection, but a simple forgetfulness of what would come is similar to death itself. And complete surrender to the present moment, Buddha, I would not recommend to anyone who is living and moving in this world. Unless we decide, like you, to leave life behind. My mistake, I took wisdom from a man who left the happenings of the world, and that too, took his word at face value. 


Despite and maybe because of my complaints, it would be nice to have you around for a chat. What would you say in response to my wild accusations?

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