During the morning walk, I was captivated by the tall trees growing high in to the air. My eyes captured these majestic sights and felt elated by the tallness and largeness of these tress which were plenty o both sides of the path. Most green stretches also had tall trees. As usual most of my walk was occupied with looking at these tall trees. It was justifies as I found some birds perched high in these trees.
As I was almost coming to the end of my walk, I noticed two Loraketes perched in a tall tree and looking downward. Seeing this pair of birds looking downward, I realised that I had forgotten to look down all along the two hours of that walk. The intensity with which the birds looked downward called my attention to turn my eyes downward and apron the path that I was taking.
The first surprising and captivating sight that engaged me when I turned down ward, was this bush below with blossoms spreading its branches all around! I felt downcast for having missed such sights all the along my walk, when my eyes reminded only on tall trees.
I am glad that that I was led at least towards the last part of my walk to look around and find some telling truths about the way of living that sometimes I have not given attention to.
In the photos below, I fund a bush with flowers, with honey bees feeding on them. One bee I tracked for a few minutes remained glued to one flower and moving all around at to get its share of nectar. I fund another bee also arriving to feed on the nectar in the mean time.
It was after this sight, as I was coming to the end of my walk, I noticed the two plants below, whose branches were drooping downward. Both of them had an appearance of a dome with its branches and foliage having a down ward direction.
This unusual sight of the stem growing upward, but the branches and leaves growing downward, I am afraid, had missed my observation in the way it became startling during this walk.
I returned home and took time to listen to the thoughts that criss crossed my mind.
The philosophy of moving upward by acquiring qualifications, positions, jobs, possessions, influences, visibility, and place of eminence is the essence of existential pathway. The craze to be in this journey, to ascend the ladder of success, somehow is the norm in public life. It does not matter for many, whether they trample upon others or belittle others or forget those who fostered them. The gratefulness and humility for having been placed where they are, because of how others facilitated it, evaporates from their conscious memory. Success drivenness becomes an addiction and a way of life.
During this week the assembly election campaign reached its last leg in the state of Karnataka. The Prime Minister was leading road shows on two days with many thronging to meet him on the high ways in Bangalore. Amidst this successful campaign, Mr Rahul Gandhi was shown to be riding pillion on a scooter to go to places, where a delivery boy brought food to people in different places. Ms Priyanka Gandhi was shown to be making Dosa in a kitchen of an ordinary shop keeper and sharing a meal with the commons in the small restraint. I thought that these are two directions in life. The Prime minister of India riding on a decorated vehicle, with flower petals thrown at him by the spectators and he throwing handful of flowers from his vehicle back to them. It was a show of strength and prominence. Instead Rahul and Priyanka seemed to travel down from their position to feel near to people who are ordinary and struggling to overcome the adversity of circumstances.
I got another glimpse of this truth in a poignant way yesterday, when a family visited for consultation after three months. The grand parents who are the care givers, were at their wits end, having to care for their seven years old grandson, who is oppositional, reactive and prone to have anger outbursts. He is addicted to the visual screen and is a foodie. The mother has her health concerns and is separated from her husband due to domestic discordance. The mother needs the care and attention of her parents. When this family shared their woes and sorrows of their day-to-day experiences, it brought this reality of those who live at the edge of existential canvas, with no straw to hold on!
It was this which led me to ponder on this existential issue further! Am I drawn by an upward scaling of my comfort zone and keep that as my life's ambition!
Or, is there emotional and altruistic space within me to look around and find some truths which remain unnoticed and unattended to!
It was just one honey bee, while receiving its nectar from the flower, who was pollinating the flower to allow the flower to bring forth its seed. A flower is incomplete till it is pollinated! The two plants with the branches drooping downward, allow the rain to fall on it to drain downward to wet the earth around it. It allows the sunlight to fall on it and all around it. Does not the tall trees hinder the sunlight and rain from falling underneath it? It is seldom we notice any greenery under tall and widely spread out trees. They hinder any undergrowth.
In my pursuit of success and achievements, do I have a downward movement to feel the needs of so many around me, who are struggling to survive in difficult situations. What is my mind set! Am I seeking to grow taller and leave others behind!
I find in the person of Jesus of Nazareth several instances, when He deliberately inclined Himself towards others who remained forgotten or displaced. When a Syrophoenician, a gentile, came begging for Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus told her, 'Let children be satisfied first; for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs'! I found these words of Jesus most humiliating. But then the woman shared a metaphor with Jesus, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children' crumps'. The passage records, that Jesus said to her, 'Because of this answer go your way, the demon has gone out of your daughter' (Mark 7:24-30).
To me, this was a transforming moment in the mission of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus journeyed form being on the side of the entitled Jewish community, who occupied positions and usurped all for themselves, to be breaking out, to be on the side of those whose lived under the compulsions of living on what is left over!
On whose side am I ! On the side of those who can promote my upward mobility! Or on the side of those who are 'down and out' and looking out, for finding hope amidst difficult situations of life! This downward mobility to live mindfully of others is a message that is placed before me as the message from this morning walk.
Will I stagger or follow this call!
Jesus of Nazareth is also a friend of those who falter and fail! So I find comfort even when I shall stagger or drift!
A stanza of a hymn written by, John E Bode brings me cheer!
"Let me hear Thee speaking,
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
O speak to reassure me,
To hasten or control;
O speak and make me listen,
Thou the guardian of my soul"
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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