Simplicity of the Game

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

With the silence of its black wings, it slips through the skies and lands on the tips of branches. It slowly follows a pattern of ups and downs, left and rights. Just under the clouds, it moves past the airplane towers and swirls around other birds. They join each other in this dance and play because they have a wisdom their fellow specks down below do not: the wisdom of the game, of what it means to play in this life. They know eventually the game will start and end. It always does.

Sometimes I look up in awe as birds glide through the sky. I’ve heard birds follow each other, as though there is no particular leader. I recently learned birds have no particular leader, but the bird who is in the front is working harder. Certain species of birds put the weakest bird in front.  After this, I started thinking about humans and how the strength that lies behind one heart is the very strength which lies behind all human hearts. Put those strands or hearts together and you have unity, a loose system or structure has the potential to do beautiful work in this world. Sometimes it is as simple as that.

In these moments, I think of my own journey over the past couple of months. There were times I felt completely helpless and forgot to see simplicity in things that seemed to be so complicated in those moments. It was in speaking with a brother I came to understand what it truly means to be light and to live in a way to embody that light. It is so easy to talk about these things, but when we actually feel and experience these moments of heaviness, only then can we find our way out. The phrase, the only way out is through, keeps popping into my head. Every time it comes, I question if there is even a point in thinking that there is a way out of any situation or journey. Really it doesn’t even matter at the end of the day. I guess it’s easy for me to say these things now because the moments we are going through horrible times, it is hard to sit through the pain, restlessness, and helplessness.

Maybe the only end for us is the day we leave our bodies because that is the only thing our human minds can comprehend. Besides that day, all else is a continuous journey and nothing else matters besides the most simple things. Each day, I revisit a quote from the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, a book which tells the story of encounters between a dying man and one of his past students.

In one of the chapters, Morrie says, “Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” I revisit this so much because I know so much can seem complicated in the moment, but sometimes the answers lie in simplicity.