Unto thee

We all look up, what are we  really looking for?

The most amazing thing about being in a new city is obviously the new smell and new sights. After a routine to which we get accustomed our senses savor all the novel experiences with a primitive vigor that which we hadn't even realized existed in us. For the rural dweller the humdrum of the city bring welcome excitement and opens new avenues to learn the ways of the modern. For those who chose to escape the city a tranquil and silent get away is the most sought after. But whichever shoes you would like to adorn the place brings out a new you. 

    

 In one of my such renewing experiences I found a new side to my existence. My inner quest for peace. I come from a normal family where parents are devout Catholics. And as can be expected I am time and again grilled for my seeming disinterest in a prayerful life. No, I am not an atheist but neither do I believe that that power of creation would expect me to call upon him a hundred times a day to get me the new vintage collection up at that store in the middle of this new place. I pray, that is to say I thank that power that preserved me, the power which kept me from getting into bed at the end of the day sad and lost. But that's that. Any way the point is coming from such a family and more out of routine as soon as I reach a new place I look for the nearest church where I can 'keep my Sabbath Holy'.  Upon venturing out I found the nearest one to be as far as 7 Km. It took me by surprise as I come from a place where you can find one at every corner, literally. Well when I did find one I managed to find out the timings for the Holy mass as I am not the one to make hastily into one and find myself deprived of the satisfaction. Yes, I do find a sort of satisfaction after my Sabbath offering. A sort of belonging, a sense of preservation. But what I found that day was none of them who attended seemed to take in the full meaning of their act, if not in a religious manner at least in a manner that becomes the search for God or that inner peace . How could they? They were city dwellers. Rushing in  just in time for the Eucharist and even without a moment of thought let alone wait for the final blessings running out to get the bus home.! 

What I felt back then was how then could man not succumb to sin or crime (for that atheist in us) when he had neither time nor the will to pause and wonder about what he did right and what he could have made right. If not for the society at least for  himself. To be able to get into bed with a calm mind with the sense of contentment that we all look so much for. So many flock to places of religious worship yet why do they not find that peace when getting into bed at the end of the day. Why are 92% of the people unable to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for all that which went well.

The solution to all the madness that we face must perhaps lie in this little act, and more upon the will to get to it. No it wasn't the pursuit of happiness that made unhappy men but instead the lack of pursuit for the real inner self that made people unhappy. A moment to stay calm and to evaluate 'what I really wanted, what I got and what I could make of that which I got' could do the trick. This thought process instills a lot of positive energy and gives the much needed drive to enter the new day motivated and planned. And success is definitely the outcome of calm planning and steady work.

And all it takes is a moment of self evaluation.  Perhaps Pablo Neruda was really a genius. If only we took a moment for keeping quite.

People flock to worship, but do they?