Sunday, May 17, 2009

Circle Of Life


I have often wondered and asked myself this question - How would it be if the circle of life was to be turned around, and the end of our life was actually what we know as the beginning today. In simpler words - our life would actually end by us going back to our mother's womb. Just the visual of the security, warmth, love and care of that zone makes me want this so badly right now. Picture this - us going back to being babies who are a mere 25 centimeters long, sucking our thumbs, surrounded by all the TLC of the 'mother zone', when we die. Awesome, isn't it?

So let's explore, imagine and create a world like this for ourselves and be that person, who (for example sake), happens to be the only one to go through this 'reverse circle of life'. And before we proceed any further my dear reader, let's JUST be imaginative, and break out of the shackles of trying to 'LOGIFY' this deeply emotional and hopefully a wonderful thought.

Let's start by knowing that if you are a man you would be born at the age of 70 and women at the age of 80 (per a latest survey that i read online, that's the average life span for the respective genders). What we surely don't want to explore or imagine is this - 'how on earth could our parents have conceived us, with us being like this'. All we are focussing on is you, me & 'US' being born at at the age of 70/80. And to make this thought divine, let's also consider that we were like this gentle leaf floating all over mankind, till god assigned us to our respective parents, for us to be taken care of and brought up (maybe brought down in this case?).

Key things that stay a constant with this reversal - the joy of us coming into this world would still blossom (hopefully), our teeth would still be missing (most of them if not all) and we would need a lot of love and care at that age still (Ogden Nash rightfully calls the old age 'The second childhood' stage).

Let's brace ourselves now and get into this fancy world to imagine WHAT WOULD CHANGE. Fathom this - we would be born as people who would have had their own experiences in life (already). So the phrase 'Born Free' in that sense would not be applicable to us. If you are wondering why, let's pause and think. Take yourself to be where you are in your life emotionally right now. Are you as free spirited as you were, when you were born as a kid(in the normal circle of life)? Do you still do things you want to do, completely oblivious of the people and the environment around you? See what I am trying to say? But yes, the upside to this, with experience comes knowledge and with knowledge comes wisdom. So to summarize we would be be 'BORN WISE & SORT OF FREE' - doesn't sound that bad after all.

As we age or rather grow younger, following is what would happen - Instead of working towards building a career, we would start with one, instead of walking into kindergarten in our formative years, we would walk into a swanky cabin, instead of wearing the bubble gummers we normally walk around in, we would be sporting Prada's, instead of us being pampered by our parents with the 'Johnson & Johnson' cosmetics, we would garnish ourselves with the MACs and the BVLGARIS of the world, instead of wearing diapers, we would start by sporting the Calvin Kleins and the Victoria's Secret, & for the majority population that is sexually 'normal', we would not be born as virgins!!! - Crazy isn't it?

In a nutshell, we would be born with everything we desire to have (in our current lifecyle). Things that we would die for today (by the end of our lives in the current cycle), are things that we would be born with and die without, if the clock were to turn. Which if you were to think of is one of the most amazing things to happen - let me show you how.

Go back in time and replay the following - the first 6 months of the relationship that you are in right now, the first 30 days of your first job, the first drive / ride you took all by yourself when you learnt to do it, the first time you 'made love' to the one you love / loved - sweet,cherished, fond and happy memories, right? The commonness in all of this is 'FIRST' - a word that signifies inception, freshness, a new beginning, a new start. Now link this to what you were reading earlier and think - you would by the end of your life, actually come closer and go back to the 'start point' of life. The finish line of your 100 m race would be the line where you now take guard. And yes, you won't cover this running it down like a bullet train. You would crawl, pause, notice a few things (maybe a lot), and then reach the end point. You will for sure take more time, and for sure, you would enjoy it more. And by the time you finish this race, complete it and win it, u wont be the 'BIG GUY' (phrase, nothing to do with gender). You would have turned into this 25 centimeter long person that we earlier spoke about, and as against the usher standing at the end of the line with the flag, you would go back into the womb that you come from today, with your mother waiting their with all her love for you. Wow, what a way to end life - perfect!!

Zooming back into reality (as I 'sort of' lye on my bean bag), I can't help but connect to the feeling / reason that triggered this thought in me. I am for sure a young, successful, richer, maybe a good looking guy too. Nothing can take away from the fact that I am happy with how my life is as well. But you know, with all of this, what I have also become is conditioned, opinionated, suspicious, wary and in that sense closed. You see, while I was 'Born Free' I wonder if I would 'LIVE & DIE FREE' too (in a true sense). So what makes me want to reverse the 'CIRCLE OF LIFE' is the desire to be FREE again. Freedom from my conditioned mind, the conditioned people & the opinionated world. Funny how I want to go back to start point, when with each passing day I know, we all come closer the end.


Knowing very well that this so can't happen, what am i going to do? Well, you must have figured by now, that like all of you, I was born free too. And the only for me to 'DIE FREE' and make the most of me being 'BORN FREE' is to 'LIVE FREE'. So while the circle of life may not turn the other way, the drift surely will.

10 comments:

Upasana said...

Profound!

ADITYA said...

I loved the article circle of life. Initially i tght it to be based on movie" Curious case of benjamin button". but later ur creativity took it to another level.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful Sriram.. you have put so much thought into this... I enjoyed reading..and put myself in that place. You are right, what a nice journey this can be now, if we get freer.. that's a liberating thought.
harshi

Alka Adatia said...

It is a very thoughful article..!I guess it is possible to reverse our life in the present context too..take care...!:)

DelennDax7 said...

Very very interesting concept! One thing that kept going through my mind, though, is the realization that all that we have (in the reversal scenario) will gradually slip away from us..we would KNOW ahead of time that we WILL indeed lose all this "stuff" as we go along, before we return to the womb. I think fear of loss might set in. But, also, it might help us hang on & appreciate what we have much better. Hopefully, with our increased wisdom, we would utulize our gifts, etc. much better-knowing full well that we'll gradually lose them all.

I love your way of thinking..really look forward to reading more of your thoughts!

Nithya Natarajan said...

Nice imagination. The grass is always greener on the other side though. The reality of human mind is that it will be fearful even of mother's womb because what happens after that is still unknown just as we don't know what happens after death. The best way is to enjoy life is to be selfless and always keep giving and expect nothing in turn. In short, wag more and bark less :)

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.. Manifesting in the garden of life under a waterfall and flowing to our family who cover us in clothes for us and have a celebration...live it all or die it all...die to live.have experience and wisdom of very many years and be at peace but loose it all with time and become scarred with time bec of getting hit on the rocks of life..like loosing ure memory about how to deal with it like to the best of our ability.when we are older we are like a machine. yet loose control as we grow younger and scream and shout in happiness...talk without the maturity and sense of experience as we yet grow younger... just be mad and fun and innocent,listen to great music and watch art and maybe rebel a bit for freedom to do what we please and then go back to being meek and submissive under the watchful eye of our parents and then eventually turning only to Ma for everything ,maybe irritating her sometimes for constant attention.then getting enfolded in the sweet dark warmth of her tum tum and then the probably just excreted and turn to earth and finding our way back to the waterfall somehow... i heard fish ,i think salmon go upstream to lay eggs and then die.thats all they do..go downstream and upstream...i was reading an article by His Holiness Dalai Lama where he said when we have burnt and expiated all the negative cause of our lives and are immersed in enlightenment we can choose to not take a birth again or choose what time and where and what family we would want to go to only for love. :)


i think this is what its like to be inside her...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7K72X4eo_s&ob=av2n

:) :) :) said...

Approved by Faith kumari !

Anonymous said...

its so creative n divergent work beautiful

Sunshine said...

Very creative article!! Seems like a lot of thought put into it :)