The Terrace
After a full day of working from home, he wanted some fresh air. She had told him to dry those clothes off after his meeting. It was 11 pm, “What an opportunity to get out” he thought.
It was clothes of the whole family, him, his wife and his little son. How little? he was 4. It was just before summer, was still a bit chilly. He looked at the security camera and thought “why would one want to have a security camera on the terrace? Isn’t that a gateway to galaxies, a sacred place”. Occupied with random thoughts, he dried off the clothes.
He loved the magic of the nights, he loved to watch the moon and the stars.
The night was too enticing for him to go, he stayed on. Went into a blind spot, where the camera couldn’t see him. He took out a cigarette box, pulled out a blunt and sent one. He was at the edge of the terrace, over looking the neighbouring houses.
He was surprised to see the number of people going out of their house. “You need to have a strong purpose, to go out of your house at this time?” he thought. Itseemed to him that people are puppets during the day, they are pulled in all directions and are pretty wasteful of their limited time. After dark is when our true selves come out. “It’s the nature of the dark, to bring out the dark in you”.
But the question is, is the dark bad?
Isn’t it part of the whole? Can light exists when there is no darkness? How do we judge? Are we entitled to judge? Is it a suffering that is holding us hostage? — The fear of being judged?
“So what is it about darkness that lets me be free?” he thought. “I think we prepare to connect to the void, the void that is accessible in our sleep. It is a journey to a state of total darkness, weightless, senseless, emotionless”.
“How far can I go in the journey? I think it depends on how ready I am. I have to let go of all your falseness and realise the trueness? The truth about ourselves, it seems to awaken when no one is around, the silence of the night and in the blind spot of the security camera.
Someone turned on a light on the stairway in a neighbouring building, it starled him. He was clicking photos of an interesting building far behind. Since he was pointing the camera at the direction of that building, he thought someone might have been offended that he was clicking photos. The light turned off, he was relieved. A few seconds later, it turned on again. He could not see anybody and this happened a few times, he was pondering why would someone do that.
A few minutes later, a man comes out of the door and walks down the stairway, where the light was on. Another man followed him, he was curious. A woman followed them, she was blonde. Soon another man followed them. They looked like there were in their late 20s or about 30. they did not look like a family.
“That’s exiciting, 3 men and a woman” he thought. “Why were they together in that house? What were they doing?” He was curious and he imagined different things that could have gone on there.
He turned the other direction, he saw man slowly sneak out of the door. The man walked towards the compound wall and jumped out of it. He then started walking fast, until he disappeared behind a building. “Where is the man going? Why did he have to sneak out?”
He could see the next lane, he saw a food delivery guy walking up the stairs. A door opened and man came out in his night dress. Took the delivery from the person, staying as far as he can from him. He swiftly went back in and the door shut hard. “Is it his house? Why the rush? What is he doing in there?”
He took a cigarette this time, lighted it. He saw two dogs chasing each other around the bushes. The dogs did not make a sound, they were just running around. Seems like the magic of the night has affected them too. They seemed high and energetic. He tried to judge the situation or interpret it. But he couldn’t, there was just one way for him to look at it. The dogs were just playful and they dint care about what anyone thought of them. “May be dogs don’t wear masks, they are what they are.. Always” he thought.
Maybe when we look at other people, we put ourselves in their shoes. We think, when would I do the things that we see someone else do it. When he looked at the 3 men and woman, he started interpreting or judging the situation. His judgment was based on the himself, when would He walk out of a house with a woman and 2 other man? What would He have done in that house? Where would He go after doing what he there?
When would He sneak out of his house and jump the walls? What would have happened in that house, to make Him do that? Where would He go?
What would He be doing, to order food at that time of the night? When would He want to rush back into the house and slam the door? When would He want to be unnoticed.
Soon he realise “My interpretation and judgement, were based on my own standards”. It is the reflection of his mind, that he puts it out there. He creates an interpretation of the outside world, by his inner world — his own belief system, values and principals.
Are we limiting our experience based on events from our past experiences? The limit of judging the external world, using a scale that
If he thought that the dogs weren’t wearing a mask, to live in the moment. He should remove his mask to live his life too.
