What we leave behind...

When a writer dies they become books, photographers continue on through their photos and artists, their artwork. But what of the rest of us? Those of us who have no books to their names or gallery displays. What is it we leave behind?

As everything has a beginning, so too must everything have an end; life is no exception. It is gift, so often taken for granted until the death of someone remands us of it's fragility and value.

This week; a boy I know committed suicide (one of my VFS kids). I don't know how to describe the emptiness that settled in the pit of my stomach on hearing the news or the internal battle as my brain struggles to comprehend the reality; he's gone.

My heart breaks for a life lost; for unfulfilled potential, for loss of his caring spirit, his mind, his talent, his passion and for for memories of a time gone by.

What went through his mind in those last moments I may never know. Could I have done something? Said something? We weren’t each other’s closest friends. But he touched me, during his short life. Maybe I touched him, too. I’ll never know. All I know is what he's left behind.

“Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived.” Picard, Star Trek

Quiet love...

“Love fascinates me. It defies logic, spans cultures, transgresses moral, political, social, economic, racial and ethnic boundaries. Love is all-powerful and all-encompassing. I don't think I am a romantic for saying so. History shows that love emerges from the most horrific of situations. It makes good people do bad things and bad people do good things. Love is everything.

Yet despite its universality, love is surprisingly hard to pin down. And trickily, the harder you look for it, the harder it is to find.

My observations have led me to discover my favorite kind of love. It's the quiet kind. The bragging, over-compensating, facades and performances don't enter the picture. What takes my breath away is catching the inconspicuous lovers in a tender moment, when they think nobody is looking. He tucks her hair behind her ear, she strokes his cheek with the back of her hand. They lock eyes across the room. It's beautiful, because it's real. And it's heartening.” Laura Valerie

Know thyself...

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The ancient Greek aphorism 'γνῶθι σεαυτόν' roughly translated as 'Know Thyself' has had many different meanings throughout literature. The Suda (a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world) says: “the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are, and that know thyself is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude”.

In Plato's Philebus, Socrates said that people make themselves appear ridiculous when they are trying to know obscure things before they know themselves. Later Benjamin Franklin observed the great difficulty of knowing one's self by saying “there are three things extremely hard, steel, a diamond and to know one's self.” More recently (or not so recently) the Latin of know thyself: 'temet nosce' was inscribed over the Oracle's door in the Matrix.

"Know thyself" the interpretations are endless yet we obsess over it . It is the basis of the majority of self-help, the aim and basis of many religions; its the sign of being a mature adult. But how do you 'know thyself'? What does that really look like 'knowing thyself'? Is it all about introspection and self reflection or is knowing 'thyself' not about us at all? Abraham Joshua Herschel once said “Know thy God rather than know thyself... there is no self-understanding with out God-understanding.” 

 

In my search to know/understand myself I have to admit that I get slightly confused, lost and bewildered at times. Like Anne from L.M. Montgomery's Anne of the Isle I think I know myself then, myself changes and I have to get acquainted all over again. Is it growing pains or is the quest to 'Know thyself' akin to chasing a rainbows end?

 

“I do know my own mind,' ... 'The trouble is, my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again.” L.M. Montgomery