Scattered Ashes

Somewhere along the journey of our life, as we stray from the path most traveled, there comes a time when the gravity of our thoughts threatens to crush us with its weight. Our soul becomes heavy as we meditate on our inadequacies, our limitations, our imperfections and our impermanence. In this manner, we reflect upon our condition as men. Yet, inevitably we come to wonder how it is possible for us to pass such judgement upon ourselves. Thus, we reflect upon the means by which we are able to identify ourselves as inadequate, limited, imperfect, and impermanent; we hear the voice of logic as it dictates that we can not identify something without also identifying its opposite at the same time. And then we wonder how is it that we can conceive, and in fact, intimate what it is to be adequate, free of limitations, perfect and permanent. Is it not because we have at some point experienced completion? Is it not because we can still savor the traces of the Ultimate that are left in our soul?

And then, in a quiet night of deep solitude, as we meditate upon these questions, we begin to experience an uncontrollable desire for the Ultimate emanating from our solar plexus, expanding through the entirety of our body, enchanting even the most insignificant of our thoughts. Then, we inhale so deeply into Life that it overflows our body, threatening to destroy it, to rip it apart with its immensity; and yet, we do not exhale: we hold on to it for as long as we can, allowing it to envelop us with its Beauty, embracing the mark it burns in our forehead, until finally, as we surrender our breath, we become light again. Thus commences our quest, our pursuit for the Ultimate. Thus commences Philosophy.