The End is the Beginning; Italy it was a pleasure!

Hello dear readers,

Many of you might be wondering how life has been treating me in Italy. Well after visiting Venice and some local monuments I am on my way back to New York. However, I don’t want to talk about “Italy” per se. I would like to share with you some reflections from my time in Italy and my current reading of “The Witch of Portobello” by Paulo Coelho.

Life can be monotonous. Within our busy schedules we rarely find time for our family, friends, lovers. I’m guilty of this monotony in which we concentrate on our goals, on this “fake happiness” which sometimes restricts you from enjoying the process of living.

We do the same thing over and over again believing that it means we are happy the truth is we are not. For example, poverty might make you unhappy but money does not necessarily make you happy. If we were happy with our lives we wouldn’t seek joy, love, or feel like we need something more. The truth is that we are not happy, we are seeking happiness, we are not yet satisfied.

When I was in college I was so concentrated on doing well, finishing my thesis, earning a degree, that at times I forgot to enjoy the experience of the college. I think I’m more guilty of this during the summer. Instead of trying to fulfill a goal, I do the opposite and give into passivity. I’ve always known this to be true but I’ve just realized how much it can affect us. Here is an example from TWP,

Have you ever considered that those bits of paper have a life and feelings, have requests to make and stories to tell? I don’t think you’re giving life the attention it deserves” (136)

We have so many things to do and yet we ignore them, we forget to participate in life. Time passes us without letting us know.  Either we lean towards passivity or towards over-activity. I think it’s time we rethink the reasons why we live, why we get up every morning. As spiritual and physical beings we must find a balance in our life the same way that the universe and nature balance themselves. As Edda says to Athena, “Let go of the idea that the path will lead you to your goal. The truth is that with each step we take, we arrive (136). While in Italy I found this balance. I was still  accompanied by the fear of being to passive, of not doing or enjoying as much but I did find it.

I’m not sure about others but I want to embrace my purpose in this life. Each one of us has a formulation of that purpose, of that “meaning”. I think mine is to experience the transformation of God in my life, not necessarily in a “religious” form, but in a human and relational form. I am meant to be a part of some intimate bonding between heaven and earth, of spirit and flesh. As a future scientist this faith, this belief, might seem non-scientific but I think it’s very scientific. In science we strive to learn, research, find, experiment. That’s exactly what life is. The act of living is a series of experiments which are a result of a desire; this desire fosters the faith we have about our identity, about our purpose.

Yet, “faith is not Desire. Faith is Will. Desires are things that need to be satisfied, whereas Will is a force. Will changes the space around us (132)”. Italy was that moment in the Kronos in which I remembered to live, to be passive and active at the same time. Most importantly, it was the time that I gave myself a break from myself and realized where beauty might be found, where I re-encountered my faith as a transformative force. As people say, everything is an experience and this one has certainly been a wonderful sort-of life changing one. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to the future generations to seek more intently who we truly are, aside from the social trends (though we deny it we still follow them) and false uniqueness that is sold like cake to us youth. We need to stop and experience the now, they joy, and the sadness. We must search deep within our faith and ourselves to be transformed. And we have this hope that one day we might  finally experience complete happiness.