Humans and Life as BITCH

Humans are truly unique and fascinating creatures. The basic instincts of "fear and death, love and sex, hunger and eat" has evolved to an unprecedented extent. With these comes the evolution of all our senses, which present us with the reward of highly evolved emotions, or the curse in disguise. This in turn means emotions relating to touch, see, hear, smell and taste. I wonder if the theory of synesthesia (interconnection between senses) can be extended to relation between senses and emotions following a particular sensory experience. The following are my observations. I might be wrong, but then, 'To err is to Human'.

I will start with illustrating some examples. Each example will point out a specific quality of humans and Life. The first one is rather a simple one. When a foreigner comes across a street serving his country food, the smell not only triggers the view of his own country but also a lot of old stories/incidents related to that place pour in.
So when somebody tells me about letting go of past, I just smile. I have realized its always going to be with me in the form of my senses and memories flooding in, because of them. Memories have an important role in Life's role as Bitch. But if we stop trying to let go, may be, we can be at peace.

Another example which might not have a direct connection is about an ill person, lets say suffering from as simple and common as viral fever, soar throat, sneezing etc (leave aside the problems like Sinusitis and Migraine) and he is among people whom somehow or the other way, he has helped and stood with them or has a strong emotional bonding. What does one expect?

An average human needs pampering. The stroking of hairs by a friend or just sitting near gives a feeling of warmth and good being. Definitely medicines have their roles in curing, but emotions do have a role. A kid misses her mother/father the most, when he/she is sick. And pampering provides a kind of mental relief which medicines can't. Of course its the other way round as well. This example can be extended to depression and frustration. There is a Bollywood movie, "Munna Bhai MBBS" featuring Sanjay Dutt, son of late actor cum politician Sunil Dutt, released in early half of the last decade. The protagonist is a faker pretending to be a doctor, treating his patients with hugs and by providing the feeling of belonging somewhere by being their friend and standing with them. Of course he was not able to treat patients with cancer, but was indeed able to help them by providing them the peaceful moment of death, every human deserves.

A song has the capability to retrieve memories associated with the time of its experience. Some songs evoke the memories of friends, because they sung it together countless times, while some other songs evoke memories from a particular period of past, as the person encountered it during that time. This result in day dreams and we humans experience a movie without an actual screen. We, bloody humans! We are so used to flashbacks, that we even plot flashbacks in our movies. Such flashbacks are quite common in our daily life. I personally consider the moment of Death as the most vibrant moment of the cycle of Life and Death. I believe it the moment where we see all our life in a single flashback. Imagine the beauty of the moment. 

But rose comes with thorns and Life comes with situations created by another life (other humans). I have experienced people who get lost in between a conversation and these are people who have seen a lot in their lives. Ask me, how their Moment of Death would be? I don't know! But I can imagine it as simply beautiful, as these are the people who understand the true worth of life, people and peace. As humans we experience love unlike any other living organism. We have its significance not only for reproduction, but we have gone far enough to enjoy it as recreation. I think the term 'love' only applies to humans, as all other organisms, love would mean reproduction/sex and vice versa (with some exceptions). Dolphins are the only other animals known to perform sex as recreation. But this is not all. Our emotions make us even more evolved and vulnerable, with respect to love. We depend on our spouse/partner, not only for reproduction or recreational sex or for parental care of our kids but emotionally as well. Sex itself has evolved as a powerful mode and flux of emotions, leading to influx of other emotions and this is why in some societies sex is encouraged as a way of meditation. Besides, Humans have variety of love forms. We love our friends, family members, parents and other structures of human society unlike any animal pack. With love comes hatred and disgust. Believe it or not, but hatred and disgust have no existence, they are just byproducts of love and trust. This part is the part, for which a lot of people term life as bitch and Life is indeed a Bitch.

One of my nice friend's mom got cancer when she was too young to understand and handle it. She eventually lost her physically. But I believe she found her back in her poetry. Her poems are painfully beautiful (for lack of better and unique word). The pain of seeing a dear one die slowly over the years is the one of the worst possible punishments inflicted upon humans by the mother nature. But when I see her, talk to her, I realize, the same part of life has made her strong enough to stand against any other situation in Life. I am a huge fan of the way she perceives life. Another of my friend experienced domestic violence on his mother, (his grandparents tried killing both his parents in front of him) when he was six. Since then he experiences the same in his nightmares. The same guy experienced his mom getting a mild heart attack and father on bed for three complete years after an accident and lot more. Life is a bitch! But who would have guessed that these nightmares are his strength now. He never let them go, because they fuel his anger against the social environment in his surroundings. The same nightmares give him the courage to stand out alone against popular beliefs. The other person I know as a extremely strong personality is another of my friends. Her family experienced financial instabilities and rose to a decent position after lots of sacrifices. Life again played its favorite role of being a bitch. Though I know her today as the purest soul around and a true free bird. The way she sees the world around her can make an average human believe of the divine truth and the ultimate divine power.

Life is a bitch, but the key is to enjoy it like a dog.

Woof Woof!