Thoughts Become Things
Am I interested in humanity? Perhaps No. Am I interested in people? Perhaps Yes, only from a distance. It was only a few days back while travelling back home from work, busy in reading a book amidst the crowded subway, I chance upon a woman, looking cultured and sophisticated unlike me, was reading a book. Was I interested in the woman? Not until I knew what she was reading, which I never got to know!
Our possessions tell a beautifully crafted story about who we are, and to whom our hearts belong to. What captures our heart and possessed by else, makes us wonder and even more so curious. I am sure, since Art breathes in every vein of mine, anyone else possessing even a tad bit of it will eventually capture my imagination. A dilemma nevertheless arises always, what attracts me towards the people, the curiosity to explore their stories from a passive distance or the people themselves, and i must mind that both people and their stories are two different entities.
A similar fate, or twist of chance, happened yesterday. It's close to an year now when I got myself inked on the lower left arm. It was a long thought decision of what to get imprinted on my body which I could endure looking at for whole my life. Deep down I still knew what i would settle for. But the process was never without my usual psychoanalysis. Why am I getting one? To tease others? To tell myself about something which I already don't know? Or is to become a daily reminder of my own life philosophy borrowed from a philosophical hero before me? But deep down, I never knew how much would it tell about me to others. It was only after getting inked and realizing of what is there for me to witness every morning, I understood the implications of dialogues and discussions and conversations it can lead to. Never was I afraid to tell people what it was about, though most still don't understand what it is about. And I myself barely take any step forward to reveal. But I, as per my usual habit of poking nose into other's story, quiz them about what made them decide and what kinda story it reveals about them. So, yesterday, I was telling you about this chance incident or not chance entirely - thoughts become things, right? I happen to get in contact with a pretty, wide eyed woman possessing a supple smile. Though as a habit of mine, what caught my eye was that she was inked too. Unlike me, she had got inked just below her left shoulder, or right is it? See, all I was curious about was what it said. And, at the risk of sounding extremely nosy and somewhat stupid, in all my Don Qxiote-esque mannerism, I asked, what does it say? She paused for an awkward silence unable to grasp what I asked. Me being I said, "Oh, you know what I'm talking about." With some sense of amazement in her tone, she responded, "It reads, 'Thoughts become Things', it's from a book", she continued. I had read that book when I was in high-school. And it has been years since I have last thought about that book or what it preached. But as I sit down to write, I am recollecting my own experiences due to that book. Maybe, I never was that kind of optimist, somehow I could have never committed the philosophical suicide of accepting anything without questioning. The first thought that sprang up in my heart the moment she told me what her tattoo read was - What made her get it inked on her body. Sure she responded how anyone would to my awkward query that it was something she read in a book, but questions in my head keep diving deeper. What made her read that book, what was she going through so as to pick up a book which preaches Thoughts Become Things. If I look at my own life so far, a lot of my thoughts indeed have become things. But 'things' is a word, I find very worldly and devoid of emotions. I never counted much on the word 'thought' too. So much so, that as is a habit of mine, instead of saying, "I think", I always say, "I feel". Why do I do that? Maybe she has to ask me that.
What are the implications of Thoughts Becoming Things? If one does believe in the saying, then I am afraid a constant inspiration is needed for the soul to have only pleasant thoughts as they risk becoming things. Perhaps I know why this phrase doesn't resonate with me. Because I believe tragedy breeds hope. And experiencing tragedy blossoms of a future yet to come with an invincible summer where occasional cool breeze blows one's hair at the dawn.
Little did she know, that her curiosity has started an another project for me. That's what Muses always do. Their subtle charm makes the Artist trad on an unknown territory. I now want to document the nuances of people and their beliefs attached with what they get inked on their bodies. I already plan to get a Haiku as my next tattoo, but again the question remains Why? Why this insatiable desire to tell yourself, to remind yourself of thoughts and life philosophies which get imprinted rigidly whereas the human being itself floats in the life like an aimless wind. There is more for me to uncover on this, uncover my own feelings and the eternal question still remains - am I curious about the woman who's persona says with a smile "Thoughts Become Things" or am I curious about the idea of getting inked only for the validation of our insecurities.
Perhaps, there is something I can experiment with - Thought: I will meet her again. Let's see if it becomes a Thing. The phrase that I have inked reads this: ";embrace " So either way if her ideology stands true or not, Embracing the Absurdity of these contradictions still stand firm and true.
