A Strange Predicament
When I stop to consider the facts they astonish me.
There you are, couched in your own skin, and
Here I am in mine. No matter how close
We must each do our own living.
Your heart cannot be persuaded to pump my blood
My lungs will not consent to breathe for yours.
It is an odd arrangement.
Inside me, a mansion of memory and anticipation.
A place other people may visit, like a museum.
Inside you, a similar mansion, that I can visit
With your permission, gaze at pictures on the wall.
But only until closing time.
And is this not a strange predicament?
This seeming and inescapable individuality?
The hard shell of ‘I’ that we live inside,
Like soft-bodied sea creatures.
When did we choose this? On whose ill-advice?
How different the world would be
If we could waft through different identities
As easily as the wind inhabits the trees.
Then the woman selling flowers at the street corner would be me.
And the crumpled leaf of the half-blown rose in her bucket would be me. And the man reaching into his back pocket to pay for the bouquet – me. Me. Me. Me.
Then I would not be ‘I’ any more. And neither would you.
No not at all and never again.
Once out of the bottle no genie of sound mind
Ever chooses to return
To such cramped, uncom-
fortable quarters.
Pavithra Mehta is a poet, award-winning filmmaker and ​author, and ServiceSpace visionary. Her film and book "Infinite Vision," tell the improbable story of a crippled, retired eye surgeon who integrated innovation with empathy, service with business principles, and inner change with outer transformation.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What comes up for you as you contemplate the ability to waft through different identities? Can you share an experience where you felt an invitation to leave cramped, uncomfortable quarters and live more expansively? What is a practice that inspires you to go beyond small identities?
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24 Past Reflections
On Dec 24, 2016 joni wrote :
I is the core, me is the illusion. I can never be manipulated, or changed.
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On Dec 24, 2016 Maha wrote :
1) Different Identities - I keep questioning who decides these and for what purpose. How can any being be different when one day we all leave? Still exploring what are those barriers which stop us from seeing the truth as it is and not as we want it to be.
2) I constantly question what i think, do, say or act. this way i may contradict what i said before, probably i can see/ understand things differently now. It is all perspective and i would like to explore all possible perspectives. Who knows there may be yet another way to see/do.
3) I question, juggle, find out, ask, LISTEN, evaluate ( limitation is my own knowledge to understand and experience ), and the best Meditate over it. If something is good for me and benefits others too i DO It.
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On Dec 24, 2016 Jay wrote :
A Haiku on Who I Am
I am a part of
All that is in existence...
Past, now, and future.
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On May 26, 2015 Maalika wrote :
This was pure poetry which touched me. Made me realize the fickle nature of our selfish desires.
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On May 22, 2015 Usha wrote :
Beautiful!
Seeing the little self (ego) trapped in a 'hard shell', closed to the limitless beauty just outside!
Made my day today :-)
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On May 22, 2015 navin sata wrote :
when i decreses universal one ness appears on horizon,then one can not love me and mine and you and yours.inner and outer are in oneness whole creation one family ,the word others does not exist,live laugh dance in that spirit .always unconditional love.n.n.c.
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On May 22, 2015 Anonymous wrote :
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On May 21, 2015 Padma wrote :
One of the best poems I have read in a long time. Thank you Pavi for this beautiful piece .Helped me to dive deeper and helped me to tap into my real self , the self that is connected to every thing else.
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On May 20, 2015 kunta wrote :
So beautifully penned with a simple example on oneness! What sadhana it takes to get into the skin of another identity? When, we tangle in the game of deceiving ourselves of our own identity, how can we know identity of another? Until we shed "I" the ego, the attachment to our bodily success and failures, happiness and sorrow, we can not fathom the deep meaning of "I", the reason why we are who we are and how to menifest into who we should be.
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On May 19, 2015 BH wrote :
It takes such a long time to know ourselves (and do we ever really complete that process?) that imagining ourselves as other people would make the task of self-knowledge even more daunting. The meaning of this plan of God's to make us physically separate, yet psychically unified is interesting. The 'other' as stranger invites both curiosity and fear. And does not knowledge of the 'other' help us know ourselves? And does not increased knowledge of ourselves help us get closer to the 'other.' Wise, wise God.
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On May 19, 2015 Ashwin Desai wrote :
A beautiful simple poem, yet such depth of meaning! Thank you for writing.
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On May 19, 2015 Zoe wrote :
This kind of reminds me of a line in a Lenny Kravitz song where he sings, "I am one and you are me." What we see in ourselves we can easily see in others and what we see in others (if we're not in 'ego mode' and comparing ourselves) we may just as easily see in ourselves.
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On May 19, 2015 Joseph Kloss wrote :
Beautifully crafted. Prompts me to remember Tagore:
"He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon."
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On May 19, 2015 Leeann Atherton wrote :
We are all expressions of God, thus we are ALL GOD.
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On May 19, 2015 ruby bedi wrote :
I felt small and alone till one day I suddenly woke up in a world where I was in all and all was in me. This was in 1992, pulled down the shutters to my businesses and started to support others find that same world in them. There are billions of faces on our planet and each one is me. Feel inspired and tickled to be part of this service world. Thank you Pavithra.
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On May 19, 2015 Mish wrote :
Empathy/compassion enable this oneness I find. Becoming the other. _/\_
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On May 18, 2015 sam wrote :
So well said Pavithra ! So much ,philosophy, knowledge, common ( or is it uncommon ) sense and.....But
after tasting everything on offer,we would come back to the original fit given by the Lord, as that would be the most deserved, and give heart-felt Gratitude to Him
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On May 18, 2015 Jgdish P Dave wrote :
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On May 17, 2015 Sanjeev Verma wrote :
Everyone is a spiritual being having a human experience- each experience is different.
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On May 17, 2015 AJ wrote :
This is pure and total GENIUS!
AMAZED am I! Thank you ( so much) for sharing your mind's eye!
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