And, I got INKED - Again!

I knew this was coming. I knew I would get another tattoo when I got inked last time (more than 2 years ago) - not exactly what and when. But I enjoyed the process and would want another one.

Remember, last time, I just got onto this mood and set off on my first tattoo journey. The similar happened this time as well. Going through a lot of ups and down, a lot to hold onto this poor small brain - I went to this phase, again.

I had been thinking of getting a second tattoo. I had been browsing the internet for inspirations, for something that would match up to the values I wanted to write onto my body, saving a lot of tattoo pictures and designs. Then, one Saturday, free of the usual work and sad thoughts, I opened up the Inkscape on my laptop and started on my design. Over the 2 years, I was almost sure of what to get finally. I was sure I wanted to get a minimalist, line tattoo, probably a geometric one -  not just sure of how to integrate them into the design. I made a few rough sketches and then started designing in the software. And voilà- within an hour, my design was ready.

Breaking up the design into pieces

Yes, I know. The tattoo has a lot of things. But, they are related. 

Part 1

One of the values I live by is, "Stay free,  fly higher but know your roots - stay grounded."

If you look closely, the two arrows at the top mean freedom and flying away while the anchor at the bottom keeps me grounded.

Another important value  for me is being a learner always. 

 

I want to create, explore, learn and transcend. I have jumped around my life, my career choices with these values. And I want to be able to keep doing this forever, touch wood. But, Reflecting on my values and my deeds will always be at the top. I'm not always right. Things go wrong. I make wrong decisions. I want to always reflect on myself first, whether on the right or wrong and learn from it. Thus goes the  recursive cycle; learn - reflect - learn - reflect - learn ...

Part 2

One day, like most other days, I was reflecting back on my life, contemplating on what life is and the purpose of life is, what is SOUL, which is important; soul or the body, and all other random thoughts. BORING! I know. 

I am not a big fan (or not simply fan) of any specific thing. Most of the people are always saying something like "I am big fan of Justin Bieber" , "I a big fan of Naruto" etc. I simply don't understand this. Not trying to be or sound different, it is just not my thing. I might enjoy or like things, but I can't relate by saying "I'm a big fan". 

Well, back to the main topic. I used to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender a lot. Quite a lot actually. I enjoyed it very much. And the thoughts about how Air, Fire, Water and Earth were connected always fascinated me. Maybe this is what makes us, our body. And even when we die, our body goes back (somewhere!) with one of these elements. 

Both Eastern and Western mythology include these four elements one way or the other. In western astrology, it is believed that the universe is formed by the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. (source). In Eastern, Ayurveda views nature (including human) as made up of five basic elements or qualities, called the Panchamahabhuta (five basic elements), which are Akash (ether), Vayu (air), Agni (fire), Jala (water) and Prithvi (earth). Ayurveda uses the characteristics of the five elements to identify different objects (source1, source 2).

So, I decided to include these four elements in my tattoo, to make me remember that our body is merely made by the same elements. We are no different, regardless of nationality, race, gender, religion etc. And the end is same for us; to mix with these elements.

And finally, the spiral at the top. The programmer in me knew about this from an early time as the Fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so forth). The designer and photographer hobbyist in me later understood it as the Golden Ratio.

What was interesting about this particular mathematical sequence or ratio was that a lot of things in nature were following this pattern or were guided. Here are some examples. From a simple spiraling pattern in the Sunflower to the proportions in human face, to spiral galaxies, to hurricanes, all of these diverse natural things or phenomenon followed the sequence. Interestingly, even the DNA, which carry the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms, comply with the Fibonacci series.

So, combining the two important parts of nature, the four elements and the Fibonacci sequence, I wanted to depict LIFE through the tattoo. The gears in the between - well, I am sure you understand what it means to say.

There's more. I got a BONUS. If you look closely at the Fibonacci spiral, there's  triangle pointed down. Along the two top corners of the triangle, there are two curves. Something like this:

This is closer to the arrows (which mean freedom). Connecting these two, what I want to depict is - You feel free and fly higher when you LET GO.

So here you go, the whole complex meanings behind a complex tattoo. 

"Our body is nothing, but a combination of few elements, governed by the law of nature. And the end, we merge into the nature. So, I would like to make the most of my life by exploring, learning and reflecting. Living the life to its fullest, I would want to stay free but grounded to my roots."

PS: The dots say "LIFE" in Braille. Like the last time, I got hit with this when the other bigger tattoo was making in progress. Since most of my tattoo was about life, I was like "Well, I want LIFE written on me, but in a more subtle way."