“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” ~ Einstein
One night, the young master got on his horse, and rode away from his family and mansion home, princely duties and worldly wealth. When they asked him why he left, Buddha said because the house was too “dusty and crowded” for him.
Basically he didn’t know why he left. He just had to.
In another place and time, there was a child so lucky to be saved from the poverty of his social class, to be adopted by the King, and be raised in the King’s splendid palace. Problem is, none of that brought Moses contentment. Pretty soon, his attention went astray and he walked RAN back to his miserable, impoverished and tasteless kin.
Let’s start again, one last time.
There was a guy who was so lucky to marry a successful businesswoman. His wife completely trusted him with the management of her wealth. They had six beautiful children. The society looked up and spoke well of them for they had the world in their hands and were kindly about it too.
Mohammad, however, caught a serious bout of insomnia somewhere around his late thirties. The insomnia made him take long walks at night, occasionally resting in caves like a hermit. Puzzled by an itch that he could not name.
That unnamable, unreasonable “itch” was so powerful that it drove men out of their given comforts. Their itch started changes that rippled for thousand of years. It may look cool from over where we stand today; because we know how well Buddha, Moses and Mohammad did at leading social change.
However, had these men been our neighbors, we would have severely criticized them. Starting by calling them losers, jobless or just plain selfish.
What was wrong with their perfect lives? Why couldn’t they shut up be grateful? Why did they – eventually – take up unpaid jobs that would bring hardship and sorrow to the people they loved the most? Did the boredom of living in comfort screw them up?
Or was there something more to life than the obvious?
6 readers were extra nice:
Well dear, according to E.B. White (of Charlotte's Web fame), we all go through life looking for something we can't name. It might not come now, but that "itch" will certainly come in time.
Humans are always dissatisfied with anything, and thank God they are! Because satisfaction means absolute dullness and dullness leads to death...
in my opinion: everyone got their own 'itch', tht creates the path of their life. but i think, there's a universal 'itch'. ain't easy to scratch it. but when someone has done it (the chosen one?), everybody who feel the same itch will follow. :) aku sok tau deh hehe
Coral, can you tempt the itch; make it come sooner?
Akhlis, I agree with satisfaction killing us, but what about getting killed from never having any? Personally, I'm dying from the latter. So, yeah, I envy your self-satisfaction.
Isky, I like that thought. By the way, since the prophetic era is over, how about you scratch my itches and I scratch yours?
[Can't wait to scratch with you again, dude!]
it is quiet obvious that there is something more to life. but 'what' is that something? if there's nothing then we just exist/live to die, i find that very pathetic but yet i do not have an answer, i doubt anyone has.
We are condemned with the consciousness to our existence. If only we are goats and cattle, then the fact that we are bound to die would not have bothered us so much, would it?
Then again, even goats and cattle have their purposes in life. And for their ability to not question, to accept their fates, they deserve some admiration.
Welcome to my blog, Elsie, and thank you for dropping by.
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