Sushmita dwells on the small dash, the hyphen. Other than its grammatical functions, it revealed something unique to this scribe. Read more, in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths.
Yes, a phenomenal friend hyphen is! The way it has led me to see it, when invisible, and see it in a new way, when visible, has invoked this acknowledgment. And the first word that led me to, fed me with the awareness of its grandeur is the word “behave.” The way the word behave behaved me, in that particular moment, speaks about the immeasurable volume and depth of hyphen and also, leads to acknowledge the indispensable part played each part of speech.
The way the word, behave, when hyphenated, has presented another sense hidden in that word, as I was led to see the hyphen which is not there in the word, is just sensational!
How and What Happened?
This is how it happened. A hyphen, as “be-have,” appeared in the pages of the book that I happened to be reading. It was Dr Brian L Weiss’ Miracles Happen: Transformational Healing Powers of Past Life Memories.
The word, behave, popped at me, as “be-have,” hyphenation necessitated by its having fallen at the end of the line, causing a lightning light of revelation to strike and enlighten! The hyphenation had appeared just to trigger what it did and has: An immense respect for hyphen, and its acknowledgment as a friend.
And as to what it led me to see in and through the hyphen: A call to “be” what I “have.”
It was no chance occurrence or coincidence that I got led to see the invisible hyphen in behave. There are innumerable recurrences that affirm and confirm, firmly and gently: Everything happens on purpose, life following a divine order, each materialization, and a manifestation of the corresponding energy vibration, in form to lead to realise the inherent potential. Nothing, thus, is incoherent, even if so it appears.
Truth it is, and it keeps on presenting itself in myriad contrasting ways. No wonder, truth is deemed stranger than fiction, and presents Mark Twain too the reason behind its being deemed so: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.” Yes, truth is free from all polarities, and thus, when possibilities do not mean a thing to it, impossibilities too do not have any existence for it. Hence, truth behaves in the only way it can: Absolutely free, and when realised, it sets one and all free.
Does ring familiar: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” [1]
Well, the meaning is not restricted to theology or esotericism. It is a call to be, to embody the truth of our being…be that unique flavor of creation that each one of us is, imbued with unique creativity, each creation irreproducible.
So echoes Albert Einstein’s finding, a derivative of his Theory of Special Relativity, inarguably the most 
famed equation: E = mc2. As is the energy, so is the materialization, there always existing matter-energy equivalence. Literally and actually, it conveys: “As you sow, so you reap.”
Hence, as we behave, so we create our experiences. When our behavior is truth-based, when we are true to ourselves, when we do not put on the garb of a people-pleaser, consensus-follower, we find that life eases, conflict ceases, none and nothing teases us anymore.
It is the receptivity to truth, that “be-have,” in that moment, called to, and keeps calling…
The hyphen, in that page, at the end of the line, appeared as hyphenated on purpose, to lead me to the led: it appeared, not as a fragmented word but two conjoined words, “be” and “have.” In that moment of pristine clarity, I received it as a truth of life: “Be, what you have.” In other words: “Be the attributes that you have, that you are blessed with…and thus, be the being that you are, self-realise.”
When the hyphen is visible, it means something, while in its invisibility, it accords a different meaning.
So similar, isn’t it, to life? When we sense, feel, and acknowledge the formless essence, the invisible, behind each and every form that is visible, that which is hidden—the invisible—it gives an entirely new meaning to that which is visible!
Our behavior transforms, when we choose to conform solely to what we have, when we conform only to what we are. Andwhat we are, truly, is what we have actually and what we can give wholly, share with all fully, is, only that that we are!
My friend, hyphen, has “be-haved” me truly…and ever whispers, more so when it finds me to flounder, gently and firmly: “Be-have! You don’t have to procure anything from outside. Be what you have always, as that you are already – you are that intrinsically. Only then you can serve your role fully, only then can you give yourself fully to life that has been given to you completely, to give yourself completely.”
Thanks, my friend, hyphen. So be it!
[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A32&version=NIV
This column forms a part of a chapter of a forthcoming book.
©Sushmita Mukherjee
Photos from the Internet
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