You Learn
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t
contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a
child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain
for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in
mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your
own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you
flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and learn
With every good-bye you learn.
~ Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges with Maria Kodama and other Friends
Life is a process of continuous learning. With utmost humbleness. And simultaneously a process of de-learning. That is at every moment one should exclaim that he does not know anything and then learn from the moment and leave that learning and go to the next moment. That is the only way to keep the mind fresh and new. Without any accumulations of memory. And without any insecurity for the future. The mind should be completely absorbed in the moment and should immediately come out also. There is great beauty and freshness in living in the moment or living from moment to moment which is one and the same thing. In 'Ishavasya Upanishad' this kind of living is summarized as 'Tena Tyaktena Bhunjitha' i.e enjoy this world while simultaneously leaving it. This can be done only when one lives the moment like a bird and leaves the moment as the snake leaves its skin. This is exactly Jorge Luis Borges has been doing. This is the starting point of the great journey.
ReplyDeleteGreat Great ...really great. 'Decorate your own soul without waiting for some one with flowers...!' 'with every good bye you learn....!' great. Thanks Sathya for posting this. Comment by Pankaj is also very good. Learning and Unlearning goes hand in hand. In each step of your life, you learn what to do, based on your bad experience, you decide not to do something..this is un learning...Thanks once again...Kamal,
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