Saturday 23 June 2007

On The Stranger You Miss

Do you ever miss somebody you've never met? It's one of the most straight forward contradiction of terms, for missing suggests the loss of familiarity in the details of a person you already know, physical and/or intellectual. But there comes a time..once in a while..when you tend to miss a complete stranger, a certain trait of character, not long for it..but miss it -longing and missing have two different sets of behavioural routes- your mind starts drawing a very detailed Mosaic, slowly..like the detailed Arabesque decorations, or a silk Persian rug, small detailed and delicate masterpieces that take forever to create..configured and conjoined to the degree of interdependence, resulting in that one big complete work of art..a masterpiece of imaginary beauty.

I guess this parallels the idea of a blind person missing light, but then again some blind people never saw light, so their interpretation of it is completely oblivious to the actual thing, they effortlessly and so eloquently explain it as a feeling..probably warmth or softness, they might even convince you of their version of "light".

How do you explain the taste of vanilla ice cream if you've never had some? You make it up, but you also make sure your interpretation is so detailed that it gives you..the satisfaction otherwise not actually known, for you can fool people into believing you speak out of knowledge, but there's something somewhere within the corners of your subconscious that makes your imagination heightened to the degree of perfection, the greatest degree of satisfaction is the one you make up..since you control its intensity.

There's a sense of instinct in the act of missing, a bird which came into existence in a cage will always look for ways to escape..it's instinctive. Missing is also an instinct, but missing something you never experienced is one of the most intriguing adventures the human mind could embark upon, I'm a very deep believer in the power of the mind, its ability to rationalize, but I'm also fascinated with its limitations, the power of compensation can never make up for the real thing, but still, your mind learns to replace..and move on.

We all miss a stranger at one point, an imaginary friend, a custom made entity, decoded and only visible to us, he speaks only to us, listens only to us, gives us complete attention, always there, on time, any time, and yet..if we see an incarnation of that imaginary person somewhere, we wouldn't know him, for he's a stranger, and no stranger is a friend, strangely enough though, friends can..in turn..be strangers.

8 comments:

  1. to miss someone you already know is hard enough! to miss someone you've never known is even harder as you'd be confused trying to deeply analyze your feelings!
    And will probably keep looking for answers that you might never get..

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  2. yeah it happens and its something sweet :)

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  3. To answer your question first:YES..
    It is unusual yet beautifull..Because out of all the people we see and meet everyday a connection happens with a "stranger" where physical,material or any other interests didn't play a role in it..just a mind connection,which in my opinion makes it more special..So,I think that friends can..in turn..be strangers....

    Well,You have put it so nicely it doesn't seem strange at all..just a revelation :)

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  4. Well since I'm a big fan of mental intimacy, to me "intellectual" friends if I can call them that, are as real in our minds eye as any other friend. so actually you would know and hence miss a deeper level of a person than fabric and skin !

    Very beautiful Ammar !

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  5. Dima,
    That's very true

    Anonymous,
    yes it is..and welcome!

    Noura,
    And Revelations are always interesting!

    Tamara,
    the interesting part about this, is that despite the mental friendship, we are all complete strangers!

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  6. I think we miss to miss...

    It isn't hard for me to hold such feelings, sometimes it is a way of survival...

    Great Post, as usual :)

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  7. Yes…

    But I keep asking myself… would the pleasure of missing the stranger be the same once you we actually find him…
    Once it’s no longer a mind image…

    Or the pleasure is only in welling for what you don’t have…!!!!


    Your revelations are just beautiful Ammar!

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  8. Ammar- I would not use the word complete, but yes naturally we are so.

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