Two of the many interesting and relatable quotes which I encountered while reading various books and online sources.

Author: Geetika Gupta 

In this piece, I would analyse, from my point of view. Two of the many interesting and relatable quotes which I encountered while reading various books and online sources. I’m choosing these two particularly because they reflect a part of me, that part which I always knew was inside me but was never able to express partly because I knew no one will understand and partly because I was unsure if I should express it. So, here are the two quotes which I found very much attached to my reality. 

First Quote

“Self-knowledge is like lost innocence, however unsettling you find it, it can never be  unthought or unknown” (From the book- Justice: What’s the Right Thing to do by  Michael J. Sandel) 

This statement might seem absurd or even untrue at first glance. People think that self-knowledge is a great thing to achieve; after all that is what is taught by all the spiritual leaders who conduct various seminars explaining God and soul. And that the way to achieve salvation is by knowing yourself before others, by spiritual means of course.

But is this so? I don’t think that’s the case and there’s a valid reason for this belief. Listening to all these talks about ‘self-awareness’ I also started giving attention to what I do, why I do it, what are its consequences; how it could be done differently and what were the thoughts in my mind while doing the concerned act. I seriously thought that it would benefit me in unimagined ways but unfortunately, this didn’t work out for me.

Just like the quotes says, I started thinking too much before doing anything and lost the joy of being in the moment, suddenly being overly aware of even my smallest actions, and losing my peace of mind in the process, i.e., losing innocence or carefreeness of the happening. I  tried hard not to think a lot, but I could never unenvision it. While I would see others doing the same things in a devil-may-care or an almost casual attitude, I would find myself reluctant and imagining the possible after-effects of my doing of that thing. Such was the effect of self-knowledge on me!

Well, however unsettling this may be, now I can at least explain the reason behind my well-pondered acts, and though this realisation will remain with me for the rest of my life. I atleast learned an important lesson- If you are self-aware, also be self beware! 

Second Quote

“I’ll have to remember you for longer than I knew you, and I don’t think I’ll ever come to terms with that”(By a social media account) 

Although it could be a quote displaying a short friendship or a brief acquaintance with someone, for me it’s essentially a romantic one. When you know a person for some time (short or in reality a long period which you thought was short because you fancied that person), you certainly create some memories with them. And if those memories are pleasant, you remember that person for a longer period just for the want of 

sweetness associated with the memories of the person. And this is not a choice. Later on, even when you want to forget everything (because you don’t want to remember the person or thing that the memories are interfering in your life), you are not able to.  Because even though the person is not with you your mind wants solace in those memories. The details of the time spent, the feelings in your heart at that precise moment and your struggles to not keep looking at them despite wanting to, make abandoning the thoughts even more difficult.

You realize that you are stuck in an endless loop of covertly wanting the thing you overtly don’t want. You remain anxious whether or not you are in the loop. There’s a moment when you wish that you’re still in that moment when you must be oblivious to whatever happened. But you still realise that whether you wish to be or not to be in the instant; it’s again all about the same person you shared that instant with! However hard you try, the person’s name and air remain with you as a realization, always. And so, you get, the life of memories is longer than the person himself. The fact annoys you and sometimes even torments you, but hey, have you got an alternative? Probably not, and if there is, I certainly don’t know of it and apparently, I don’t want to either.

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