Journey

A journey is always a brilliant teacher. It is the best way we can learn about new things and take on a new perspective on life and ourselves. It lets us feel the tangible experiences and encounter the intangible ones in a meaningful way. It reminds us about the value of living. It makes us see things that are essences to our survival, like the values that we normally take for granted. It brings us close to nature and humanity, makes us discover ourselves and what we mean to the world. It makes us strong and not to give up in life.

merci l'amour

Thank you
for coming into my life
for healing my soul
for making me see a new perspective on life
giving me a new purpose of living

Thoughts on Love

They do not love that do not show their love.

The course of true love never did run smooth.
Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.

-- William Shakespeare

God of The Small Things

This is one of my all time favourite. It explores many issues at the same time, exposing the wonder of how small things in someone's life can add up and affect the person life badly and in an unexpected way. One of the main issues that become the back bone of the story is discrimination based on social class or hierachy. It narrates how dreadful and painful life is for a person who is born in the low social class or caste. The story is set to be in Ayemenem, Kerala India. It is mainly being organised around many events that occur in a two-egg twins, Esthappen and Rahel's life and in the life of  people who are closely related to them like their family and friends. Some misfortunes which are related to death, love  not returned and love between caste have been exquisitely explored in an amusing and tragic ways to add spices and give life to the story. Enough said, the story is worth reading!!

I want to escape
To retreat into a new dimension
I want to run
and fly
And enter the world
beyond imagination
beyond thought

The world 
Full of spirit
Full of force
To reach the unthinkable
To experience the impossibles
To fathom the future
Where there is no chagrin
Where the future is much more discernible
As clear as water

l'amour

My boyfriend suggested that I write about love. But I think he forgot to tell me in what genre he think i should write about it. So I figured the genre out myself. Well, I was thinking of fiction because I assumed it was lighter, required less thinking than writing an expository. However, it was not slightly true at all. Fiction could be as complex as expository when the writer is unclear about the real or main message that meant to be conveyed to the readers, the message that will become the backbone of the story and put the live into it. Thus, in order to determine that real or main message,the writer needs to possess full and deep comprehension of the subject/ concept. So, in my case, if I were to write a fiction about love, I will have to grasp a good comprehension of what love is, which is quite a challenging task as I honestly think the process of discovering love requires more time than most people think.

Love is really difficult to understand. Sometimes I wonder if I ever really understand what love is. But to claim that I never understand it at all would do myself no justice since I had experienced it at some points in my life. Sometimes I think of love as a spiritual thing. Something pure.Something impulsive. Where the only agent that can react to it is heart (human and animal's heart). Sometimes I think of love as one of the reasons why human race was gifted with the innate ability to communicate with  each other. Love is when human clings to each other to form a perfect harmony with the nature. Like a child clings to its mother until it is old enough to survive, and the mother clings to the child until she is positive that the child is capable to look after itself. Thinking of all these, one thing that I come to learn and conclude is that no matter how different our perception of love is, it always makes us feel good and appreciated, maybe a little bit worried sometimes for we afraid it might slip away at some point in our live. But with love, we come to appreciate live more and to live in harmony with our beloved and our souls. It gives a meaningful purpose for living. Love is a perennial beauty that lives within every soul. It is a gift from god to all kinds.

The quest for Mary Magdalene in “The Expected One” by Kathleen McGowan

“ History is not what happened. It is what is written.” McGowan explores the issue of the controversial real relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus and her real position in Christendom. She suggests that Mary Magdalene is not accurately and fairly potrayed in most of the Gospels. The author also indicates that the depictions of some other important women such as Salome in the gospels are also inaccurate and unjust. In the quest of truth about Mary Magdalene, the author has spent almost half of her life time traveling to capture and explore evidences related to her. Most of her findings however cannot be provided as academic references in the book to protect the security of the persons involved and also because most of the data are acquired orally from some trusted sources who believe in Mary Magdalene as well as claimed to know the real truths about her which are passed down from one generation to the next. One of the author’s findings which interests me is the documentary of the Cathars people. Their settlement is in Rennes-le-cheteau, in Languedoc region in France. The region is well famous for the tomb of a famous French artist named Pinus who is believed to be a member of a secret society that is formed to protect a document written by Mary Magdalene which depicts the events of crucifixion and about the disciples from her perspective. Another sacred document that is believed to be possessed by Mary Magdalene is the Book of Love which is written by Jesus Himself. There are also some who believe that the tomb hides a treasure from the Temple of Jurusalem. The Cathars are believed to descent from the Mary Magdalene and Jesus bloodline, from their first daughter Sarah-Tamar. The book of Love is protected by Mary Magdalene using some kind of alchemy to hide it from the dangerous parties until the time when an expected one has arrived. Some of the expected ones who are the bloodlines include some famous people in the history including Joan de Arc and Mary Antoinette. Other bloodlines include famous medieval artists such as Sandro Boticelli. However, the iconography of Mary Magdalene in arts and paintings deems its popularity in all time. Not only she is the famous subject among the medieval artists like Boticelli and Caraviaggo, but also among the modern Europeans such as Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. Mc Gowan suggests that “ one common thread runs through the vastly different portrayals of Mary Magdalene; she is depicted over and over again with the same props: a skull, said to represent penance ( repentance for John the Baptizer) , a book, believed to symbolize the Gospels, and the abalaster jar she used to anoint Jesus. Always she wears red- a tradition that reaches back into history (but is mistakenly believed to depict her as a harlot)”.

Mc Gowan also states that many excerpts from the Gospel has been used against her throughout centuries. This is merely caused by the false interpretations of the Gospels by some Christians who resent the truth about her as well as from some fail to see clearly beyond the printed words. One of the excerpts is “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” (Mark Gospel 16:9). As explained by the author, the single line has led to extreme claims about Mary’s mental state, including books dedicated to the idea that she was either possessed by demons or mentally ill. However, the Arques’s (a place in France, near Le Rennes le Chateau) perspective that Jesus has healed Mary after she has been poisoned by a lethal concoction known as The Poison of Seven Devils , which is believed to originate from Asia, definitely can provide us with a more clear interpretation of the line.

Alongside with all the interesting and surprising findings by the author in the book, one thing I learnt is that faith cannot be argued academically because there are some things in faith that we cannot apply our logic to them such as in Pontius Pilate case when he tried to reason Jesus’s answers with his Greek logic. However, I believe that all of the religions existed in this world preach humanity and love as their core. Thus, no matter what color and creek we are and what belief we follow, we all should be united by love. For example, religions such as Islam and Christian, both preach their believers to love all human beings regardless of their color and belief. Thus, the moment we start fighting with each other is the moment we lose our sense of humanity and actually deviate ourselves from our religion with not even a fickle realization of it.