The Grapes were Sour...

I happened to revisit the story of the fox and the sour grapes, more than once in close succession, and each time I picked again a casual thread of reflection, till the vague thoughts of my mind gave way to something vivid.

A fox was hungry . She saw a bunch of grapes. She jumped to get them. She jumped again and again but could not get them. She went away saying that the grapes are sour.
The moral being- It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

We have been brought up thinking how wrong the fox is. The grapes need not really be sour after all. So wrong to scorn, to revile something.

But does it matter if the grapes were in fact sweet? It was really sour for the fox! Something that could not remove the hunger of the fox definitely left a sourness in its heart. The grapes were sour...

Well, if the fox did think so while going on its way, it definitely would have become easier for her to make peace with unfulfilled wishes and move on to new hopes.

Each Blessing has its Curse

Is not it true, that attached to each blessing is a curse?

For example, you might be blessed with beauty but can you be sure all the attention you get is real love? It could just be more of a desire to pluck, than to tend; leaving you with a wound to nurse. Many who are beautiful get cutting remarks and often feel hated for no reason they know of. Beauty is often cursed with undeserved hate and hurts.

Feeling love is a blessing but it often brings in possessiveness, insecurity and the likes which are horrible feelings and which make you wish you wouldn't have loved. It can gift you the worst heartache and the most terrible period called break up...Love is cursed with pain.

Talent is a blessing but cursed with loneliness. Highly talented people often don't find similar minds or understanding friends. They may find an aspect to themselves that compliments every different friend but there might not be a friend who could find a side which is able to understand or sync in to their complete self. They are cursed with loneliness in a crowd of friends.

Fame is a blessing but cursed with fake friends. People flock to those who are popular and claim them when fame knocks up to them. They may get praises and appreciation and are applauded, but they can never be sure the sources are true to them. The famed are cursed to a fake world.

You can add to this list and see the curse attached to each blessing. However, when plagued by the curses,you can  remind and console yourself with the knowing that "It is because I have/had a blessing" and so ignore the side effects or  downside. What is more, every curse can turn to a blessing...Pain can often be the best fuel to creativity, insights and higher wisdom.

On the other hand, if you don't have these blessings, you feel just a regular person with nothing much going for you; then look again! Quite possibly you have been blessed in life "with all that really matters"- such as good friends who stay by you through thick and thin, and perhaps even true love"!

Unlike the gods or angels in forever bliss, being human, we have the privilege of being able to experience various kinds of joy in innumerable aspects of what we call life. However, it comes with the promise of  being able to suffer just as much. But then, every suffering comes with the assurance of precious lessons, of a meaningful life. Just look closer......and deeper...

Life is an inseparable duality. Accepting both - 'so called' blessings and' so called' curses -with equanimity, is the only escape.....

Lighting a Candle

'Gloom' itself the night, to which I suddenly woke
Fearful the sounds that crept up close,
mingled with the thump of my very loud heart;
Which sang of a terror with a thundering force.

Wet went my palms with all that I feared
I trembled and cursed until thoughts cleared;
Wasn’t there a candle and match I could find?
But the dark ate at me as the distance sneered.

I stumbled through the distance but, did find my way
I did light the candle and it leapt bright and gay!;
that the shadows that threatened were now the scared
as they fled from the fear of the truth spreading ray!

With a candle I could see all for what it was
Now nothing could pretend to be something it was not;
The ghost at the window was just a hanging branch!
And the threat at every step was merely my thought

The light that I lit was 'sight' new to see
A strength to my heart, a guide to my feet.
Lighting a candle is all that it took,
to tick at the truth and cross the “could be”...

(Topic from Roy Durham...What does the light of one candle mean to you)