Reading Between The "Signs"

Published by Rianne O. Pocsidio
Published on December 20, 2024

    What is your mother tongue? Perhaps, like me, you grew up speaking a language known all around the world. Or perhaps, you grew up speaking a unique dialect. The reality is that, with the hundreds upon hundreds of existing languages and dialects, will we ever reach a common unifying way of understanding one another? Let me introduce you to the Language of the World, which the novel the Alchemist defines as the mutual understanding of people to each other, the world around us, and the circumstances in which they will encounter through interactions, omens, signs, or simply a series or chain of events. The fascinating part of the Language of the World is that it needs no mutual fluency of a verbal or written language, but rather, it is the language that the soul and heart understands. To put it into perspective, the smartest and wisest man to have ever walked the earth, with his nose in his books, can be blind to the signals that the universe is giving him. The good news, my friend, is that the Language of the World is not to be understood by reviewing for it like a math test. The Language of the World transcends all superficial understanding, as it requires one to understand what their personal legend is and what the world wants to let us know. 

    The Language of the World can be heard everywhere, all we have to do is identify when the universe is speaking to us. The stories of our lives are being written as the universe narrates the events, all we have to do is to know how to hear these narrations. Let me tell you a story of mine about the Language of the World. When I was younger, I visited my grandmother's house in the province. I remember it like it was yesterday. My feet touching the grass as I ran across my grandmother's garden toward the swings. The feeling of the cool breeze grazing my skin and hair as I lifted my feet off the ground. My grandmother sat on the swings with me and started to talk to me in a dialect I did not know. Naturally, like every person would, I tried avoiding the situation. It was not that I did not want to talk and face her; on the contrary, I really wanted to. The problem was that I did not want to make a fool of myself. Little did I know, it would be one of the most impactful experiences I've ever had in life. 

    She first smiled at me and gave me a tamarind sweet. Thanking her, I slipped it into my mouth and immediately, my face started to cringe at the sour taste. Spitting it out discretely (which she noticed), I tried my best to get rid of the sour taste. She kept repeating different Chinese sayings and offered me ore of the same sweet throughout my entire stay. Then, I started enjoying the taste. After the sour taste came a pleasant sweetness. It is safe to say that it remains one of my favorite sweets. As I grew older, I finally understood what she wanted to say. In every smile, every offer of a sweet, and every Chinese saying, I finally understood what she had been telling me-- all experiences in life may start off on a sour note, but sweetness comes right after. If we do not understand and take in the taste, we can always simply try again! 

    Now, I hear you ask, what connection does this serve? Well, allow me to explain. Life, the people around us, and the world we live in are our greatest teachers. They teach us lessons we do not expect to learn, but will be the most important pieces of knowledge we will ever possess. We need not learn all of the languages of the world to understand the ways in which the world is speaking to us. However, acquiring this vital knowledge may be difficult. Just like how I was reluctant to approach the situation at first, many of you will feel reluctant to respond to the voices of the universe. We are susceptible to fears, anxieties, worries, and humiliation. But, that is simply the point. It is better to have failed and learned than never to have learned at all. 

    Another hurdle we often face is: are our signs really signs? Or are they simply manifestations of our heart's desires (or worst, our hearts delusions). Many people will argue that the heart is deceitful. However, to which I argue, this indicates that your heart is actively giving you a deeper understanding of the inner thoughts that you possess. When our minds over-complicate and get stuck in the logical dimension of life, our hearts can decipher the inner whispers of the universe. Maybe, we might not have noticed it, but within each interaction, sign, or occurrence in our lives is actually a love letter from the universe to us. The universe speaks to us in different ways While it can feel like a warm embrace or a punch in the gut, the universe speaks to us for our own good. Just as written in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, "If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world." It is from the world we are able to grow, get directions, and grow into the people we are to be. All we have to learn is to listen. 

    How can we speak and understand the Language of the World? My best piece of advice for you would be to pause, reflect, and to make sense. Take time to think of everything you strive to do, what you are doing, and how everything in life is being panned out for you. This can tell us more about our personal legend-- which is what we are destined to do in life-- and Maktub-- the lives written for us. When we learn to read between each sign, event, or circumstance, we can get a direction or message from what everything in life has led to. 

    The butterfly effect tells us that one small sign and change impacts how the trajectory of our lives pave out. Perhaps this blog alone could be one of the signs. We must remember that the Language of the World transcends all barriers of languages, allowing us to make sense of life. Life is infinite and vast, and we must pause and address each of the signs fearlessly and faithfully. Lastly, dear reader, immense yourself into each sour sweet of life, and read between the signs. 

Until next time, 

Rianne O. Pocsidio

Neighborly Curly Head