“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
– Aristotle

Kabir – The couplet
???? ???? ??? ??, ?? ??? ???? ??? |
?? ???? ???? ???, ?? ??? ??? ? ??? ||

transliterated:
Kala nala heen jal, so phir paani hoye|
Jo paani moti bane, so phir neer na hoye||

Translation:
Even the dark waters of a dirty drain, filtered by nature, become the clear waters of a river |
But that water which has been absorbed to become a pearl, does not go back to being water ever again||

My thoughts:
Life is the filter, cleanser, and the mirror, which helps us wash of the grime of each day to emerge as a new person at each dawn. Having been put through the furnace of my experiences yesterday, I have emerged today as a little less carbon and a little more diamond. Each day, while I am still human, I need to use this furnace to cleanse myself of deadweight and better expose the light inside me that is bursting to see daylight.

Experience is the process that makes us a pearl – and once made, we cannot go back to being the inexperienced person we were before!