Never give up!

The words that we speak have the power of life and death; it can sometimes change life’s course and define clearly the certainty of existence. -- By the author

"Infinite resignation is the last stage before faith, so anyone who has not made this movement does not have faith, for only in infinite resignation does an individual become conscious of his eternal validity, and only then can one speak of grasping existence by virtue of faith."

– Soren Kierkegaard

While chatting online with a long-lost friend a couple of years back who then seemed disillusioned about life, I casually remarked “never give up” to pep up his downcast spirit. Never did I imagine that it would have such an impact on him. He held on to those words, while the very same words began to ebb gradually from my mind. The tongue is a small organ, but the words that proceed from our mouth, they have the power of life and death!

“Never give up” became “give up” to me on many occasions. Over the years, they road ahead of me was rugged, the journey tiresome, and the ones I met on the way were too occupied in the world they had built for themselves. I felt like Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis.’ Had I turned into a giant beetle, things would be different, I thought. But even in the world of beetles, there are strong ones. I wanted to resign infinitely, resign to the fact that the world and the things that make up the world, will not change. I was attached to detachment.

What was I supposed to do?

It was then I met with another friend on my way to the gallows: “What you are saying is absurd,” he said. “What is absurd to you need not be absurd to me,” I shot back. Again, words have the power of life and death. The dialectical argument took a new course. His words hit me like a lightning. For him, what I said and wanted to do was ‘absurd,’ logically and humanly impossible, but miraculously, my own words ‘never give up’ visited me in the dead of the night. The chains began to break.

I wanted a change. I remembered Abraham of the Old Testament, who when commanded by God, was willing to sacrifice Issac, even though the child was born to him at a very old age. Many would have mocked Abraham when he tied Issac to a donkey as he travelled to Mount Moriah to offer the young child as a sacrifice.

Absurd? For a few Abraham’s action were absurd. But Abraham had faith and knew he would overcome this. He did not resign infinitely. And he got back Issac. But for me, did I have faith to move like the great prophet of old? Faith in what looks like absurd to many? And faith was born when everything else looked morbid. I began to believe in the strength of the absurd.

Is there something that is impossible for you to overcome today? Or have you made up your mind to resign infinitely? When everything looks bleak, believe in the absurd. You will get back all that you thought have been lost.

I have to thank my two friends who are in different parts of the world today. The first made me confess something positive. Here, my words had a positive impact on him. And he got back his life. And the second, even though his words were negative, helped me ‘never to give up.’ And I got my life back.

I have overcome Mount Moriah, but tread the same rocky path, but the one who treads the path, is a new creation. Existence is a blessing when you realise the purpose of existence. This is my metamorphosis. Speak the right thing. Overcome!

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