Familiarity Breeds Contempt

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever ..." John Keats ' simple yet profound opening line of his poem Endymion has been a widely popular and accepted notion . Witnessing, acknowledging , admiring and appreciating Nature's bounty , the manifestations of God's glory has been the driving force behind man's enthusiastic quest for travelling and exploring the remotest of destinations ! That spark thankfully is still not dormant ! However , what is painful to note is the indifference or apathy that sets in even when one is living in the best parts of the world , amidst the most naturally beautiful surroundings with the accessibility to every possible necessity and luxury that one's pocket allows . The slightest of inconvenience , or if things are not conducive to one's acceptance it triggers an irresolute discarding of all the favourable things that DO exist. It is this mundane familiarity which overpowers the sensibility to such an extent that the WOW factor ceases to exist. What sadly remains or rather sets in is a perpetual grudge or call it discontentment . In other words what depletes is the positive power of fine sensibilities .That's why this age - old , clichéd but fiercely veracious proverb 'Familiarity breeds contempt' feels so relevant and universal . This human tendency as it is arguably so, becomes acutely distressful when it enters relationships. Many relations crumble and continue to be quashed due to this underlying tendency which is unfortunately gaining momentum. As the same celebrated poet Keats voices in his Ode on a Greciun Urn expressing the sore predicament of human relations. "All breathing human passion far above That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed A burning forehead and a parching tongue ." This is what human passions lead to ...a grieving and unsatisfied yearning for possessing something more or something better in this context . Is it the travesty or distortion in human relationships that causes this familiarity to turn into contempt! Contempt is a vociferously aggressive word denoting the harsh state of the eroded human mind. What sadly ensues is ultimately a deep- seated unhappiness and seething discontent. Why can't we keep that spark alive in relationships always ? Why can't we go on marvelling at The Lord's creations though we are surrounded by it ? What is it that is hampering us to be our own real true Happy selves ? We have been donning layers and layers of complexities and complexes thereby hardening our pure consciousness rendering it impervious to the simple , unalloyed pleasures life has to offer. We have now become God-fearing instead of God-loving .Apprehensions and false complexes to satisfy the egos have clogged our minds .We are thus not able to live in that state of wonder that naturally gives rise to gratitude . Rather we have lost that innocence and purity tjat is our inherent nature. Wordsworth's poignant lines from his sonnet The World is Too Much With Us come to my mind : " Little we see in nature that is ours We have given our hearts away , a sordid boon ..." The question that the poet posits here is whether we can have regard for the beauty that exists in life ... Why should we be a pawn to allow this sordid ,begrimed mental deprivation to thrive ? We do need to reflect on this and act to redeem ourselves from this brooding familiarity breeding contempt. Definitely a Mental Renaissance is required to get rid of this and free our minds to be able to be ever thankful to Our Creator not only for the constant blossoming of natural bounties but more importantly for all that He is continuously providing for us. We need to be grateful for the endless blessings He is perpetually showering and inundating us with ....if only this realisation dawns on us ,can the maxim Familiarity breeds contempt be annihilated from our ethos for good ! And life and this mortal world will appear more habitable . It is only then that we can come near to God-realisation and Sat-chit-anand !!