Mother to Child

Dear, Child.
Look at the stars
Blinking their signs;
The shooting star
Burning their directions;
The glowing sky
Telling their histories.

Dear, Child.
Listen to the old songs.
See the old galaxies.
Touch the swirling dusts.
Taste the sweetness of comets.
Smell the expanding universe.
All no limit
But your definition.

Hug me
As we travel.
Trust me
As we wander.
Like I hug
You,
Like I trust
You.

Dear Child.

body and soul is like a female and a male in a marriage as discussed in classes of spirituality

in Javanese tradition body is symbolizing the female that is also the earth — accepting, submissive and intuitive; while soul is symbolizing the male that is also the heaven — giving, powerful and guiding

yet to me it’s not always that way; to me yes body and soul is like a mother and a child — the mother holding an infant (can be a girl or a boy) in a state that the mother is making sure the child is purely happy

I personally believe as long as the soul remains childlike, the body is not suffering — accepting what is is the key

about this life I sometimes don’t want to define as definition is a limit

and so I don’t force my understanding to anyone even to those I love the most because spiritual experience is very personal, cannot be forced, can only be synchronised through mutual journey

that’s why spiritual journey is called silent path; even when we’re in the same discussion room, the expansion of understanding might be different from one another

let’s accept our own silent path with no judgment

❣️

Notes: it’s my personal thought, doesn’t mean to influence anyone, a ranting of a life traveler

How Clear? (Language #1)

How clear, Beloved
Do messages show to you?
As clear as clear glass--

About language that is claimed to make things clarified. My ranting just now…..

Language is a tool in the form of spoken, signed/gestured or written symbols structured and agreed by a group of human beings and used by them to communicate and express opinions, emotions, experiences. In the growth language is also to reflect cultural and social identity.

Once I wrote that language is logic of a nation. The way a nation structures the language proves the way one positions itself before nature or other human beings. That’s why the first person is using a capital letter (I) in English in which individuality is prioritised, while formal form of second person is Anda (with a capital letter A) in Bahasa Indonesia in which individuality is second prioritised in a group. It also explains why some language categorise their nouns into genders (male, female), while other language don’t. Do you know why Subject is less important than Predicate that the doer won’t be mentioned in a sentence? Why do some languages have level of honorific (Javanese has 3 levels), while others don’t? Logic of a nation is introduced as early as how the nationals speak the idea: through language. How interestingly do Eskimo have many words for “snow” of different form, time, size; as the Arab have many words for “horse” of different type, movement, emotion, sound of gallops, etc?

The logic of a nation aka language is indeed born through the interaction of nature, culture, nurture!

I wonder though how well a language can convey a message. Which language can convey the message the most clearly? Is it the one with the best grammar? Is it the one with the most vocabulary? Is it the one with the most beautiful intonation? Is it the oldest one? Is it the simplest one like binary code? Which one?

Maybe each language excel in one subject. English and German excel for science. Arabic and Javanese excel for literature. Language with script like Sanskrit, Japanese and Chinese excel in developing  strong cognitive with their intricate writing. And so on. Please don’t quote my limited knowledge and analysis that is based on my limited education.

As much as I admire those who master many languages, I still doubt if they can convey their emotion clearly and honestly through the logic of their nations. Maybe scientifically and logically they can speak or write about something. Yet there is one deep emotion that will fail all languages in many occasions.

What can fail any language? LOVE.

Look at Rumi. Do you think Rumi talks about his wife? No. He talks about divine love. But can Rumi stop others to use his poems and quotes to admire other human beings. No. Freedom of expression. Unclear boundary, failure of accuracy. Dishonesty. Honesty.

How would you trust the sentence “I love you” even if someone truly loves you with no reason? How would love be conveyed with language if “I admire you” can’t even convince the other?

Yes. In general language is a tool to convey messages; but in some cases language is a blocker of a true message.

Some message won’t be strong enough articulated in any language but silence.

Silence is truly the highest level of communication.

Again please don’t quote me because I didn’t review my writing before uploading: typo and immature thought is everywhere.

❣️

Knot

A knot is a safe
For love to bind a promise
Until time is up.

I bought the gold knot stud earrings in Madrid, a place making me realise that a most stunning place can be the least safe one

when buying it, I didn’t know the meaning of knot: they just looked stunning

only when ending the 20-day solo travel in some EU countries, I know the knot stud earring means love and unity

beautiful!

Sweet Dreams

All dreams should be sweet.
They should leave beautiful trails
To be well followed.

living with acceptance is a dream

and I’ve achieved it to some extent; I’ve learnt letting go each and every day

and now I want to enjoy my life with someone who has the same project with mine: to live loving & forgiving, to die loved & forgiven

because to me that’s the only way to live happily

What About The Dreams?

I still keep the dreams:
You're the only one to meet
When sky's clear one day.

I hug my dreams in the dark day; they will again fly to find home when the wind sweeps clouds away

💙

🥰

Love

When many think you're more,
You shine too bright,
Exceeding a real star,
That I've admired,
Your true colors.

This heart can only bear
Natural brightness,
That will shine no matter how dark the life is,
Not the artificial brightness that will collapse when the dark goes dark.

So let you stay
Where admiration is loud.
Let this heart stay
Where love truly vibes.

love is never wrong, only the object is sometimes not rightly chosen

some love feels demanding even when it only requires simplicity and peace

it’s good to learn to love unconditionally including accepting the excessiveness of how human being perceives love itself

it’s ok to fail to love unconditionally this time — sometimes the best love is stopping admiration where admiring is making things less genuine and more misleading

💙

❣️

Love

What's love, Beloved?
It's what she does and becomes.
As red as ruby--

I love jewelry; these are a set of ruby I bought in Scott Market in Yangon, Myanmar in 2018

so many gemstones made my eyes wildly browsed all possibly affordable ones

i bought sapphire, ruby, jade and amber that have become my precious entertainer cum advisor when I’m lost.

gemstone is not only beautiful but also symbols of wisdom and beauty

Thank you❣️

Kitchen Calls

Kitchen calls, my love
Those in love with life and taste
And the folks in heart.

today’s ifthar with so much love

we call it bothok not the Botox injection — it’s tempeh, anchovy in grated coconut + santan wrapped by my hands in banana leaves 😍

sayur asem (sour soup) normally the sourness is from tamarind but today I used buah kedondong peel

Japanese cracker that I love always

still the Bac Ninh oranges

kedondong

Dear Heart

Dear
Heart
That
Softens,
Love me
Also
Let me go.

loving others is easier than loving one’s self; after that letting go others is easier than letting go one’s self

I’m letting go all.

💗

Loved? Fulfilled?

Stacking oranges
Shine on a fruit container.
Loved fruits to fulfill

Love has many languages: more than 5  to express it. Fulfilment has only 1: getting/giving what’s wanted.

Fulfilment can be the feeling of getting attention, receiving compliment, passing a test, making a relationship, owning a dream house, invited to important events, getting this or having that.

But love…. I still feel my father’s love although he passed away > 20 years ago. I feel my mother’s love although she lives far away. I still feel my siblings’ love although we don’t talk with each other everyday. It’s the time & moments we’ve cherished . It’s smiles & jokes when gathering in our small dining room. It’s their hi through WhatsApp asking where I am & telling me to be well. It’s the reconciliation after small fights. It’s the blood that I can’t unflow from this body. It’s the karma to serve in the same family. The prayers that I know sent through whisper & breath every time we remember each other. My best friends are included, too.

I constantly need love; without love I will lose hope & die in despair. It stays in the heart & soul, fueling the journey of human being in the making. No expiry date for love: beyond time & space.

I need fulfilment in certain timelines. No big house forever. Not much money forever. No jewelry forever. I won’t need this body forever. The best limit for fulfilment is “in moderation”, “enough” & yes it’s based on my own evaluation.

I claim this shallow mind about love & fulfilment. I’m learning.

Thank you.

Note: This might not work for you. Find your own life treasure within. 

💗

Transactional

I buy your voice with hearing.
I buy your look with sight.
I buy your scent with smelling.
Some I buy with touch and taste.
I buy, never take anything from you for free.
Now you agree senses are currency, no?

A voice screams in whisper:
From whom do you get the senses?

She's in a daze
Again and again,
Failed in transaction
Against
You.

You

I speak with you
With no language.
When with you,
I know no time.
In you I find me.
In me I find you.
Then we separate
To miss each other,
To love
With no limit.

The Way I See You

My perspective about you might change all the time.

It might be about in which angle I stand when looking at you, or
How far I distance my sight when observing you, or
How full circle I go around you to see all sides, or
How long I stay in one corner speechless enjoying the daisy, or
How critical I pull all the dots of you looking imperfect in these eyes until I find it's the lenses impaired that I can't see your beaut so see-through, or
Simply how I accept how you describe you....

I always want the last as I want you to tell me about you.
But you know, sometimes I don't trust you....

Let me trust you.

all is true in its own position – layers of truth apply to human beings’ journey; clarity is truly important to make the right decision, belief is important to stay in the chosen lane

Loaded

I'm loaded
With burdens
That are not on my body.
The suffering borne
By others
Has leak in
To this porous heart.

Let me be
In rest, Beloved
In the flow of
My slow life
That doesn't chase what I used to chase,
That doesn't crave what I used to crave,
That embraces the acceptance of what is,
That sits alone in room with
You.

how can I not care to those sick, hungry and sad around me who seek help from me? I’ve cried and maybe it is time to stop for a while

just for a while, Beloved

just for a while

before I walk again in this narrow path with grass and daisies around

to where my love suits her scent

let me rest for a while

before it’s time to be your loving hands again for a longer while

thank you….

❣️

This Light Heart


Let there be light.
Let there be light.
Light in heart.
Light of heart.
Light around heart.
Light through heart.
Light borrowed.
Light lent.
Light along this journey.
Light journey.
Light heart.

this heart feels the lightest when I’m riding my bike, exploring the greenery around the neighborhood

rain, I love you but please pause on just one day so I can either visit the water lilies in the river or tropical flowers in the paths around the reservoir

💛

Accepted

There is a dot
Where a circle is closed.
That is, Beloved
Where I accept
That
However I look won't be good,
Whatever I say won't be right,
To
You.

This heart is a collection of
Tiny circles closing every time
Lesson is learnt.

And so,
Let me close one
For a while
To fully accept
Its breakage.

Let me celebrate this tiny hope
At the edge of this grandiose world
Where only power seems matter.

no, I don’t want to lose hope to have a better world even if that whom I love the most thinks this idea is a nonsense

keep loving, dear heart, even if the sun is an inch over this head

💙

About A Magic

This love, Beloved,
Blooms to shine within and out.
Don't discriminate.

how deed is your love?

I love. Yes I do love….

…. but very rarely romantically up to this age (4 times).

Among the rare romantic love, what was the most magical?

It was when I fell in love with a (maybe) gay man.

Don’t judge me; I didn’t know he was a gay. Don’t judge him; it was his choice.

Love is love. It is still worth appreciating. I respect everyone’s choice of life including one’s sexual orientation & gender identity (some of my friends & colleagues are in that group) but I am not a person to be in a romantic relationship with LGBTQ no matter what.

Thank you, Love for the experience. I’m lucky to have a big heart. I believe my heart is even now deeper and more spacious with the magic that has happened to me.

Alhamdulillah.

😊

❣️

Peace, Joy

Peace and joy, my love,
Cheerfully dances with smiles
Or dives to the deep.

my dolphin earrings today reminded me that life should be experienced with some taste of peace and joy

Dwellers

Dwellers, Beloved
We are in this space, searching
What's known yet unknown;
Or, what's unknown in fact known
By a searcher who's been searched.

love is in the center of my searching in which I’ve been dwelling in this space with the sun, the moon and the stars

I’ve been searching myself who’s sitting patiently, radiantly knowing that I am longed for by the lover

thank you for the love that you’ve given to me through all those around me: human beings, non humane things and those unseen but sensed, and those unseen and not sensed

About Believing (ranting)

Doubt and trust, my love,
Between which I wait for you
To sing a love song.

While knowing makes me clearly decide what to do, believing keeps me walking even when it’s pitch black or blinding bright.

Believing is not about taking something with evidences. Believing is taking things for granted as there is no choice while I should keep on. As long as evidence is not yet well presented, it’s believing, not knowing.

What do I believe most in life? That there is only one able to help me, the one I often call beloved, my love, dear love, you. Yet I’m shaken now & then by what’s called doubt. Doubt moves the graphic of trust up & down which is normal as said by a master “the faith is up & down”.

In uncertainty, do I still believe of salvation? Yes, I believe in salvation as I don’t know if it is happening or not. At the same time I make space for doubt so I’m humanely questioning myself whether I’m doing well in clarifying the ways. There’s something I miss when in doubt & the space in which I miss always gives me hope, a feel of falling in love with something that I believe will drop wisdom to the heart.

How beautiful the collaboration of belief & doubt is! It ignites love. Love is an eternal flame that sparkles dancing depending on how trust & doubt tango. Without the existence of both, love will look like a marble slab: cold, hard, mute; while a flame: warm, soft, dynamic.

I know in order to keep love & wisdom rekindling as long as I live, I’ve got to believe in the one I often call beloved, my love, dear love or you that sometimes resides so deep in Him or Me.

What a rant!

at that age (below 30) I believed that all were good with lil doubt and as a result I was cheated, lied to but at the same time I gained kindness, endurance and silence

now? kindness, carefree, clarity as these 3 are most needed to live a human being’s life lightly and genuinely

my formula, not applied to all

keep believing that love prevails

😊

If

If and if, dear love
The silence breaks, I will fly
With true adventure.

if I am to choose an animal to be my daemon, I’ll always choose a cat

I don’t know why; I used to live with a cat in my small home in Indonesia before moving to Singapore, as my job was 75% traveling, I could not bring Bob with me and so my mother took care of him — one year later, he died

I still want a cat some day 💕

if I am to choose what animal I’m to be, it would not be a cat though

maybe dolphin so I can live in the depth of water while playfully jump to the air

me with a plastic of water — when I was a girl, I loved playing with water so much; almost everyday I put water in a plastic bag and pinched the surface so the plastic became spiky

this lil girl is my home, my sanctuary

Eyes Closed

Eyes closed, Beloved
Blind her for love far away.
Tell her to go home.

today I’m called to go back home to my own heart full of love — love is blind taking me too far away from where I should be

I always think love is beautiful even when it’s so preoccupied with one object so alien for me, that way love lovingly and softly wakes me up after some time “Rike, time to go home, this might be someone else’s place, not yours”

with unsteady steps I had to accept that all the info is confirmed that I need to go home

to where I should be:

my dear heart full of love singing truly about who I am and who will be my home outside my own home

let me take care of this loving heart and calmly step on the love path, truly, genuinely, naturally….

keep singing love, dear self; there is nothing more beautiful than being natural, genuine, kind and true

keep loving

keep loving

keep loving

Things No One Taught Us About Love (book)

I read Vex King’s “No One Taught Us About Love”. With 302 pages it didn’t feel heavy, yet did give me a lot of space to contemplate.

There are five parts of this book.

Part 1: The Nature of Love

Part 2: First Connections

Part 3: Cultivating Healthy Bonds

Part 4: The Realities of Relationships

Part 5: Letting Go with Grace

I enjoyed reading this book because aside that the main topic is love, it felt like reviewing my own perspectives of love. For perspectives aligned, I feel the author’s vibe; those not aligned, so far I don’t plan to make alignment with his. I always sprinkle a pinch of criticality when reading or listening to others; like me, they’re not flawless. Or, at least his and my understanding of life and love depart from different backgrounds and interactions.

So much to share but here is some:

“Self-love isn’t selfish. When misused, self-love becomes an excuse to fulfil cravings and boost our self-image without considering how our actions might impact others and the world around us. For example…. like telling yourself ‘I’m worth it!’ As justification to buy the overpriced shoes you can’t actually afford when you really need new tyres for the car”. (aligned)

RICH: Respect, Intimacy, Communication, Honesty (aligned)

Be your partner’s cheerleaders (partially aligned, I will be loyal supporters but not cheerleaders who have to be acrobatic in public; it might be his diction is not my take; but I understand.)

Love isn’t transactional. (aligned but honestly I can feel drained if loving without reciprocity; transaction isn’t a taboo as long as it is wisely managed & not always about material things)

Enjoy the “hazy” voice of mine reading several paragaraphs for you. Not a native speaker: few words were mispronounced. 😁

Love

I love you, Beloved.
And, you don't have to love me.
It's never a transaction
That's tangible.
Loves, even not repaid,
Is energy
That nurtures life growth
Through silent rejection or
Respectful reciprocity.

How beautiful love is,
Never lost
Only found.

love is (always) in the air