A Literary Exploration of 'The Midnight Library'
What will you do if you get to disappear from your current life and experience an infinite series of possible alternate realities and versions of yourself? What if you can travel anywhere around the world and be anyone you’ve ever dreamed to be? How do you know which life to choose?
About a few months ago, a Buddhist friend once told me in one of our existential conversations something remarkably unforgettable. I asked her if she ever regretted not having a family of her own and instead spent her life's work in her career. Within that small room surrounded by journals and textbooks, ironically resembling a library, her sweet voice responded, ‘You have to accept your life.’
I remember this conversation once again as I finished reading author Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library. I didn’t completely delve into the depth of what my Buddhist friend said at the time because it was conveyed in a very light-hearted manner. The simplicity of her words felt like it was something one would say as a standard answer to a question about regret. Little did I know that after running into this book, I finally completely understood the gravity of the wisdom and truth behind her words.
You have to accept your life is exactly what The Midnight Library explains through a uniquely creative, intellectual, and magical story. It opens the psyche to the philosophy and the quantum physics behind the endless series of possibilities that we could have taken, the multitudes of different roads we could have taken, and in the end, how do we know for sure which path is the right one for us. Indeed, in Haig’s words, ‘To understand life is to live it.’
I have come to a personal conclusion through this work that by realising the infinite combinations of choices and realities that life can potentially offer, the only thing that truly matters is living authentically. A life that is true to you is one that you make.
You can live so many possible realities, but, what you have now, the things that are currently going on in your life are ones that are created by the genuine, natural you. However seemingly mundane or helter-skelter you perceive your reality to be, acceptance makes the difference.
What you think you want does not necessarily reflect who you truly are. The illusion of a perfect life does not exist. What matters is making the most of the one you have at present. Right here, right now is what you can do something about. The woulda, coulda, shoulda belong in the past, and the future is what you make of the present.
There is no standard template for what one’s life ought to be. There is no guarantee as well that the things we think we want will ensure our happiness. Either way, there’s always going to be good and bad in every possible scenario.
Whatever choice (or lack thereof) that we make, or however life unfolds right before us, that’s the path we have to move forward to and make the most of. Just as one of my favourite quotes by the Bhagavad Gita has put it, ‘It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.’
My Buddhist friend was spot on. Instead of wanting and struggling to live differently, she lived through the perspective of acceptance. Author Matt Haig articulated it in the same wavelength, ‘Want is an interesting word. IT means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely.’ Absolutely brilliant!
In a world filled with so much access to other people’s lives through social media, showcasing the perfect hair, the perfect holiday, the perfect family, the perfect body, the perfect couple, the perfect wedding, the perfect house and so on, the concept of acceptance is bleak. We live in a world where the premise is bigger, better, bolder, brighter.
If you are not struggling to get a six-pack, you’re not doing it properly. If you are not making X amount of money, you are not successful enough. If you are single and haven’t found the love of your life, you’re not happy. If you don’t have children, you have missed out.
But what if you exercise because it feels good to be healthy? You go to work because you love what you do. You enjoy your own company regardless if you’re in a relationship or not. You still do a good job regardless of acclaim. You balance your life and spend your time with family and friends who love you. You do good things and treat people well. Shouldn’t these be enough reasons to live for? And the rest that are suitably fit, just, and meant for us will effortlessly follow?
Most people’s sufferings are because of the mindset of constant worry about the things outside of themselves they cannot control. Hence, they view acceptance as weakness instead of trust. They chase this pot of gold imagery in their heads by going against their own nature because their definition of success, wealth, happiness, and health is just like everyone else’s, a bottomless square box of Wants and Lacks.
On the contrary, acceptance is the most empowering state of being. It is a counterintuitive approach to all things possible. Acceptance is potential-filled, an affirmation of wholeness and completion that you already have everything you need in order to move forward and write your own story.
It is also a reassurance that wards away fear, inhibitions and anxiety. It eliminates options that are not true to your nature and individuality. Thus, liberating you from anything else but yourself. It is letting go and letting flow.
The moment you accept your life is the moment you sign a contract that says you will live on your own terms, at your own pace, and in your own time. Eliminating all the fake ideals, unnecessary pressures, and illusions sold to you by society, you follow the path written by the trueness of your entire being and the authenticity of your soul.
Acceptance is living in the present. It is believing in the unique power within you.
It is contentment for What Is, gracefully immersing into who you are, living in harmony with the Universe, and being grateful for what you have.
Lastly, being a chess varsity player during most of my childhood and teenage years, I marvelled at the author’s many references to the board game of strategy.
One analogy, in particular, was how he described the power of what seems to be considered the underdog, the most dispensable piece in the game — the pawn. For what we all know as something that seems to be limited in range, slow but relentlessly moving forward one square after the other, is in itself full of potential. In Haig's sublime words, ‘A pawn is a queen in waiting.’ This line indelibly just blew me away.
Authenticity, acceptance, life in the face of death, hope, and the idea of not giving up, are a few of the myriad of refreshing and satisfying insights from The Midnight Library and I can go on and on raving about them. Nonetheless, I will leave it here sans spoiling the magical literary experience for others. After all, the element of surprise is what makes this whimsical modern fiction a must-read.
A splendid and introspective work, this book is a mental health solace highly recommended to an approval-based generation of Likes and Shares given such uncertainty of today's volatile times.
