Shadows

Lets face one simple fact in today’s world. No one has the time for humanity. In a crowded street, you would have multiple dozens of people walking about minding their own business. Smartphones claim to bring people closer to each other. But do they really bring anyone close by? A few messages on Whatsapp, that elusive call from your love one, that quick status update or that awesome pic which you want the world to see more than you want to enjoy it yourself. There are a lot of things in life we feel we are closer to. But the fact remains that the only thing really closer to us is our own reflection – our own shadows.

Funny thing about an abstract thing like shadows is that they tend to make a lot of sense if you put the right sense of perspective. Its not about being over-critical about something which is natural in life and is an offspring of the most simple of “light magic” that you see. I tend to think of it from another angle.

Put the following thought into focus – In the morning, your shadow starts trailing you the moment you leave your house. It is happily following you wherever you go, it mimics whatever you do. Then as time progresses, it sort of “merges” with you. It becomes up. In other words, it catches up with you. The shadow and you become one. Then you start following your shadow! You start doing thing which it is doing, you start going where it is going. Finally as the day end grows nearer, your leader starts to fade till the time it completely vanishes leaving you to deal with the world and yourself alone for the next 12 hours.

When a person goes home from work/social place, it is a natural aspect to reflect on how the day has gone for him/her. Some people want to distract their reflection by engaging in “small talk” using the most amazing modern technology that money has to offer. However, this is the time when you are truly alone. Ergo the need to talk to someone or socialize with something. Maybe, you share that thought or that pic you took in the morning. Maybe you chat with your friends or love ones. There are few people who actually do self-exploration. When you tend to look into a perspective mirror at the end of the day, you would realize how your daily companion – your shadow – helped you out during the day.

Your day begins with energy. It begins with a realization that today is the day when you go out and achieve. Your friend, the shadow, hears you out and gives you a chance to work out your achievement at a pace suitable for yourself. It follows you, it studies you. It goes where you go, it does what you do. It records you. Then when your day is half done, it syncs/merges up with you. It discusses with you what how your 1^st half of the day went. Most of the times, it loses the argument. Sometimes, you decide that the pointers provided are valid and allow it to take over and “lead” you into the remainder of the day. Then you tend to follow it, do what it does, say what it says and go where it goes.

Satisfied with the day’s work, the shadow fades away living you in darkness to retrospect your day. That is when you tend to realize that you did things which you didn’t mean to but had to do it because of some aspects of the morning which causes you to do it. Its your shadow who made you do it. You didn’t hurt someone in the afternoon, your shadow did it. The innocence of your thought grips you. You try to look for help, but help has deserted you, your companion has completed its 8 hour shift. The only thing left to do now is to think about how you would avoid the situations tomorrow. You plan out a strategy with a clean slate and then finally arrive at something you would do with your companion. Unfortunately, the cycle repeats.

Shadows can be our friends or our enemies. However, instead of blindly following them, we need to visit the darkness, the hole that exists in our lives to truly understand if we can live with the decisions that our shadow makes for us. Do we truly want to be known by the company we keep, do we truly need to be followed or follow others.