WE RUN FOR LIFE IN NEVER ENDING RACE.

 

 

 

WE RUN FOR LIFE FOR OUR ENTIRE LIFE,

BUT LIFE RUNS OUT OF LIFE FROM OUR OWN LIFE!!

 

One more profound and poignant observation of life’s paradoxical nature. We strive, we hustle, and we run a never-ending race towards success, love, money, financial stability, legitimate purpose, and Immortality, or simply saying planning for next weekend on the very first day of the week! Seriously! Boss, while reading this very article, life slipped very smartly and quietly back door, without our knowledge, far out of our scope. And, life’s fleeting nature reminds us of our mortality, not being immortal forever. Isn't it very poignant? Throughout our entire life, we plan the arrangements for the life we want to live, but that very life has its own agenda, its own narratives that unfold for us. Just not able to decode this joke of life, “we schedule our life, or life has its schedule”.

Even much before the moment we pop out into the world, naked, vagitus –the first bawl, cry, of a newly born baby. We are confused whether to celebrate or be prepared for life lifelong, eternal MARATHON WITH NO MEDAL as a reward. We started our first ever race as sperm, among our clones of 40 millions sperm, for the existence in life as the fittest for survival!! Phew, we raced to live and experience life, which we never knew about before. And this sperm race concluded as “LIFE” with many more races to be performed throughout life.

We were taught, mentored or instructed, or guided to get moving and more of moving. First, we were told to crawl, and then, more perfect crawling, walking, and then more poised walking, then running, finally, which was crafted with phrases like achieve, chase, win, and more of wins. And in this entire exercise of “life race”, unknowingly, we became participants of the biggest prank being played by life! Merely, just whenever we f we were going to hit the hang of all shake of life, the best of ever prankster, life, starts quietly withdrawing. We engaged ourselves in disengaging our own lives into shreds of sweat! And yet, entire lives, we MARATHON RELIGIOUSLY, irrespective of caste, creed, or sex. Religiously, without much asking life what we want, we follow the muddled dogmatic pseudo belief of life as “RACE”.

We exist; moreover, we have mechanised ourselves into machines, cursed! In an age where “hustle” is considered a divine virtue, a perfect pseudo notion, sleeping long are losers, rest is sin- as time is money, and one must wake up at 5 A.M, have organic tea, with warm water, lemon water with honey journal your daily muster of life as log book- write down three deeds to be done least daily, dominating your goal(s) daily. Even leisure feels never-ending, KPI-KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR, a quantified measurement over unstoppable time for a specific objective, i.e., race, and more of race. And all the whilst, “LIFE” chuckles, sipping martini-half stirred and half shaken (life is dancing martini where a perfect blend of life is half shaken and half stirred) in the corner, whispering,” wow,  they fell for it (prank)”.

We chase love, win love, nurture love with fragile care, and invest our heart in a relationship in “PURSUIT OF LOVE”. But the same “pursuit of love” can be all-consuming! Priorities of life can be shifted, changed, or diverted into other unwanted lanes of life, while chasing the same chasing love, nurturing, winning over love, or investing our heart, and ending up miserable, an accident which might not only paralyze the notion of true love but lose the sight of self-dignity aspect of life. At this point, the quest for true love becomes so intense, obsessive then abusive that other important breath-giving aspects fade into the background from foreground of life collage.

Short anecdote, she spent a years for her soul mate, pouring her heart into every relationship, hoping one day the nurtured plant will bloom into a blossom of love and affection!. But one day, she looked back, and she realized she’d missed out on beautiful friendships, career milestones, and precious moments with family. A friend once asked,” Did you find love?” She smiled wistfully and replied,” Forget about love, but in the chaos of love, I did not earn one single soulful friend. All I found life was passing by me smiling”. It’s important to balance and appreciate life as a journey where many transitions take place and not be reluctant to it, not just the final destination.

Not only that we spend (invest) decades building a career. We indulged or being to raise a castle in hell, where we get burnt day and night. We face the different facets of strikes from any end without prior our knowledge, yet we strive to protect and defend in any circumstances. And we do all these acts of never-ending race just so we can smilingly retire and finally enjoy “life” in peace and rest!! …”  REST” where and what is left rest in the so-called “rest” than a bunch of medical prescriptions, medical unpaid bills, maybe insurance bills, medical reports with more confusing notes,  aches and pains in various departments of the body, frustrations of not being able to perform independently anymore and may more in list….just being left as residue. Most of the sacrifices represent productivity chasing promotions that may or may not mean anything in the end, every day, new challenges in the arena of life, as combat duels…target schedules where we forget our real target, unclaimed, in a roller coaster.

We puppet, we jump, we dance on every single chance we get as an opportunity, we clown on our being, yet we showcase” CAREER” as a circus, where we participate to act and entertain the rest of the world as colleagues, and again those colleagues entertain others too. And this so-called circus goes on performing acrobatically, where dear “LIFE” acts as ringmaster rest of us…….do we want to know even. Life makes a sarcastic point,” Congratulations, you have climbed the ladder and swings, wrong building though. And like a clown, we merely cry over the mask of a smile! And yet once again, it becomes a powerful act of entertainment.

Now, when the career wheel breaks spirit, you discover a spirituality path as a new address for accommodation, arranging new karmic baggage to let go, meditating, and seeking immense abundance to balance, often while paying back for retreat or downloading the wrong app of life!!. Even peace, then, has become performative. Then, we regret not prioritizing our spiritual growth earlier, longing for a more meaningful, purpose-driven life. We often turn to the spiritual path of awakening our consciousness when life itself is fleeting. We should have been mindful about cultivating spirituality or self-awakening throughout our precious life, rather than waiting till the end.

And after all these chasings and winning races as so called ultimate goal of life, what do we get? A memorial post with “RIP” WRITTEN IN BOLD AND CAPS, along with a few emojis. We always knew this was coming, but still, we participated in these races, and we treated life as a permanent gig. The real sarcasm, or rather stated as a sarcastic truth, is that we waited our entire lives for the right time to live.  Recently, we all learned and adapted a new philosophy of life, “live like the last day”…. absolutely wrong interpretation. Don’t live like it’s your last day, Live like it's only a day….Life doesn’t wait, and it never ends. It passes by and we just wave a hand. It leaves a sarcastic, absurd, beautiful, “RUN”. Learn to read it right, before life runs you.

Life plays out in contrast; we chase meaning in chaos, laugh to hide tears and painful screams, and live like we will never die, immortal. Maybe this is a joke on us, but it is also for us.

 

We run for life in our entire lives,

“AND” life runs out of life from our life.

But maybe, just maybe,

If we stop running, chasing blindly, following, or pursuing,

We will see life was right there, all along.

And not in or over the finishing line.

There is no substantial finishing line ever.

As there is no life left beyond the finishing line ever.

But yet we run and run for run in absurd, beautiful, sarcastic “RUN”

Just note to understand clearly,

We run for life in our lives,

BUT life runs out of life from our life.

or 

We run for life in our lives,

AND life runs out of life from our life.

 

 Inked by: d’pen