Introducing the Book The Bright Side of Life

 «From the beginning until today, the human heart has heard the call of two paths, the path of nature and essence, and the path of grace and compassion; you must choose one. Nature seeks reasons to be sorrowful when the whole universe sparkles around it, and love smiles from every door and wall. The nuns taught us that one who takes the path of compassion will never meet a dire end.»[ From the film «The Tree of Life» by Terrence Malick ] Knowing the sorrowful and tragic dimensions of life, I have named these scattered pages «The Bright Side of Life»; for I believe one can live like a lotus and watch like a butterfly, and by contemplating the warmth of birds' bodies in the snowy cold of winter, draw the warmth of life. The connecting thread of all these writings and essays, and the axis of these faint and dim efforts, is drawing closer to that «best thing.» The best thing that is often forgotten in the struggles of life:

«The best thing is attaining a gaze wetter than the event of love.»[Sohrab Sepehri]

A gaze that looks upon existence and life, wet with the event of love, will find warm and bright points in the depths of despairing darkness, which can provide a good anchor for living and a suitable, commitment-inspiring pretext for carrying on, just as the «bloodline of flowers» bound the contemporary poet to living.

Living and nurturing a pearl within one's shell. Living and adding to the beautiful dimensions of life... Living on the bright side of life... The longing of these frail words has been throughout these essays.

Titles of the book's essays:

Openness and Spectatorship, A Springtime Piece, Caress the World!, In Praise of Soil, In Praise of Seeking, Come, Let Us Return and Become Children, The Experience of Beauty, A Window for Seeing, The Art of Seeing Beautifully, Death is Responsible for the Beauty of a Butterfly's Wing, Death at the End of Perfection, The Teaching of Love, The Ritual of Loving, The Pain of Boundlessness, Raise the Price, for Cheapness Still Abounds, The Volume of Time, Love Your Fate, Say Yes to Life, Our Love Needs Liberation, Not Possession, Empathy and the Refractions of Language, How Fine It Is to Take Flight, How Fine Is Liberation, Whichever Qibla You See Is Better Than Self-Worship, Sorrow for the Suffering of Others, With the Gentleness of Water: A Passage on the Thought of Avoiding Violence and the Virtue of Gentleness

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Purchase the book from: Enghelab Street, opposite Bahman Cinema, Book Bazaar, Khojasteh Bookstore (corner of Akhtaran Bookstore)

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