The Places In Between

 

We often have an overview about everything in life. We look at it from a broad point of view where we think we see it all and we make conclusions without even getting close to it. We say things like life is beautiful...or Life is difficult...or Life is a mystery and so on but how many of us are able to SEE why exactly it is "beautiful" or "difficult" or "Mysterious" ?? 

This book is a true account of a traveller who WALKED across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul merely accompanied by a dog in 2002 (just after 911) to see what was really going on between these places. Before i go any further i would like to share a quote from this book which is stated as an introduction to the story.

"The country is quite covered by darkness, so that people outside it cannot see anything in it; and no one dares go in for fear of the darkness. Nevertheless men who live in the country round about say that they can sometimes hear voices of men, and horses neighing, and cocks crowing, and thereby that some kind of folks live there, but they do not know what kind of folk they are." 

- The Travels of Sir John Manderville

chapter 28

3 years ago, when i was flying from Malaysia to England i remember how amazed i was when we flew over Afghanistan. All three of us (my aunt, cousin and i) walked to the rear end of the plane to look out through the big window so we could have a better view of the landscape below. That felt pretty amazing...as i watch the endless stretch of mountains with its deep, narrow valleys in between, all looking dry and brown everywhere ...no hint of green with its villages here and there which mostly looked like boxes made of stone and mud-brick, the first thing that came to my mind was an image of a little kite runner, hahaha..couldn't help it! It was truly weird having an overview of a piece of land which contained SO much history!! I was wondering....all these people living below....how do they feel about life? what do they know about whats beyond this land? how do they think? what do they want?? And even more disturbing thought was how many were walking around with guns and bombs at the moment while we were looking from above? 

Though we have some idea of how life is there, from reading Afghan based novels, seeing the place for real, though from a few thousand feet above made a disturbing impact! Wished i was able to snap a pic of the landscape then....but my camera was all packed in the luggage. So here's some pictures from the net i found which looks almost like the view we had. 

So anyway, that experience was like having an overview of a place and knowing that i would most likely never step on the soil to know the real thing, i decided to grab this book the moment i spotted it at big bad wolf sales early this year. And it was great that the story was based on journey by foot!! So, u cant possibly miss anything in between! The villages...the people, the pets and other animals, the landscape...routes, paths, rivers, mountains...historical buildings, food, the culture...language, dressing, religion, political views (if they had any) and understanding of life, believes, traditions and daily conversations....yes EVERYTHING! You get a feel of everything that is going on between these places...from one village to the next...for months after months...by foot. Now i am satisfied! The overview i had now makes a complete picture with whats inside!

Somehow the conclusion i came to was, people in there have absolutely no idea of how life is beyond their land...they live in their own world and don't look to be any likely to being convinced about an alternative view of life. Right or wrong...they are SURE about what they believe in. 

Thanks to the this unbelievable traveller, Rory Stewart who dared take this dangerous journey which gives the world a clearer and detailed picture of life inside of Afghanistan. 

Just like him, we ALL need to take such journeys into life. Not necessarily by foot but by heart and soul. Feel the places in between the moments...touch it...experience it ...live it! Don't glance through life in a hurry! Be into EVERY moment! Walk it barefooted...feel the ground! Make it REAL! Enough overviews...enough blur visions...enough dragging! Get to LIFE now! And....

See you somewhere in between :D 

LOVE UNLEASHED

We grow up hearing words like "family is important" "Love your neighbours" "Take care of your little brothers and sisters" "Be nice to your friends in school" " Respect your teachers" and so on. And thats exactly what we try to do....we obey these rules as much as we could and then when we become adults we say the same things to our children. So our mind is conditioned to love a certain group, care for certain people in our lives and we go on thinking we are truly a loving human being. 

Then, what happens is, we meet new people...we move to a new environment, maybe into a different culture and atmosphere. And suddenly we are lost. How do we love strangers?? how do we care for things that doesnt belong to us. How do we deal with situations? Now comes the trouble! We judge one another...we hate people...we think the world is cruel and ugly and evil. Then these feelings spreads into our daily life and it takes over all those LOVE YOUR FAMILY...LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOURS chantings! Then suddenly we are choking with emotions! We feel betrayed, lost and angry! Most of the time we cant even figure out the reasons either because theres too many or theres none at all. 

Somehow we human beings forget that we are made of love and nothing but love. Theres no need to teach a child to love. It is their natural state..until we interfere and confuse the child with all these restrictions. Let the child be...and they will love everyone and everything. 

When we grow up in love ...we can only attract more love. We can connect to everything and everyone around us because the whole universe is made of this energy called loved. Now dont ask me questions like....should we love the robbers or rapists then? Coz that is my whole point. If we let a child grow naturally they will not become a rapist or robber. When we teach them to hate, they attract people to hate ...and they dwell in hatred and their contaminated soul looks for an outlet by doing evil things. 

It is not about love something or someone...it is simply about being love itself. Then you attract love like a magnet. Be love itself, no separation between the feeling and you. You are it! It is you! Love unleashed :) Then watch what happens...

See how the music flows through every vein....watch how much brighter the flowers in your garden looks, watch how the butterflies flutter around you...watch how people even look at you in awe. They cant help recognizing themselves when they look at you. Watch how you feel like dancing whenever it rains. Watch how thankful you are for the sunshine. Watch how your world changes! Feel the joy that it brings...feel the excitement! Feel rejuvenated! above all FEEL LIFE! 

Why contain Love when it can be unleashed! let it go! and go wherever it takes you! It always knows the best routes of life :) 
BE LOVE!