The Chimes At Midnight

THE CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." - Bill Vaughan

Often I tend to turn my posts into Self-Improvement distance course, I'd take note to avoid it in this one. When we were in school we were periodically asked if we woke up early in the morning or not. Of the hands raised some woke up as early as 5 o'clock, some as late as 9, what was interesting is that a few of nosey kids too held their cute chubby little hands high just to get noticed by the teacher, cookie times! The day belongs to the workers, the doers. The productivity is its highest in the day than at night.

We tend to overlook the most mundane yet crucial aspects of our lives, a case of misplaced priorities perhaps! Take the famous Sherlock Holmes for example, the man has no extensive super power other than his ability to observe things minutely. The objectivity of the mind is extremely crucial for our decisions and in our day-to-day life. It is important that our heads get proper rest & apt mental exercises to let the 'juices flowing'. Seeing things as they are is a deceptive notion, one which many believe they do yet they do not. Sometimes we widen our fat lips, cluck the thick tongue yet so delicately that the gravity of the words lose their mass.

"There they stand, the innumerable stars, shining in order like a living hymn, written in light." - N.P. Willis 

Getting up early meant sleeping early at night which at that age was quite difficult. Lying down on the bed waiting for sleep to come, the mind is such a fascinating thing that all the novel and grave thoughts popped up in the middle of the night, how did life originate?, why do we think?, what are stars? Curiously enough though, none of the single question was related to money or economics. You close your eyes for 5 minutes and it felt like a blink where all the physical world collapsed and we embarked on a journey to explore the secrets of life, the universe and of course - the Self. What was amazing at night was the serenity that a person experiences, the rush of blood into the head which we neglect so callously. Every breath sounds like a gust of wind, the blinking like a hammer; the only solace was the train of thoughts in the mind. The silence on the same yet estranged streets call out for a different You. Then you hear things that are not even remotely closed to you, with the defences down you wander in the Mind Palace i.e. a mnemonic, a trick widely used by Romans as The Roman Room, The Journey- Method of Loci.  The human mind is most creative at both extremes of the day- morning or night. Night is a little difficult for some as they tend to emphasize more on the day's activities rather than emancipating new ones. Man is the least himself when he talks in his own person, give him a mask and you'll hear the truth! Night needs no mask for the man is himself no matter the situation. Perhaps his mind is a little tired of all the hiding in the day that he makes the night to himself. For some, the night is their Mind Palace. The bed, the streets, the blank wall, the drab sheets and even the person himself is a part of the Mind Palace.

Some are kept awake beyond midnight because the pain of their sorrow is too much to fall asleep, giving them nightmares. For some the night is more colourful than the day, the spectra of the light lies in the eyes of the beholder. Night shows us how wonderfully our earth is well self-lit, under the same yellow-fusion bulb. Some say Night is a sculpture, an institution unto itself. The crazy, innovative ideas come at the most unconventional time and place. As the person goes deep into thinking, unmasking himself while doing so, he tends to see things from a different perspective. The choir in the mind tunes a fine concerto, or a sonata- if you may. The mind transcends time and space, the beauty of the night that even the most astute ones bow down to. The stars themselves tell a story taking the Traveller into the true self, looking for the most basic of questions. Because the mind is less crowded it gives more objective results. The horizon becomes more clearer, those able to look at all the corners of their minds can utilize this to its fullest. Closing the eyes too help elevate the moment. It helps blocking the visual quietness of things around us. For many, night is a blotting paper for their sorrows. All shadows disappear in the dark of the night as one becomes a shadow himself. No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky!

We walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses the idle details, just as our memory. These are the precious Mayfly moments -the beauty of whom lasts only to be blinded by the rising sun, a short lived sort of never-existing moments. All the ideas are yours for everyone else is asleep. These are the Chimes at Midnight.!

"The day has eyes, the night has ears." - David Fergusson