A most asked question in the history of humanity is “What is the meaning of life? What are we doing here?” For some, the meaning is finding food and shelter, for others it is success in work or a happy settlement, and for another, it is living on the impulse –seeking pleasure whatever that signifies individually (for example, going across town for the chocolate that I particularly like instead of finishing an important job for me and others, or perpetual travelling for somebody else who otherwise becomes restless and meaningless at home, seeking to supplant meaning by buying another house …
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When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir their leaves and call out, “Stay a while.” The light flows from their branches. And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say, “and you too have come …
One of the most read mystical poets Rumi (1207-1273), recounts in his seminal Mathnawi that at the time King Solomon was building his temple following the divine order, medicinal plants sprouted one after the other in the courtyards of the temple. Endowed with the gift of speaking the language of animals, plants, and other creatures in nature, King Solomon would ask the emerging sprouts : Tell me your name, what you heal, which medicine are you? whom you hurt, and whom you cure Plants would speak up and count their remedies and harms, if any. It is cited in …
We may all be familiar with the butterflies flying in our stomach when we are head over heels in love. The heart beats faster, the autonomous nervous system signals excitement and increases oxygen to our muscles, the neuroendocrine system is boosted up; being elevated from head to toe, the body feels lighter and on an instant we can take flight. This is how neuroscientists describe the state of “limbic love.” Emotions are activated in the limbic system of the brain and they coordinate our behavior and physiological states even though we are not always consciously aware of them. The …
The little happiness in life is sometimes found in the backyard. Just as planting a seed may flicker hope, a walk in nature may change our ordinary mood to a state of awe, or we may overcome by delight at the sight of the first rose bud in spring. The appeasing quality of nature kindles the human spirit as the marine biologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964) wisely emphasized it : There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature –the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. “Clearly, nature calls to something very deep in …
Mars, the mysterious red planet named after the Roman God of War has occupied the extraterrestrial fantasies of the humans inhabiting the earth since ancient times. Seeking life on Mars or chances of colonizing Mars, or the contrary, anticipating Martian attacks on earth, has always inspired astronomers, film makers and storytellers. Among the sky watchers, the pioneer was the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910) who geared his telescope ceaselessly to observe Mars. He chalked out the red planet’s surface, demonstrating its seas and continents on the map. His most ground breaking observation was the dense …
Cruising through the fairy tales of the renown Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) has been my favorite ride at Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. The well-known scenes from his universal fairy tales are artfully designed and animated in this popular amusement park founded in 1843. What was magical about the ride was the realness of the scenes staged in a surreal sojourn across the fairy tales. One could easily find himself as incarnated part of each new scene amidst the heroes of the story. To complete going in the book experience, the epitome of the tale is heard from a …
October October is a gypsy queen in dress of red and gold She sleeps beneath the silver moon when nights are crisp and cold. The meadows flame with color now, which once were cool and green Wild asters and the goldenrods bow low to greet their queen. When she is tripping through the wood with songs so clear and sweet, The autumn leaves come sifting down and rustle beneath her feet. –Winifred C. Marshall
Italy is marking the 700th anniversary of the departure of Sommo Poeta — the Great Poet, Dante Alighieri (1265 Florence-1321 Ravenna), and his masterwork, The Divine Comedy. He wrote this monumental epic poem at the age of 35 when he was exiled from his hometown of Florence to spend the rest of his life in Ravenna, until his death. In this timeless book, Dante sets out on a voyage to the other world where souls embark upon terminating life on earth, to be settled in the realms of Inferno, Purgatorio, or Paradiso –hell, interworld, and heaven. As he passes through …
To love beauty is to see the light. The renown French author Victor Hugo (1802-1885) reflected on the bliss of beauty that strikes the eye, and said : To love beauty is to see light. Nearly a century after Victor Hugo, Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), the first man who traveled to space in 1961, expressed in awe as he gazed across the cosmos : Rays were blazing through the atmosphere of the earth, the horizon became bright orange, gradually passing into all colors of the rainbow: from light blue to dark blue, to violet and then to black. What an indescribable …
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