The tales of our time

I’ve always believed if you want to really know someone, read their favorite books. 

I asked Miroslav for his favorite books early on. He shared one called Siddhartha, which he began to read to me before bed over a series of weeks. The beginning part of this book shared a wise tale of a man choosing his spiritual path, giving up all worldly belongings to become a Brahman and seek enlightenment, only to find his path of evolution eventually drawing him towards falling in love with a dakini figure who brings a lot of fire into his life, transforming him with her sexuality wisdom.

I laughed when I read this, visibly seeing the parallel to the path he’d lived, desperately seeking salvation in meditation and a monk like existence only to find himself continually hearing the pull of our partnership magnetising him. 

One book that shared a similar story to our relating felt like a coincidence. Until he handed me a dusty, well worn, copy of his other favourite book one day when we were clearing out the bedroom of his childhood home. You could tell this book had touched him. Just like Siddhartha the title ‘Eleven Minutes’ gave nothing away…

I read half the book with little interest of the story, a young Brazilian girl moving to Switzerland getting caught up in the world of sexuality after she feels the pains of not wanting to open her heart and feel the hurt of relationships anymore. Until half way through the book she meets a young man with deep spiritual wisdom that sees right through her ego and independence to the light that moves within her. 

I nearly fell off the bed laughing when I found this part of the book. Like his whole life of literature flashing before me, seeding these little stories of how consciousness and meditation meets the path of sexuality and embodied wisdom.

The man continually seeing beyond the veils with his profound wisdom and the women who’s heart desperately wants to open and be reminded of the innocence of life that lies beyond her independent woman persona.

We have to wonder sometimes whether we’re being prepared for the future we are born to live or whether our environment informs our desires, shaping our realities with the stories we consume. Either way it makes me want to play closer attention to the media I receive and the impact it has on my reality.