All humans are in a state of falling. Regardless of a supposed belief systems, we are sentient beings attempting to navigate our way through a foreign world. What we know in this world has been taught to us by teachers, parents, and preachers, etc. But ultimately, when each of us takes a step back and looks at the world in front of us, we realize how truly isolated we are. We cling to social systems like schools and workplaces as if they can provide an ultimate solace. And they do, for awhile. But when we leave those communities, it is then that we realize the grandeur of our planet and civilization. We are all falling: falling from this place, slowly becoming a product of the inevitable, and clinging to whatever makes us feel secure on our way down. The human being wants to believe there is something outside of himself, something that is capable of providing a purpose for this falling. My time in Turkey will be an opportunity for me to see a new world and realize my purpose in a place that does not center on the American ideals of Capitalism, Christianity and Calories.
Rainer Marie Rilke, the brilliant German poet:
"The leaves are falling as if from far off
As if orchards were dying high in space
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling."
