COMING BACK TO LIFE

 



“When I took a heavenly ride through our silence,

I knew the moment had arrived

For killing the past and coming back to life.”

(From the song ‘Coming Back to Life’ by Pink Floyd)

 

I think, one of the most amazing graces in life is the grace of coming home; which, truly means the grace of coming back to life!

In this complex world, the consoling fact about living is, that we all are fellow-humans with our respective flaws. None of us – I say ‘none of us’ – here on this planet, is a flawless soul. We are programmed to operate in this world with our respective ‘defects’. An honest awareness of this fact about us is enough to keep us firmly grounded… be kind not only towards others, but also towards ourselves.

Most of us find it difficult to adjust with others, essentially because of  our inability to be kind towards others and ourselves. Others make mistakes just as we do. Others have the right to make amends just as we do. We need to overlook others’ flaws and rejoice in what is good about them, yes, just as we would love them to do the same towards us.

Our flaws are the rough patches through which we seek our way back home… our way back to life. ‘All of life is a coming home’, we hear it in the film ‘Patch Adams’. We hear it in the teachings of Stephen Covey (‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’)…  And, above all, we hear it in Jesus’ ‘Parable of the Prodigal Son’…




Whichever way we may like to interpret this concept of ‘Coming Home’, one thing remains constant: the ‘home’ is ‘Life’. Yes, we all lose our way along our journeys… We all stray away… because of our human flaws and imperfections - our anger, envy, hatred, grudges, insecurities and petty thinking. If living with another person harmoniously is difficult for us, it’s because we fail to accept our flawed human-nature, and we fail to be kind to others and ourselves… It makes it difficult for us to ‘come home’… ‘come back to life’!

That’s why, I said at the outset, that one of the most amazing graces in life is the grace of coming home – the grace of coming back to life.




“You need to be dead  -  blind, deaf and dumb – to the past,” a friend of mine was saying yesterday, “You need to consciously learn to behave as if you have seen no faults and heard no faults from other person, while owning up yours, and move on.”

If that happens from both the ends, life is truly blessed. If it doesn’t happen from the other end, life still calls you. As the song goes, it’s worth killing the past and coming back to life…




And, all of life is a coming home, my friend!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: pixabay

Videos: 1. the luminee 2. Pink Floyd

 

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