Futility of Motion

Oh the animals,
they run and seek shelter,
when it rains;
to drink and bathe,
they jump into the water.

The trees,
they stood still,
no matter how wet the weather,
they stood still,
no matter how dry the weather,
they live longer,
and grow ever still.

Of News and History

Should we keep ourselves updated with the latest news? Why not, this would make us informed citizens, right? Well, I doubt it now.

How much information can daily news give us? Plenty, of course. But most of the information they feed us is trivial, on further reflection. As we can be fooled by first impressions, the shallow depth of information that we gather from news may also fool us. Let me explain.

If today we read about an important news - the result of a general election for example. How can this information help us, if we still cannot be sure how this new government would perform? Are they going to be responsible, generous, or corrupt? So we read the news again tomorrow, and many days to come - until eventually we get a certain impression of the elected government.

So far, news seem to be useful - to judge governments, for example - until we realize that we only need a summary of events between the previous and future elections, in order to decide wisely on whom to support. All that time wasted on reading daily news could have been used to read our history.

But what is the purpose of learning history? "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Obviously. 

There is actually nothing new in the news (if you pardon the pun). News events are nothing but repetition of the same mistakes - done by different people, at different times, in different places. I think we'd be better of reading history.

On Loneliness

from Picasso's Blue Period

Loneliness is not the lack of company, or friends - as one can also feel lonely amidst a group of people. Loneliness, instead, is simply being tired of one own self. Let me explain why I think this must be so.

Having friends, does not actually depend on other people's interest in us. In fact, we are all egoists to a certain extent - that is, we care more about ourselves than about others. Even when we think we genuinely have interest in another person, it is only because we see (part of) ourself in that other person.

So to have any friends at all, one must first take interest in oneself. In doing so, we would then easily find this 'interesting' part of us reflected in other people around us. And as this happens, we would be more motivated to approach that other person, spark a conversation, and genuinely connect with that person. This all starts to happen only because, ironically, we began to take an interest in ourselves.

You might ask, what do I mean by saying that we can 'see parts of us' in other people? These parts may include our character, occupation, and fortunate or even unfortunate circumstances. When we notice them in other people, we get an urge to confirm this, as nothing can be more satisfying than to discover the familiar (parts of us) in unfamiliar places (other people) - like finding cash under your pillow.

Friendship, then, is actually a bond of mutually 'reflected self' - oneself reflected in others. Therefore, as time passes, and as the view of oneself changes with time, one may no longer see oneself again in one's old friend, and eventually the friendship may die away.

Returning to our discussion on loneliness; when one is feeling sad or depressed, then he may lose interest in himself. So that when he attends a social event, or, stays in his bedroom - either surrounded by people, or alone in his room - he feels lonely. And indeed, he would feel that way, as he is not interested even in the closest person he knows and lives with every second of everyday, himself.

Borodin's String Quartet

What is Homesickness

At Eternity's Gate (Van Gogh)

Can we recall those moments, when we are reminded of home, in our time away? Though it doesn't happen at all time - neither do these thoughts come to us most of the time - when they do come to mind, we are filled with a feeling, which we call homesickness. But let's go further than this superficial view of homesickness, and delve deeper into an understanding of this feeling of longing and nostalgia.

The easiest way to start is to recall exactly when do we often feel homesick. Let me give a suggestion: it is more than often that we feel homesick when we face an uncertain future, in our time away from home. This is why homesickness comes at around the beginning, and the end of our 'travels', although it doesn't necessarily have to do so. 

In the beginnings of our 'journeys', we can feel homesick, if we are not sure how things will unfold for us in a foreign environment, when our routine at home is broken. However, as we familiarize with this new environment, we quickly 'settle down', and would soon forget to miss home.

Whereas at the ends of our 'journeys', as we become more and more aware of a definite ending to our time away from home, we can also feel homesick. These are the times when our current routine, the one we have gotten used to while being away from home, will again be broken, and although at these times we are about to go home, we can feel even more homesick.

But why must these be so? Well, let's first examine our idea of home. We usually define it as the physical place where we spent our childhood. We also regard those who live there, our parents, grandparents, siblings, pets as part of home. However, home can also be thought of as the mere idea of our past, that time and place from where we came from. 

So no wonder then that we feel homesick when our future is uncertain, as the idea of home, which is actually a thought about our past, can be more comforting, as it is more certain.

***

Taking this further, we can think about how to remedy the sadness that often comes with homesickness. We can try calling home, or even make plans to return home. However, these are temporary fixes to the real problem that we may be facing, i.e an uncertain future. One way out may be to turn our anxiety into excitement, by actively making realistic plans for the future, and not to underestimate our ability to adapt to new environments, as we have been doing so, for many times already.