Soliloquy

The karmic significance of things will hold little meaning to the man who has not embarked upon the path of self-realisation. And unless a man asks himself the question of what is inside him, he shall never set forth on the journey of becoming who he truly ought to be. To pursue love would be the most foolish of all such pursuits, for only the weak seek love; a man of great bearing will seek to be understood, to be empathised with, and not merely be loved.

For it is easy to love, and easier still to be loved; good behaviour, polite manners, regal upbringing and the fulfilment of one’s fellow man’s desires is all that is needed to be loved, but to understand is the most difficult thing of all. Indeed, if it might be called an emotion, it is one that has consistently evaded the purview of the modern man. Love is easy to pursue, more straightforward still to accomplish, but few are those who understand – or empathise – and go a step ahead.

Love speaks of the heart – or of the chemical balancing of the brain in which joyful emotions get released by the tonnes at the performance of an action – but empathy speaks of the mind, and there is no bigger honour than to be recognised for one’s intellect. Love makes a man anxious, jealous, protective and sometimes even vengeful, but empathy makes him caring, comprehending and indeed, loving. To love is to accept one’s fellow man only at his best; to understand is to take him at his worst – and other times besides.

Only the man who takes his emotions up a notch and instils in himself the capacity to understand and to empathise, can hold his true colours in a world that revels in the joys of possession, and which values love – especially its selfish elements – above all. Empathy is true selflessness, and indeed, true selfless love, whereas all love wants is concessions for itself. Only in empathy lies the path to man’s true freedom from the chains of samsara.

(I use ‘man’, but encompass all genders in it, and do not mean to exclude anyone from the conversation. I use this word solely because it is convenient for me to do so, easier still for readers to comprehend, and most effortless yet to make a forceful point. All valid facts, I suppose, but I beg the reader to transpose any pronoun that they feel adds value to their experience, and which makes them feel a part of the dialogue.)

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