What’s on the other side of the unknown?
I don’t know why, but this question popped up in my head the other day.
If we think about it, the unknown is present in every aspect of our lives. Every day. And the other side of it doesn’t have to be scary. From a more curious perspective, the unknown can be defined as something waiting to be explored.
As I kept pondering the question, I thought of the time when all I ever wanted to read was existentialist books. It all started in my late teens. I was intrigued by Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Franz Kafka. I was happy to discover that there was a literary world different from feel-good books, romance, and anything that ended with “and they lived happily ever after”.
Back then, I wasn’t a fan of any of those themes. I loved that those authors offered stories that reflected “the other side” of life. Something that was ‘dark and mysterious’ and not painted with pastels. Something that would leave a mark when putting the book away.
Time passed. The pandemic, a new unknown, came along and confinement changed my interests. Existentialism no longer felt like the topic I wanted to keep digging deeper, especially in a challenging phase. All I had ever known in literature, circled around those authors. I began to ask myself: “What’s something new I could explore?”
That was the opportunity to expand my horizons after years of the same type of books. I explored some classics like Dracula by Bram Stoker, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, as well as a variety of authors such as José Saramago, Isabel Allende, and Clarice Lispector.
Later on I began a further exploration when coming across fragments of books by Mary Oliver, Anaïs Nin, Octavia Butler, Zadie Smith, and Sylvia Plath. These days, any book that sparks a sense of curiosity in me is my next step towards the other side of the unknown.
It’s fascinating how a little nudge can stay in your mind long enough to grab your attention. It’s like allowing life to ask “what else is there?”, and at the same asking it to surprise you in delightful ways. Once the seed of curiosity sprouts, it goes on and on. Then again, it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating. There’s only more aspects of yourself to discover.
What’s on the other side of your unknown?
