On courage and acceptance

Photograph by Nikita Vhora

A sculptor chisels away at stone to create a sculpture. How does she know what part to chisel away and what part to keep? She has a vision, and she trusts her instinct. There is faith involved.

We are sculptors, and we are the sculpture. Not our lovers, not our family, not our friends. Our life is us, and we are the sculpture. This means we have to drive the chisel into us, to hammer away the undesirable, and thus, to shape the desirable. How easy is it to accept what part of us is undesirable? How often do we question ourselves? How often do we accept ourselves?

Our relationships (workplace, lovers and family) are a mirror to ourselves. If they point at a part that needs undoing, perhaps it’s best we listen. And this opens up a whole new thought. Who decides that the sculpture is ideal? Perhaps the magnificence of a stone that’s unchiseled and unchallenged is unparalleled. Perhaps, its wholesome nature is its beauty.

Perhaps, no chiseling is necessary.

The courage to point a chisel at ourselves, and hack away - or to embrace the completeness of our natural jagged edges - is what takes us onward.

—

Words:
Sushrut Munje