“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”
―
QUINTESSENCE? That’s deep bro
The word quintessence is originated from Latin, which means Quinta Essentia(Fifth Essence). Hence Quintessence of Life means the fifth essence of life.
According to the western philosophy, the circle of life comprises four essences: air, fire, water, and earth. Air, represents the movement. Fire represents power. Water represents an idea or thought and finally, Earth represents the steadiness.
Then what is this fifth element? In the Vedic philosophy, along with these four elements of life, they also recognize the fifth element – Space/Sky, calling them as Pancha Bootas (Five Elements). This fifth element, the Sky represents the cosmos, the heavenly bodies, our spiritual connection, and the self-discovery. They believe, the human body is not only made of the earthly elements it also has a part of cosmos and our journey should be in the path of understanding this cosmos. Cosmos can be understood by understanding the ‘Self’, as the self-contains the cosmos. That is, you can’t understand the cosmos with understanding self and you can’t understand the self without acknowledging the cosmos.
Hence, I think the movie portrays this self-discovery mode of the journey of life as the fifth essence or Quintessence of Life.
What is the quintessence of life?
Life is a continuous matter of common observation, enabling to realize that each one of us is a vivid and complex mortal living an epic story that carries on and on invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground with several elaborate passageways to thousands of lives that you won’t have the chance to know.
As time passes us by, we can’t help the rushing flow of frightening responsibilities coming through our way. As a result, we tend to focus more on these perennially problematic things instead of the looking at the bigger picture, hindering us from exploring the beautifully intricate world we live in. However, as human beings, even if we neglect these duties and enjoy the moments we have to explore this diverse environment, we’d always be afraid of what’s going to happen next or the consequences of our actions to the unknown future. We are all fear mongering creatures, crippled by uncertainties that may never happen and not even affect us at all.
Despite our poor condition as temporary mortals in this world, we must always keep in mind that we exist in this universe to see our world unfold on its own beyond our imagination, to be risky enough to find our own adventure to keep us sane from the struggles we face in life, to see beyond barriers that others find to be a simple dead end, to draw things you love close to empower you to do the best of what you can with your abilities and to find your true purpose in this life to be able to feel alive with zeal and vigor. That, to me, that is the true meaning and quintessence of life.
Connections?
This is the author’s way of inspiration. In everything we do remember that if you are facing a hard time, then you are going in the right way. The author believes that we are continuously growing from our experience in the search of our purpose. To find your quintessence is a real deal and accepting that deal is a metaphor for something that is missing in him, and how sometimes when you’re looking for something else, the journey actually helps you to find yourself.
It shows us that we shouldn’t be afraid to step out of our comfort zones and push the boundaries that we’ve found ourselves constrained within. Without doing so, how are we to discover what we’re truly capable of? Finally, it gives a big nod to our changing world. How everything seems to be moving from being physical and tangible to being online… a virtual reality… nowadays we can see the world through a 5inch screen, and if we forget to look up we’ll miss the world actually around us.
Too deep? Perhaps… but the night is late, and I am full of coffee.
Quintessence 