Beauty lies in simplicity

The past two years have been a transformative journey, profoundly reshaping my internal landscape and gifting me with fresh perspectives on myself. Living alongside 20 Europeans, I absorbed diverse life viewpoints, fostering personal growth, meaning, and self-reliance. Unexpectedly, I transitioned from extroversion to introversion — a change I never anticipated but now deeply cherish. This period revealed my true nature: a blend of kindness, emotional depth, wisdom, and unwavering determination.

As I turned inwards, I realized that most human sufferings are self-inflicted, rarely does the actual situation bear any significant effect on our well-being, except our twisted desires and expectations. Being able to think is a blessing, I don't have enough words to express my gratitude towards the cosmic god, whatever you want to call it, who gave me this opportunity to learn, live, and find beauty in this world. I humbly accept the greatness of the gods, who imbibed me with the wisdom to seek beauty and truth. It's a gift that has been rented to me by the great gods, to help people, to guide people, and to spread love. Love is the fundamental force in our lives, it is my moral duty to uphold these values as I go through the ups and downs of my life.

Here's a funny bit about my life, only after moving away from India, did I realize the gift of being born in the land of Lord Rama, Lord Buddha, Adi Shankara, Swami Vivekananda, and Bhagat Singh. My love for the country has deepened and the hope for a better future is once again high. All these great men walked the path of hardships, to find the truth, wisdom, and beauty. Their incredible journey is still shaping our lives and giving us paths to follow, a way to rise above suffering, and transcend the entire humanity. If not for these great men, we would be still living in the shackles, not of a foreign power but of our own mind. I have developed a deep respect for the different traditions that are part of the entire Indian subcontinent, every single one of them capturing some form of hope, some form of love, and ultimately some form of god itself. 

But as much as I feel my love for Indian traditions and the land, I also feel that I'm part Greek. I've spent a lot of time reading Greek philosophy, imbibing different thoughts of great Greek philosophers, like Plato, and Marcus Aurelius. There was a time in my life that marked a brief period of unrest because of the troubles of Socrates. The thought of the troubles of Socrates and Plato didn't let me sleep for quite some time. Once you read them enough, a point comes, where your own demons will be rearing their heads, and you will start questioning your own morality, and only the sword of truth and self-realization can chop off those heads. Only the realization of light can remove our internal darkness.

It is so interesting that I feel part Greek, becuase in the end, we become what we think. Our life is a byproduct of our thoughts. Our thoughts determine every bit of our happiness, as well as sadness. When people think about spirituality or monkhood, they often think it's devoid of emotions. That's just not true, when you become stoic or spiritual, you don't let the darkness of the world decide your mood, you still feel sad, happy and every other emotion under the umbrella, the only difference is the ability to let go of those emotions. Stoicism argues to not overly depend on emotional states, they are fleeting in nature and thus they should not control our lives, rather our lives should be based on solid principles and virtues. 

Lately, I've been thinking about death, as Marcus Aurelius argues that even the greatest of the kings are lost to oblivion, who are we. Don't be scared of death, but rather use that as a motivation to lead a virtuous life, a life that you are really proud of. Don't let ego ruin the beauty of the world, don't let ego stop you from loving everyone around you. It is easier said than done, but I'm hopeful in the power of love. All the collective wisdom and the act of kindness that made me reach here and gave me a chance to be part of this grand universe. I'm nothing but a humble servant of the gods to act according to their will. There is so much I don't know or understand, but that's the real joy of my life, discovering the beauty in this world as I pass through this life's journey. 

I must say that everyone should be taught Stoicism, it's such a wonderful philosophy. Half of the world's problems can be solved if people are taught to get control of their emotions. Greek philosophy has given me so many new ways to think, be it about love or the idea of being virtuous. Our life should not be a mere by-product of our surroundings but our ideas. And as humans, we are living in these best of times, having access to the entire human history's greatest ideas. 

By now, some of you might be wondering, what is this idea of Stoicism, and how do we apply it in our lives? Let me expand on this, I believe that most people are good, but their goodness is very situational. Let's call them moderately good, but what if you can be eternally good? I know it sounds like a fairy tale, but I promise you that with even a fair bit of reading most can become much better individuals. They can be good in most situations, goodness should be a choice, don't let the environment decide it for you. 

Let me give you a very small example of Stoic behavior from my personal life. Recently I was traveling across Vienna, The day I reached there it was very cold, I was freezing, I had just recovered from Covid and the cold breeze was making it very tough for me to breathe. I was also carrying a quite heavy backpack, almost breaking my back. And to make the situation worse, somehow I ended up with wrong size shoes, my feet were killing me. I had already walked more than 15 km that day and everything started looking dull, as I was in a lot of physical pain. I took a shelter in a small cafe, sat there, pulled out my diary, and started writing my experiences. As I paused and looked around, I could see all the beautiful faces, all the families and friends eating together, and some children playing on my right. I forgot about my pain, my day was going bad and all it took to cheer my mood was a small pause.

I looked at the waitress, and her gaze from her big brown eyes filled me with hope and love, I decided to write a note to her. As I drank my Chai latte, I scribbled a lot of things on my diary, and before leaving the place I handed her the note. It read: "Sometimes you will find yourself completely overwhelmed, exhausted, and tired, nothing will feel like going the right way. Things might not always look good, but it's okay. If you find yourself overwhelmed by any situation or problem, just pause for a moment, and look around; there are plenty of things to be grateful for and feel good about. Don't let a bad moment ruin your mood."

So, the moral of this story is that even in my pain I chose to make someone happy, I was not irritated, which people usually are when things don't go their way. Giving her that note took away all my bad thoughts and gave both of us a good feeling and hope for a better world. A world where people are genuinely nice to each other, without any agendas. This is just a small example of what the Stoic mind looks like.

I have been cheated and disappointed many times in my life by a lot of people around me, so many promises broken and unfulfilled, but I don't let that malice touch my soul. I always tell myself, they did it not out of malice but out of their naivety. Harboring anger against anyone doesn't do me any good, it just spoils my mood, so I should forgive them and go on with my life of finding beauty and truth. 

Most of my friends don't call me, but I don't mind calling them. It's not out of clinginess, I do it because, I feel sometimes you just need a little support, and I never know whom I end up helping with one simple call or message. And what can they take from me by being bad to me, nothing, literally nothing. They will complain about me, and they will say bad things about me, either they are true, so I shouldn't have the right to be angry with them rather focus on improving those or they will be false, and if they are false, then why should I even bother.

I live a very simple life, enjoying every small and big thing alike. For me, traveling to the most beautiful places in the world is as fascinating as watching a lecture on YouTube. Our ideas make our life what it is: good or bad. Don't think BS, don't engage in ego battle, genuinely seek wisdom, truth, and beauty, help people, be nice to people without any agendas, and learn to respect everyone's choices.

Stoicism is much more than what I tried to present here, but the basic point is detachment and not getting rattled by people's comments, behavior, and situations. 

At last, I would just like to end with a small piece of wisdom. "Learn to respond wisely, not react emotionally" Read it again, that's the essence of a good life.