A Strange Predicament
by Pavithra Mehta
[Listen to Audio!]
 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.
And 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?
And 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.
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, uncomfortable quarters.
About the Author: Pavithra Mehta is a poet, award-winning filmmaker and âauthor, 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.
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A Strange Predicament
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? |
| david doane wrote: I love the question as to what comes up for me as I contemplate the ability to waft through different identities. What comes up for me is that we are separate and we are one, individual and tog… |
| AJ wrote: This is pure and total GENIUS! AMAZED am I! Thank you ( so much) for sharing your mind’s eye! … |
| Sanjeev Verma wrote: Everyone is a spiritual being having a human experience- each experience is different. … |
| Jgdish P Dave wrote: I know. No man is an island. We all are connected, branches of the same tree called The Tree of Life. However, most of us are taught and conditioned to create and live in an individualisti… |
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Editor’s note: Dear Friends, One of the greatest joys of life is a beautiful community that is centered around values. This week we saw many stories that focused on sowing small seeds of hope, that help build a life-affirming community. We would love to hear about some of your practices, that bring your local community together. Share your
