Life in Sea

          

      Life under the sea is beautiful. So calm and quiet at times, muted against the world outside; faraway from the din of the boisterous city, faraway from the extremities of the human world. It is buffered with all that one can desire – life, peace and meditation. Self-reflection and the ability to feel the importance of every breath – something that has long been lost from the world above. The world above has been growing faster, approaching a black that few care to think of, while the palace of blue below has remained steady. The world above has chained you to the ground by gravity, limiting your freedom, only aiding the imagination, while the world below has no limits, taking imaginations to a deeper level. But all of it comes at a cost. So mesmerising is the beauty of the world that does not belong to us, that we are often tantalised by it. And when immersed in the beauty that cannot be matched, it takes away your desire to breathe until your reflexes kick in and you rush to the surface. But often it is too late.

                The sea is a beautiful monster, like in the folklores of the Greek. It enchants you by its mellifluous rhythm and very painlessly sucks away your soul. And even before you realise it, it draws you into an eternal sleep of numbness and calmness. What could be so wrong in it? The sea gives you what every soul yearns for in its lifetime, and then takes away what you perhaps do not need. Yet it is not about the people who pass away into this immortal trance but the ones that survive to tell this tale of a beautiful feeling that can overpower your urge to even breathe. How strong must they be? Well, just as strong as time allows them. For no person that surfaces alive, doesn’t go back in again! That is the power of the sea. It may scare you when you resurface and collect your thoughts and you may pledge to never dive back in. But the lore slowly starts creeping in, challenging your logic and temperament. And so, when the sea calls, everyone responds.

                Now the sea is not just the sea, but a metaphysical entity that embeds into your heart once you open it for display. This entity is something that swallows even the best of men, in a world that rakes for them. You may forget about the majority. With advancing knowledge but diminishing wisdom, the seas have expanded their horizons while the divers have become more prone to seduction. People are so lost in the comforts of electronics, media and power that they care not to see beyond, that they care not to breathe. And when they do breathe, they take in fumes of carbon and sulphur, that affects the way they process the world and their future. The sea is so vast, that most people believe that it is futile trying to understand it, it is futile trying to escape it. Even the ones that do, are scattered so far apart, that they can feel nothing but helplessness.

                Now, often people find complaining that the sea is not simply a man-made desire. It is natural, it is ethereal. Any and every emotion that you feel is a sea in itself, waiting to devour you in its extremes. Fear, anger, love – everything can engross you into a person you did not mean to be and make it so tempting to stay put. But these emotions are necessary, just as the modern extensions of man are. But, I believe that the sea is overrated. It does pull you down and tease you with its infinite wonders, but every person belongs to some part of the sea that is made for them. It is the act of giving up even before realising that this part exists somewhere in the real world that has drowned the world, and not the sea in itself. The sea is a monster, only when you want it to be!

                Love for example, as people complain, drowns them out of their senses and pleases them enough to give up their breathing. Love suffocates them to their death. Yes, it does, but only the wrong kind of love. It is not determined by blood; ostentation is not its characteristic. The right kind of love takes you to the deepest of secrets of the sea, but also helps you resurface and breathe. And the best kind of love itself lets you breathe underwater. But people are too scared to find it; too scared to balance out every emotion; too scared to take a chance. And if they are so, it is their destiny to drown.

                So, the sea may be a sulking treachery ready to suck your soul and keep it for itself, but it is all that is to life. You may hold back from the fear of drowning and never explore the beauty that is, or you may immerse in it and keep searching for that sweet spot where your breath and your eyes can co-exist.