The Iridescent Apple or The Secret Shimmer of Everything

The Iridescent Apple or The secret shimmer of everything

For the longest time, I've felt this need to write but I didn't believe my voice could be relevant in a topic that's anything but new and which so many people, mostly wise people, saints and/or poets, have so eloquently  been speaking and writing about for centuries, in such different contexts. 

To further complicate matters, the topics I would like to write about are rather difficult to be expressed in words. The few times I've brought up these matters in conversations with close people, I've felt   like a young child, awkwardly babbling his first words. My attempts to communicate about these things have often felt like an exercise in futility.

However, despite these two potential obstacles, I've been lucky enough to find guidance and confidence where I least expected to find them and, even though I believe language can sometimes fall short of what we long to express. I do think it is necessary and important to strive to find the most accurate words possible.

The main subject of this blog is this deeper dimension of life, which hardly ever comes up in everyday conversations, even though nothing  can give life true meaning and bring lasting peace and joy like it can. I am referring to that, about which  the Little Prince says is invisible to the eyes, but not in the least bit less real (or "essential", in his words) for that matter. Although we have assumed or been told that this dimension can only be reached or experienced through effort or sacrifice, the truth is that, as Alfred Tennyson put it, it is closer to us than our own breathing. It is our essence. And this is exactly why I think these topics should be brought forth to dialogues a lot more often, in spite of the limitations our language systems may have.

Now I'd like to do some explaining about the specific names I picked for my blog. The reason I came up with an apple is because we all tend to associate this fruit with teachers and learning contexts. Even if I have a degree in Psychology, for the last twenty years I've been, first and foremost, a teacher. I teach languages and the occasional cooking class. I might not have always known this for a fact but teaching ismy true calling. 

However, I strongly identify with the role of student or apprentice as well. I've been lucky to have had many excellent teachers in every stage of my education, ever since I was a little girl up until today. I might not have set foot in a classroom in a long time, but this does not mean I haven't kept on learning and studying in very different of contexts, as well as on  quite a variety of subjects.

One of the topics on which I consider myself to be a student is precisely this subtle reality that nonetheless encompasses all of life. I've had many teachers over the years, most of whom I've never met personally, but only through their writing. Each and every one of them, in their own unique way, has helped me find my way back to the "place" I never actually left. But, although I will certainly keep on reading them, there does come a point when, as Jiddu Krishnamurti said, we realize life itself is the ultimate teacher.

I came up with the term "iridescent", as well as with the second title of this blog "the secret shimmer of everything" because, in moments when I've felt firmly grounded in the essence of  being, I've truly sensed that everything in this world, in its magic and sacredness, glows with an iridescent shimmer. And I don't mean this as a figure of speech, but actually as something that is mysteriously real.

After carefully thinking about this, I've come to realize that even if there might be "nothing new under the Sun", whatever value my writing might have lies in that it is the honest account of someone's quest. I do think by the way this kind of  quest,  today maybe more than ever, can determine the fate, not only of individual lives, but also of our planet as a whole.

The idea behind this blog is that it may be a way for me to accompany whoever will decide to stick around, as well as the possibility to walk myself, through the process of my writing a book which will describe the personal quest I mentioned earlier.

I do hope there will be many of us to greet it when it is finally ready.

Find me on Instagram: manzana_iridiscente12

Credits:
Iridescent Apple pic: Jony Ariadi on Unsplash
Shimmering Rose: Sam Operchuk on Unsplash