Essence...

Our word for today is "essence." In very basic terms, it is what something really is. On one level, essence can be as simple as an essential oil - lavender is one I have used. One the other hand, essence can be as complex as the concept of democracy.

As much as I say, I'm not a people person, I have spent years trying to figure out why people do the things they do. Maybe, I'm not alone. Perhaps must of us do this, all the time. We say, "Why, did he that?" or "Why doesn't she do this?" We try to get to the essence of a person or to the thoughts that control them.

A close friend of ours has just committed suicide. I have trouble imagining why anyone would take their own life. So many of us live in fear of dying, that we are stunned when someone deliberately causes their own death. What was the essential trigger that ended it all?

Mental health is a huge issue. Billions of dollars are directed to clinical studies all over the world to try to find the essential nature of a myriad of mental illnesses. Depression is one that is all too common and all too devastating.  It plagued our friend for years.

On a lighter note, I often look at how people are dressed and wonder why they chose this garment over that, or why they like a certain colour or always wear black. I know these are superficial observations, but I wonder, for example, if people who wear a lot of jewellery, need to be noticed, and then I ask, "Why do they need to be noticed?"

Most of us from time to time play amateur psychologist. We try to get to the essence of a person - who is that person, really? This is much better than slotting a person into a category, with a label and forgetting to get to know them at all. However, I wonder, if our observations become judgements.

And I wonder, if many of us know who we really are?

The pictures? Some puzzling observations.