Skip to main content

Time and human life

"Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please"
....so sang Eric Clapton in his touching song, "Tears in Heaven", written after the tragic passing away of his child. 


Time. 


A simple word we use so often in life. Everyday utterances: "where is the time", "what is the time?", "how much time will you take?". Time becomes a banal entity in the daily grind of life, hardly ever getting the attention it deserves. 


And yet sometimes, events happen that knock us out of our senses. And make us feel as if time has come to a stand still. Its almost like we humans lead a life built on expectations. Tomorrow will come, I will have food to eat. A job to go to where I will be loved and appreciated. Family and loved ones to be with. 


A continuum of expectations that assumes life will stretch from today to tomorrow into infinity, the way we "expect" it to be! 


And then when something happens which is contrary to the expectations in-built in our psyche, we are shocked. How could my partner leave me? How could I get this illness? How could my boss demean me? 


What is it that makes us such a prisoner of our expectations? Expectations that keep on ever expanding? Never ending?


Ultimately, time itself does it for us does it not? Like Eric Clapton expresses in the song above. Life has a way of catching up with us. And showing us our true place in the grand scheme of things. 


Break our heart and have us begging please!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts Beliefs Actions

Thoughts. Where do they come from? What is their source? If we delve deep into psychology, there are various explanations. As a practicing Buddhist, what I have learnt in my 25 year journey is that at any point of time, who we are i.e. how we think is a sum product of all influences on us from this lifetime and maybe even past (if one were to believe in the Hindu/Buddhist theory of an eternal life.  Life as we know it - is what we experience, observe and feel on a moment to moment basis. Time and space are the two dimesions that matter the most in this experience. Why do I say this? Because while we are three dimensional creatures, in reality we have the soul of a "gypsy". No matter how many chambers and buildings might confine us and disconnect us from true nature, our mind wanders.  Sitting on a plane? What are you thinking? If this is not your fist flight and flying does not scare you, you might be thinking of family, the vacation you are planning etc. So in three dimesion...
Post a Comment
Read more

Live true to yourself

How does one live true to oneself?  For years this thought troubled me. While the concept seems very fascinating, what is the true me? A small town boy who went on to study in the huge metropolis of Delhi in an extremely snobbish and elitist liberal arts college? A young man who went on to study in a large public funded university in North East US amidst a WASP majority? And then in his late 20s came back to settle in a numbing cosmo called Mumbai working in the ultra competitive field of Wealth Management?  Add to the complexities here - born as the son of a Collector. Grew up as a privileged kid amidst the 80s and 90s. Saw the height of powers a man can attain as the son of a Chief Secretary. And how all that power vanishes once the post goes away.  Life is never easy for anyone. Growing up is a process of gradual self discovery. But when one is born in a family with extremity of anything - power, money, fame - The way one thinks about life changes. Throw into the cauld...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stuck in a bubble?

While sitting in a workshop, a big realization dawned on me. All of us in our lives have to face every day realities. A number of these realities are a result of who we are as a person at a particular point of time. A colleague who is disliked in office for his aggressive nature might be the most loving of friends in everyday life. And even though this person might not want to be so aggressive in the workplace, his habits formed as as result of sub conscious impulses might hold him hostage leaving him helpless and frustrated. So how accountable are we really for our own behavior? Wise men say that discipline and mind control are the characteristics required to win over these challenges. Even then is it not purely a percentages game? Even the mightiest crumble in the face of some odds or the other. So ultimately should we not be more tolerant of ours as well as the negativities of others and instead of disliking them for these, try as far as possible to embrace them and work in the sp...
Post a Comment
Read more