Tilling The Mind

(India ink illustration – Anu Jayanth)

Tilling the mind was to intentionally tilt the mind to depart from the paved path of normalcy, which meant raking our thoughts and turning them over and over and exposing the raw, vulnerable insides. To expose one’s innermost feelings is an essential quality of the creative.

But before we go into this rather obscure practice of the great sages, for starters, the tongue (oh yes, the tongue again!) had to be moist and rosy, sweet-smelling, and, very importantly, placed center perfectly. Eyebrows arc like the wings of a bird in flight and are perfectly balanced, and the forehead is broad and smooth — portraying enlightenment and serenity.

For sure, an asymmetrical face with irregular features is as attractive as a symmetrical face, or perhaps even more. Minds that are somewhat off-balance may accomplish great feats when a more stable mind would hesitate, bound by caution. This may come as a surprise to some, the fact is many leaders and laureates, and luminaries have benefited from some form of mental illness. But then again, anything more than a socially acceptable imbalance may have us locked up in a prison cell or an asylum for the insane.

Hence a specialized program for the creative soul…more to come later.