high rise

it's been some time since i was able to visit this blog.  i must admit there was this seeming lull in my mind's meanderings. there were lots of thoughts and feelings and impressions but there is no "push" to compel me to write.  they say this really happens. i don't want to force myself to write. i know if i do it then things will not come up sounding honest.  while getting one's thoughts, feelings, and impressions written down, one must have that exhilarating and liberating feeling of release, a "birthing" process, so to speak for the mind's meanderings.

there must be joy while writing the mind stuff, an equal gladness as when one is already reading the words that "birthed" those ideas in the mind.

we've moved office.  the management found it necessary to go to a better business district.  they are following the old adage "birds of the same feather flock together".  if you want more money, you have to go to where money is the primary item.  like attracts like, as they, the business-minded, the money experts, often say.

yet, this is not about money. this is about me suddenly finding myself holding office in a building more than 30-storeys high.  i was asked to find my niche in the 17th floor, a far cry from the 5th floor spot i was accustomed to at the former place.

after about a week, we are all settled in the new building.  now, there was this time, probably the first saturday in the new place, when i managed to get a seat very near the building's glass walls overlooking the world outside.  it was about 2 am and it was still very dark outside. the thick glass wall does not even permit one to see the lights of the other neighboring edifices.  i had to press my face against the cold glass and cup my hands by the side of my face to be able to glimpse the world outside.  looking at the lighted offices from the buildings opposite us, i know we were not the only ones doing business at this unholy hour.  when i looked below, i can see the pinpoints of light from vehicles worming their way to an early traffic. these images evoked in me a feeling of sadness. this darkness.  this cold night. there's not much work on hand so i became a bit sleepy.


after about an hour, i noticed this faint orange glow as i stared on the plate glass.  it was an orange ribbon of light against that blackness.  morning is breaking forth.  the sun is slowly moving up. dawn ...  it was beautiful to behold.  that glorious light, minute-by-minute stretching its carpet over the horizon. orange, then a bit yellow, then golden, the buildings' silhouettes appearing, the blackness slowly diminishing, greying, surrendering to the light.  and that light, sunlight, expressing itself, drawing the curtain of night, claiming its dominion over this phase of time, turning gracefully to silver, then white, oh glittering white. revelation follows, the objects of the outside world starting to be seen. i gazed at the sky. it is blue. the clouds are for now just faint wisps of cotton. sailing silently. their gentle dance betrays the wind that blows.  i no longer need to press my face against the plate glass. everything is clear. even the spears of white sunlight had pierced the glass and pierced me as well. i can see my gray shadow seated on the carpeted floor of the office.  i stood up and looked down below. i can see the vehicles now. and the trees and the greenery. and the houses of the adjoining residential village. i can see the streets and the sidewalks. and on those sidewalks i can see little dots moving in all directions. hurrying. trying to beat time. little dots. people on their way to their appointments of this day. from where i stand i see them. little dots, little people, little lives. and yet i know, if i go down there and mingle with them, these will become big lives, some will be gigantic lives even.

i looked at the vast panorama sweeping before me. behind one of the tallest buildings peeked the sun majestic. light that binds us all.  immediately this sudden remembrance came to mind. the old masters and sages had said -- once one is able to rise to the consciousness of the Infinite, one will be afforded the True View of Life. one will be able to see the True Nature of Existence. i thought to myself, if this 17th-storey view of life awed me at this time, what more if i am able to rise to that level of consciousness that the Sages have referred to?

they say that highest view of Life is attainable and this is what every one must strive for. when one gets this Clear View, then one will have arrived. one will know. one will understand. one can say with conviction that there is just One Life.

the masters and sages have tried to describe the nature of this Life -- Sat-Chit-Ananda.

Truth-Consciousness-Bliss.