Lyf Hotel Grand Opening excitement is building. An elaborate sign has been under construction in the courtyard for several days. Now I understand its message. The letters finally in place it read:
BEST DAY EVER. Great message for the beginning of something big.
An invitation was received in the strangest of fashions. I was lunching with the ‘boys’ at Kashmir Restaurant. BOB’s phone rang.
He: Hello. Yes I will tell her. Looking at me “You are invited to the special elite opening party tomorrow evening.”
Me: (yelling) Thank you!!! Why are you guys staring at me?? Wanted him to be sure he heard me.
One questioned remained. I wonder how the GM knew where I was?? Oh well. Then I asked the ‘boys’ a stupid question.
Me: What shall I wear to this special event?
Of course, did not receive any answer. But later messaged a friend.
Me: I have been invited to the elite cocktail party and will wear the abaya your mother gave me. Please tell her.
He: Inshallah I will.
Me: It is a little unusual to be wearing a Nigerian abaya to the Lyf Grand Opening cocktail party but I will be the best dressed person there. Hahaha I have a sort of tiara I bought in Singapore and will wear that on my head.
Now onto something more profound and longer lasting. The January 2, 2025 blog spoke of Hermann Hesse. When researching the knowledge and insight of this previously unknown (to me) man I found many quotations on a site called. Good Reads. We need age old wisdom these days – untempered by the chaos that surrounds us.
“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”
― Herman Hesse
“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”
― Hermann Hesse, Demian
“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours.”
― Hermann Hesse
“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”
― Hermann Hesse
We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” ― Hermann Hesse”It is not for me to judge another man’s life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.”
― Herman Hesse, Siddhartha
“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go”
― Herman Hesse
“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
― Hermann Hesse
“I live in my dreams — that’s what you sense. Other people live in dreams, but not in their own. That’s the difference.” ― Hermann Hesse
“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.”
― Hermann Hesse
“I have had to experience so much stupidity, so many vices, so much error, so much nausea, disillusionment and sorrow, just in order to become a child again and begin anew. I had to experience despair, I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, to thoughts of suicide, in order to experience grace.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“You are willing to die, you coward, but not to live.”
― Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf
“What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.”
― Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
“So she thoroughly taught him that one cannot take pleasure without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every last bit of the body has its secret, which brings happiness to the person who knows how to wake it. She taught him that after a celebration of love the lovers should not part without admiring each other, without being conquered or having conquered, so that neither is bleak or glutted or has the bad feeling of being used or misused.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Often it is the most deserving people who cannot help loving those who destroy them.”
― Herman Hesse
I read all of these precious quotations, pondering the lessons to be learned. So much to be learned from this when we contemplate a relationship with another mortal.
“We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other’s opposite and complement.”
― Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund
Then this one, guiding me in my relationship with myself. It parallels the teachings found in the Quran
“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do. “
― Hermann Hesse
There was a full moon last evening. I took a photograph, the surrounding artificial lights dimmed its magnificence. So I edited the fake artificial lights out, chopped and cropped them away. Then used an ethereal style found in my 16 Pro Max. I shall include a ‘before editing’ version so you can see what I started out with. Then a Lyf car park sign, to add a mundane touch. Then the BEST DAY ever sign. Sent the photo to newly paid Blog Master Chris with the following message.
Me: Hope you are having the Best Day Ever.
