nicesimplethings

INFINITY (or eternity): in ancient india and tibet, the symbol of infinity represented perfection, dualism, and the unity between male and female. more interesting though, is that in the occult, tarot is linked to magic and represents equilibrium, infinity and the balance of various forces. the uroborus (a circular serpent biting its tail) has also been found in this shape, but that’s not really important to me to be totally honest. more recently we know it as a mathematical symbol for infinity in numbers, time or space.

so now comes the tricky part. to tat or not tattoo..on my wrist or maybe the back of my neck? a bit higher than in this photo?  light brown or black? 6 months or permenant? i’m still deciding…and because i’m still deciding it’s probably not time is it? or is it?? aghhhhhh!! i’ve been thinking about this since 2006 when i went travelling with my mate chris and, since then, i’ve been so close but yet so far. and scared of the fact it’s such a COMMITMENT.  like getting married to someone that you’re not entirely sure of…but are kind of stuck with indefinetly (or until you sign the ‘divorce’ papers and get him/her/it removed).then if i start seeing loads of people with the same tattoo it becomes a kind of tramp stamp rather than something personal and meaningful. or is it still personal and meaningful to me agh??!!

i mean i DO love the meaning of this symbol AND what it has represented in the past for thousands of years and that is also stands for something hopeful for the future: “a double endlessness, eternity, recreation, a symbol of hope, forgiveness,” “the heart of the buddha shakyamuni, resignation of spirit, all happiness that humanity desires, mind, infinity, all and many.” in buddhist culture the endless knot (chang or p’an-chang) receives and forwards abundance, and is a symbol of longevity, infinity and eternity.

but with all this in mind-can i just add here, that i am NOT religious, nor am i overly spiritual-like a million or so other irish people i’m sure, i have ‘toyed’ with the idea of getting a tattoo for years (even when chinese symbols were all the rage-shudder…)…never quite sure and never quite ‘doing’….as i am hugely and giantly indecisive…

but saying all of that,  for the past while, due to a family illness, the idea of actually committing to something so permanent-that represents and depicts or ‘presents’ to everyone a ‘me’ that is balanced, serene, forgiving, hopeful, looking into a future and so on..even if this does sound a little ‘cliche’, whatever…the thought fills me with a little hope and happiness…and gives an otherwise unsure future a little stamp of my own control over my future in some way and a little stamp of an inbetween me moving forward.

mum was diagnosed with stage four terminal lung cancer in october of last year. with a prognosis or 3-6 months. she’s still alive and kicking and has somehow found her ‘balance’, not through religion, nor a tattoo (i’m not deluded!) nor anything of the sort…she has always been strong, but this is something that will knock her. although she has done really well so far, and is only quite coming to terms with the ‘terminal’ aspect of things, as we all are, i know that this will beat her…but i do feel that, at the same time, as stupid and as juvenile as this sounds..a part of her will always be here with us…

religion aside..i do believe that people don’t just disappear..they leave a mark…whatever that is, i don’t know….and part of me doesn’t want to know or think about that yet, to be honest…but the idea of longevity, infinity, recreation, hope, a view to the future…i think it’s this kind of positivity that keeps us all going at a time like this..when we really have to take each day as it comes and look to the future only in a positive way, within reason, and not just to plan and escape what’s going on at present…and i suppose for me, in my own silly little way..getting a symbol like this, on my skin, kind of freeze frames a part of that longevity and hope…

INFINITY