The Illusion Of Relationship

A family tends not to be founded in human unity,

But in spatial proximity.

 

When one is alone,

He often seeks unity.

 

When one is united,

He often seeks independence.

 

What is The Truth about the family unit?

 

The unit lives in close proximity to each other.

Each member tending to his own affairs.

Until one day, an elder member dies.

And the remaining members lament the time they did not spend together.

 

There is nothing one can intentionally “do” about this.

For even if one is moved to spend time with his family after reading this,

This zeal will soon fade.

 

Life is never

What man is told it will be.

 

Life is never

What man hopes it will be.

 

The world paints elaborate and colorful images

Of hope, love, and glee.

But these live only upon

The soiled and rusty bumpers of second-hand automobiles.

 

If man were told at the outset

What his life would one day become,

He may very well drop it

At the very beginning.

 

Society sells notions

That sound beautiful and nice.

 

Reality reveals sounds

That no one wishes to hear.

 

One may with a religious fervor decide

That he will devote all of his time with his family.

And if he so decides,

He can most certainly succeed in doing so.

 

But his pursuit will end in disappointment.

Not because he did not do what he set out to do.

But because he could in no way avoid

The hope

That others would come to him also.

 

He may “change” himself.

But how will he “change” the others?

 

Any attempt to do so

Will most certainly lead to conflict.

 

This conflict

Will create separateness once again.

 

All things are doomed

To disintegration.

 

And this is something

No societal human

Can ever accept.

 

He will fight the fight

Until the end.

Bloodied and battered he will leave this world.

 

Never having known

That the victory he was searching for

Was never a possibility.

 

It may be stated

That one of the only ways that a family person can avoid conflict

Is by keeping to himself.

 

And if he does even this

Beyond an arbitrary limit

This will create conflict also.

 

Man may think

That there is no way he can win.

 

He is correct in thinking this.

But not as correct as he would be

By realizing there is nothing to win.

 

Man dreamed so many dreams.

For this he deserves no blame.

 

His folly lay not in dreaming.

But in asking life

For what it cannot give.

 

His error lay not in extending his hand.

But in hoping to receive one in return.

 

Namaste.