Lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, death to life - Essay Example

There are some people who live in eternal darkness and die in it. And there are some more privileged ones (by nature, or by some unknown destiny) who live in spaces and times brightly lit with noble emotions and lovely acts. But the greatest of all are those who overcome the darkness in their lives through self-realization and the will to act accordingly, because only they are capable of choosing their destiny. This is why this essay envisages to illustrate and prove that every human being, however immersed in darkness he/she is, has the potential to traverse the difficult path from darkness to light.

Mathew has been my school mate and friend for two years but then suddenly he stopped coming to the school. When I tried to contact him, I felt he did not like that. I felt being looked upon by him as a nuisance whenever I went to meet him in his village town. Gradually, I gave up and went my way. He never returned to the school and then I heard that he was spending his nights away in gambling casinos in the nearby town with his step father, who had picked up a passion for this game and turned lucky.

I also heard news that they were winning big money in the game. It was after three years that I saw him again. He had put on some weight. This time he was happy to see me and we spent an evening reminiscing our school days. I reminded him what a good athlete he was but he shrugged and said he did not regret leaving the studies and the school. It was visible that he had earned a lot of money. He was wearing a very expensive suit and fitting accessories including a Rolex watch and a Mont Blanc pen.

But I pressed him to tell me whether he was continuing with his other two passions, painting and mountaineering. He told me he was not getting enough time for that. He told me also that every year he was earning more than the double of the previous year's income. On further talks, he revealed that his father had left his mother who disapproved of their gambling and that his girlfriend also left him as well. I asked him why he was chasing money as if there is nothing else in the world. He said, you people think that money is evil.

But in this world, money can buy you anything. At that moment, I had to tell him that he was living in a world of illusion but he said it was my illusion (Plato, 1987, p.177). Though we had a nice evening that day, I felt he was moving towards the darker areas of human existence. And I could realize that he was already looking down on me as an unlucky guy who had yet to struggle his way up the ladder through the boring text books, projects and so on. Four years after that meeting, once again destiny brought us face to face with each other.

I chanced upon him on a commuter train where I found him sitting engrossed in a book. I felt curious. After we exchanged greetings he suddenly became silent. Then he asked me, “Do you remember telling me that I was living in a world of illusion?” I nodded. He suddenly held my hands and said, “I have woke up from that world of illusion.” And he told me his story from where we left it four years back. On an evening that he realized his new girl friend was cheating on him in the game, he aimlessly strolled down the street.

The girl had been collaborating with another man to help him win the game as she had developed an intimate relationship with that man without the knowledge of my friend. He was slightly depressed. The ugly face of truth that he had no real friends at all, was annoying him a little. Of late, he was loosing money in the game and those whom he thought as close to him were showing him a cold face. “How blind I have been to trust them,”