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Goethe says somewhere that there is no such thing as liberal ideas, there are only liberal sentiments. To continue this thread of thought let me add that he who tells a good story using an idea and spicing it with enough sentiments wins. The rabbit is still racing with the tortoise, and each time the pace, perspective and results change: a new point of view is born, aka a story. Sentiments are not the cherry on the cake rather the yeast that makes the cake rise. Therefore, to make this world a better place we need to internalize sentiments and use it to produce pure art. A story is nothing but an idea that becomes much truer and larger than the facts it portrays. Remember what the Bible says, “Out of the heart the mouth speaks”.
The best way to get ideas is to get into a depression. Progress comes from conflict, since we anticipate a better world after the discord is over, or live in the hope of a better world emerging. Mostly, we are trapped in the perception of what we believe. Our imaginations are so powerful that at times it can transport us to another planet or doom us to a life of utter misery and despair. Each of us creates our own little reality, an ivory tower that has the NO TRESPASSING sign on it. Our imagination is our paradise. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to die to find it or even be good and moral to go to paradise.
For me, the actual discovery that a paradise exists was phenomenal and finding it yielded countless other opportunities as well. Heaven doesn’t need to be entered; just the discovery itself is enough. If too many people knew the way to heaven then there would be no more atheists.
By the way, I did not gain entry into this haven by default nor did I stumble upon it. The road was not strewn with thorns nor stones, heavens no, nothing so dramatic. It came one day when I was depressed and suddenly felt a deep lust to take out my troubles in the kitchen. I needed to take out the venom and discovered that the simplest things can bring the most unnerving twists in your life. In my case it helped me to get a glimpse of Elysium.
I can recall the exact moment it happened, my imagination was taking me to a state where I was someone who had no purpose, no direction, no aim, yet I wasn’t unhappy. A total failure was I, for being on such good terms with myself. I deserved more, definitely I did. So, I tied my apron (strings et al) and got down to some hard labour. The jar with the penne was ogling at me. I grabbed it and made it al dente. Having got some pleasure out of boiling the hard noodle, I got out the low-fat cream carton, two eggs, grated some cheddar cheese and some fresh nutmeg. All this went into my mixer with some salt, pepper and a little sugar. While I was blitzing the sauce, I could feel a halo enveloping me. I realised it was all right to be happy with yourself, in fact it is great. With that fact determined, the oven was turned on. You need to turn on the heat to get anything going, quite literally. Pour the sauce over the drained noodles in an ovenproof dish. A light sprinkle of nutmeg on top and the bowl goes into the infernal chamber for 20 minutes. Sorry folks, inferno has to be glimpsed before you can enter Eden. It took all of five minutes for the aroma to curl around and become a shuttle transporting me to my very own paradise. I just had to make a colorful appetizer to accompany this pearly white and creamy dish. Steamed broccoli florets, cubes of boiled chicken, squares of a crunchy red apple, 2 tablespoons of boiled corn and baby carrots were tossed in a light vinaigrette dressing. Of course, I laid out some garlic bread and chilled bottle of Chardonnay. My paradise was complete.

If a separate paradise exists for each of us, mine must surely be potted with spice trees and words (of wisdom???).

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