Calling
To the I Am
Alone and on my knees
In a valley filled with death's air
His gift: Freedom in an endless expanse
My prison's narrow walls collapsed
I walked in green meadows
Seeing the sun
Calling
Inspired by a prayer from the beautiful "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
The pressure to perform, which grips the soul
In the moment of action, digs its claw
Deep into the body, taking control —
Tense hands, weak knees, shallow breathing, clenched jaw —
Those symptoms of exaggerated worry
And anticipated anxiety
Are themselves the causes of that dreary
Failure to achieve. With some gaiety,
Attempt to fail instead, shoot to flounder;
This paradoxical intention, see,
May be just what sweeps the legs from under
Our deepest seated fears and sets us free.
“Let go,” said the Buddha. “Dive in,” declares
Viktor Frankl. One succeeds when one dares.
Shame & guilt had infiltrated the brain
The man in the mirror was going insane
Life is suffering, that's what Viktor Frankl said
Vividly remember being alive but feeling dead
Unaware, unconscious, of my deceitful ways
Temptation was my coach, I knew all the plays
Confessing my flaws and fallible nature
Admitting I’m weak, committing to the labor
Humble existence through my new reality
Confidence grew because of vulnerability
The ego dissolves through the confrontation
Peace manifested through self-analyzation
When I am in pain,
My ego would be the first to leave,
As rats would a sinking ship;
The greater the pain the faster it leaves!
My drives get ready to play a masochistic role.
All philosophers, Cosmologists,
Ontologists, Monists, Dualists, Pluralists,
Eschatologists, Epistemologists et al
Hastily retreat, like true fair-weather friends,
Except Kierkegaard and his lieutenants,
Edmund Husserl and Viktor Frankl: they
Stand by me; help me, first of all,
To see meaning in the situation
Where there is apparently none.
The pain starts mitigating.
The triumvirs prompt me to be positive
And do things that I can— in the circumstances,
Ignoring things I cannot possibly do or undo.
Then I find my other companions,
Knowledge, Reason, Experience, etc.,
Slowly joining hands and doing their bit.
Thank God, there is a Kierkegaard!
— Ram, R. V.
Published in The Creative Collective Anthology
Series 2, Graldine Taylor, Ed. Amazon, 2017
Is it a new phenomenon,
Known to the world
Through Beckett and Camus?
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean.
Oedipus, Bhartrhari, Buddha—all,
Over a period of intense suffering,
Learnt to cope with it,
Each resorting to a different praxis.
King Dasaratha perhaps thought
He knew—until a moment came,
When no knowledge,
No cut-and-dried theory,
No ready-made solution
Could possibly help.
He succumbed.
Kierkegaard could see.
Husserl could show.
Eliot could feel.
Frankl could cope with.
Christ had known.
— R. V. Ram
Solving depression
If this equation by Victor Frankl is true
D=S-M
Despair = suffering – meaning
I suffer from despair
My despair causes me suffering
My suffering clouds my true meaning
The clouds stop me from finding my true meaning.
–S+-C=-M
We all need meaning. What is my meaning?
What will my meaning equal to?
When my meaning reaches its equal
What will it mean to me?
How will that meaning change my despair?
What is the meaning in my suffering?
If suffering hurts why not find meaning to stop the suffering
-M=D+S
If I obtain meaning I can remove despair and suffering
This equals happiness and then gives me more meaning
-D-S=H=+M+M+M..........to infinity
Is this equation true?
“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how.'”-Viktor Frankl
My true way of living is not for How,
My true way of living is Why for now,
This way of living is ‘cause of my vow.
I made this vow, for you and for him,
Two separate minds in a single rim,
This wasn’t made on a single whim.
‘Why’ is the question I now ask,
Why shall I stand behind your mask,
Is it ‘cause of your current task.
I will stand here anyway,
I know it’s a bit cliché,
But I am still here to stay.
Here I stay with you two,
I don’t know what to do,
We are truly taboo.
We can never be,
I’m sure you agree,
This I guarantee.
You are my Why,
For you, I’ll die,
I won’t deny.
I love you,
This is true,
My love grew.
The end,
My friend,
Will send.
This,
Kiss,
Bliss.