the beauty and the beast

One’s greatest place of intimacy is one’s own mind, and mine is of no exception. It’s my personal sanctuary, yet my own prison. Dare I say it, it’s the land of gods and monsters, of the beauty and the beast.

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Chapter 1: Life.

Scared as one might feel when footsteps are set in the land as it’s filled with extreme thoughts wandering around the place like those symbiotes searching hard for the men. "Extreme thoughts, what are those?", one might ask. Those are my questions for the meaning of my own existence. They’ve been here for years trying to look for their destination, for the answers. Those are also my cryings for the release of the beast imprisoned inside me that has been begging for authenticity and craving for the taste of freedom in the outside world without feeling apologetic, without pretending.

Like hell, as it may sound, but this land is forsooth the beast’s heaven. Only in this realm, the beast can maintain his existence and be his own king. It’s the only place where the beast can feel his own beauty and live his vivid life.

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Chapter 2: Death.

It’s not only a land. It’s a battlefield. It’s the place where the warriors in me fight off the inner saboteur. Death comes the way as the traumas hit. That’s when the devil (the inner saboteur) tries to take control of the land to win the battle of life and death. But it’s also when those questions about existence turn into angles and warriors and do their best to defeat the monster. They must protect the king (the beast) from the hand of death as they believe the king is the key to the door of their destination. If the beast were gone, the land would become a fallen kingdom, and their destination would never be found.

How tragic it may appear. Still, as The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. says: "Only in the darkness, can you see the stars". Through wars and hardships, this land named "mind" starts to unveil its beauty.

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Chapter 3: Love.

What could possibly go wrong with the mind when it comes to love? Love gives a new meaning to the land. It sets the questions at ease, as in love, they have found a temporary shelter. With love, the "death battle" will also be forgotten.

Yet, for the beast, it’s a new era of struggles since there’s an intrusion into his sanctuary and it catches him off guard. It steals his land and makes him powerless in his own home. He starts to show hatred towards the land since what was once his now favors the existence of another.

However, love is only a guest, a visitor. When love is gone, the death battle re-emerges while the questions moan over the loss of their shelter. But it doesn’t mean the beast will reclaim the title as the king of the land, as he recognizes his home no longer.

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Only through life, death, and love, will the land show its fullest nature. Though no physical footstep of mine has ever set in this place, it remains my most intimate one since all of me depends on its existence.