An Awakening Without a Name

As the Buddha stepped beyond the palace,

leaving silk, certainty, and shelter behind,

so did I

not into holiness,

but into the unknown.

I traveled alone.

No mask.

No borrowed identity.

No hunger for recognition.

And in that unguarded state,

the world revealed itself.

I saw how full people are of themselves

how power swells the chest,

how former glory resists gravity,

how knees are bent by life

yet pride refuses to bow.

Life does not bring us low to punish us.

It brings us there to teach

compassion, humility, respect.

But ego—ahankār

clings like armor mistaken for strength.

And so many choose the walls they build,

forgetting that pride always falls inward

before it collapses outward.

The universe is merciful.

It sends angels

in human form, in correction,

in truth spoken plainly.

Yet some refuse to loosen their grip,

mistaking dignity for stubbornness,

strength for domination,

freedom for self-worship.

I saw opportunists cloaked in gentleness,

hands quick, hearts absent

making haste without honor,

profit without loyalty,

motion without work.

They forget:

you may deceive some forever, others briefly,

but never all and never truth.

I wondered, quietly:

do they see the whirlpool forming beneath them?

How destruction does not roar, but whispers

pulling them inward,

away from their own soul.

I saw people recoil from responsibility, defensive when met with fact, weaponizing emotion to escape duty.

Where once duty meant care,

now it asks only, What’s in it for me?

They believe themselves indispensable. They do not hear the earth being dug beneath their feet.

They forget gratitude.

They forget joy.

They search endlessly

for something unnamed,

while insecurity builds a home

they cannot escape.

I saw children wandering

not lost, but unseen

finding comfort in each other

because no one else arrived.

I saw couples fractured by repetition, trying again and again, hoping love might succeed where self knowledge was never attempted.

They chase connection through others without first meeting themselves.

They seek validation

where only alignment belongs.

The answer, I learned, is disarmingly simple: return inward.

Everything else rearranges itself.

I saw people moving relentlessly,

running without direction,

busy without destination.

Life appeared unbearably complex until it wasn’t.

Perhaps the quiet thread revealed itself to me

only because I had been twisted enough to feel it.

I am not perfected.

I am still learning.

But I am awake.

I no longer feel like a stranger to the water I feel illuminated by it.

I learned calm. Composure. Resilience.

I learned boundaries

not as walls,

but as reverence.

I learned to say, gently but firmly:

I am not a doormat.

Respect is essential.

Communication is sacred.

The age of burning bushes has passed.

We are the fire now.

Let those who can hear, hear.

Let those who can see, see.

Those who choose blindness

may remain with their choice.

I am grateful I walked away.

Like the Buddha but in my own, unrepeatable way.

I walked ancient lands

where Rama and Ravana once stood opposed,

and learned that battles are eternal,

but enlightenment is personal.

My father once said:

Journey alone.

That is how unseen doors open.

I listened.

And I am glad I did.