Water

"Be as Water My Friend" is a line from a Bruce Lee movie which he recites in an interview.  As Anees talked about looking inward at our dried hopes, this is what came to mind immediately - and no matter how many times I listen to this short clip, it is one of the most personally inspiring clips that I have come across :

The graphic below comes from a wordpress blog called Healthy Miranda, the interesting statistic is that bones are not solid or dry, they are 22% water.  Yet again looking inwards to dried hopes does not equate with what is physically inside us.  Indeed if we are psychologically or spiritually dried, there is another example in the Book of Common prayers which says "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" but this is a funeral recital and not at all the same expression as the one found in the Bible where Christ refers to "Living Water".  So at the physiological, psychological and spiritual levels, the idea of water equates with life.

The final clip is a podcast of an excellent speech by David Foster Wallace and he is talking about thinking and the message that inspires here is akin to metacognition, which is at the basis of my online journey here and elsewhere.  

Both of these individuals died young, Bruce Lee was a cause of death that even today remains speculation, some say that it was medication that had a reaction in his body, much like an allergy and David Foster Wallace who suffered dark depressions during his life, ended his own life.  Wallace was an introvert whose writing is considered among the greatest of our time, and he did not particularly like fame, yet fame was what he was catapulted into.  His water was his imagination and creativity, but the external world what was most dry.

The only reason I was looking today for posts was a most unusual announcement from my good friend Ali Anani, who posted a stunning and shocking update that said Goodbye. That was a shot right out of the blue and not something I was not expecting.  He has been a champion of beBee for some months and he is a reason why I tried this site out, for his contributions at LinkedIn were no longer frequent, only for me to notice that he was now championing this site. He has not said that he has quit, but simply has put his pen and paper down.  That very act itself reminds me of another individual whose spirit I love and that is Jiddu Krishnamurti. 

Krishnamurti had been appointed to the head of the "Order of the Star" and in 1929 he engaged his most radical of acts.  His first major announcement to his followers were to unfollow him, he was disbanding the Order and simply walking away.  There is a documentary about his life which provides an account of his life.  Ali Anani can think at this level, as we leaves I respect his choice.  It is a choice that takes courage and it is not expediency.  Whatever he chooses I value. Now this post serves as my personal dedication to Ali Anani and the tremendous amount of work that he has provided across LinkedIn, Slideshare and recently at BeBee. I honour him.