Wednesday 16 June 2010

Plenitude...

I did say once that the obvious is elusive for most...it is for me too, most of the time.

Like I switched on my computer, clicked to establish connection and waited and waited, nothing happened. The icon was right in front of my eyes - it said "click here to connect". CLICK HERE TO CONNECT. It was right in front of my eyes and I did not see it.

The same with everything else...I sometimes fail to connect, to click on the connect button. I am not the only one guilty of that, everyone else is too. This is our state of forgetfulness - our ghafla as it is called in Arabic. Ghafla is not only forgetfulness, it is a kind of forgetful sleep, a slumbering unawareness.

I am no preacher, no teacher, and I have no particular inclination to become either, however I feel this urge - whenever I come across the obvious - to 'report' it. That's a hell a lot of reporting to do. But so be it. I do it for me, so my ghafla moments last less longer...and if anyone else can "profit", then all the better...

What has that got to do with Plenitude ? Everything.

I like the English language, but I feel it a little limited, or maybe it is my own vocabulary that is limited and I am unable to dig into its depths, like I do with Arabic. I feel the English language holds no particular secret. It is kind of flat,  like England itself. French on the other hand, is a little more sophisticated than English - as a language, that is.

So getting back to Plenitude. In French, faire le plein means to fill up something. Plein  is full, and I am no linguist but Plein and Plenitude resonate the same.

Plenitude is a state of fullness, a state of being filled up to satiation, to satisfaction, to contentment but not only. It is a state of being so full that peace/tranquility can be felt.

This is no permanent state, just a temporary one. It can only happen when one clicks the connect button.

I am sure many of you have known such fleeting states, I know I have. When I click on the connect button, I experience them more often than not.

I remember many instances when they did happen. They were not volcanic, or earth shattering moments, they were just - a calm, breath taking, quietly moving - Oh my God - moments.

I can remember several of them, some date back a long time ago, some happened not too long ago, some happened yesterday, the day before and some are in the making, waiting just around the corner...

I will stop here, these are "mini" experiences, or come across that way because of their transient nature. These are experiences that can't be translated into any language, except maybe the language of poetry but even then, the language is limiting.

All I can say, is that these moments of Plenitude feel like a cup full of nectar. I am immensely grateful, filled with gratitude that I have the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue...--- to taste, sense, see, hear, smell, and feel them...

And precisely because my cup can be filled in that way - it is my moral duty, obligation, purpose, mission, call it what you like, and it does not matter what you call it....it is my responsibility to remember those who have lost that capacity, many through no fault of their own...
It is my moral obligation to remember those whose cup has been forcefully, brutally and violently taken away from them.

I can only do it with language, with words...and I know how much language and words are limited, limiting...


I've posted that song 24 hours ago, I shall post it again here. Another moment of Plenitude for me.