magic realism
i recently finished reading the trilogy 'memorias del águila y del jaguar' by isabel allende. how wisely she ties together mysticism, spirituality, and reality!
she doesn't treat the magical elements like a childish fairytale. she writes about it as if it's the most natural thing in the world, showing how our thoughts and feelings actually build the reality we experience.
in the following paragraphs i interpret a few quotes from her books.
underneath all the chaotic, messy details of our lives, there is no real separation between us. nothing exists in isolation. everything that happens, from a single thought to a hurricane, affects everything else.
'desde un pensamiento hasta un huracán, afecta a lo demás'
we are all held together by some sort of invisible energy, an exquisite web, fine as silk, strong as steel.
'una red exquisita, fina como seda, fuerte como acero'
most people live completely disconnected from this deeper reality, missing the tiny everyday miracles and signs around them. but when you look closer, the boundaries we build between ourselves and the world just aren't there.
we live in this constant tension. on one hand, nothing in this physical world is permanent - everything is born, changes, decays, dies, and renews itself in another form. trying to cling to things and keep them frozen is completely useless and only causes us suffering. our physical life passes like a fleeting dream.
'transcurre como un sueño efímero'
but on the other hand, there is a part of us - our souls - that is timeless. it belongs to a universe where everything happens at once, without past, present, or future. now, always and forever.
'sin pasado, presente o futuro, ahora desde siempre y para siempre'
we are both the changing wave and the eternal ocean.
we try so hard to calculate and analyze our way to an inner peace, but the mind’s rigid categories are too small for the mystery of life. to truly see, we have to stop overthinking and start reading with the heart... listening with the heart.
'leer con el corazón... escuchar con el corazón... escuchar sin emitir juicios'
to listen without making judgments requires us to empty our minds - clearing out our selfish desires, expectations, memories, and negative intentions so we can open up like a flower and simply receive the world. when we stop trying to control everything, we can finally experience the truth of the universe.
in the end, all the beautiful spiritual theories in the world don't mean a thing if they don't change how we actually live. isabel allende writes that theory is useless without practice.
'la teoría de nada servía sin la práctica'
true growth is an active, individual path based on compassion toward everything that exists.
'basado en la compasión hacia todo lo que existe'
nobody can force us to make this shift. it has to be a voluntary choice we make for ourselves when we are ready.
