“It is difficult to see a situation for what it is when you’re in the midst of it. It’s too familiar. Too comfortable.”
Came across this quote whilst reading a particular novel. Although what I’m about to relate to is pretty far from what the book is about, the above sentences somehow spoke to me with regards to the realities of living in this temporary world.
We’re constantly caught in this tangle of worldly concerns that culminates into nothing in the end when death greets us. We let these things consume us like it’s everything we ever live for. Our focus grows constricted. Unknowingly, we become myopic. We perpetually fall back into the familiarity of this life; the life we see, the life we know. Because we are comfortable in it. We deceive ourselves by thinking that this is where we will live in forever. We think that death is all but a dream. Hide, run, ignore all we want, but the situtation remains. The situation that this life is a transient phase. But we can’t see that with our fogged up glasses, often preoccupied with matters of this world.
See, it’s not that we don’t know this life is fleeting. It’s just that we’re all too comfortable ensconced in this bubble, convincing ourselves that we’re safe in the hands of our family, friends, career, health, and even ourselves. It’s easy for us to be deluded by this world because it’s so convenient. We don’t want to have to think about, what comes after this? We prefer to focus on the here and now. It’s too tiresome to think, what then? It’s not enough that we are ignorant of the bigger picture, we let arrogance get in the way, time and again falling into the too comforting hands of this world. And then we sleep. Slipping in and out of comatose.
We can’t see that this world is an illusion, because when we’re a part of this illusion, we’re all but players who are losing focus of the larger rewards at stake. We don’t realise it but we are wasting time and playing the game wrong. We refuse to admit, but we are losing. We are careless. We need to get out of our false comfort in order to see the real thing. The real life that awaits us once we emerge as winners. There’s no way we can escape – you and I are put into checkmate – but only those who think fast enough would know the solution to free ourselves from this unsettling illusion: to play the cards we are dealt with, know the prize, avoid wrong turns, and play by His rules – it’s the only way we can win this game.
Many times when I take a step back and think about this world, this life… it’s uncanny how our existence really is a challenge given to us without warning, and we need to rise up to it in order to win. More often than not, our routines and desires in this world distract us from our main purpose in life. We’re all constantly unsettled and constantly on the move in this world because this place is never really our home. We’ll only be at home in the next life, the eternal life. That’s probably why all of us, in one way or another, are continously on the pursuit of finding the truth – seeking ourselves, and seeking something larger than ourselves and our lives in this momentary world. Seeking God.
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I hope whatever I’ve reflected made a fair bit of sense! Let me know your thoughts too if you wish, it’d make an interesting discussion 🙂
The Book Jacket 