This Too Shall Pass

“This Too Shall Pass” was originally a Persian adage that has been adopted universally as a way to describe the transience of the human condition and it’s relevant in good times and in bad:

“When an Eastern sage was desired by his sultan to inscribe on a ring the sentiment which, amidst the perpetual change of human affairs, was most descriptive of their real tendency, he engraved on it the words: — “And this, too, shall pass away.” It is impossible to imagine a thought more truly and universally applicable to human affairs than that expressed in these memorable words, or more descriptive of that perpetual oscillation from good to evil, and from evil to good, which from the beginning of the world has been the invariable characteristic of the annals of man, and so evidently flows from the strange mixture of noble and generous with base and selfish inclinations, which is constantly found in the children of Adam.”

This timeless sentiment has always resonated with me and after the tumultuous time over the past many months for me and for all of us, I knew I wanted to make it a permanent part of my life. There’s something incredibly compelling about making an enduring representation of a saying that conveys ephemerality.

Given the Persian origin of the saying, I worked with a Persian artist @sarapishehdesign who hand-drew the words in Persian calligraphy in various forms.

After getting the original calligraphy, I worked with tattoo artist @mattmatiktattoo to transfer this to a tattoo stencil, which he used to tattoo the art onto my right bicep earlier this month.

So thankful to be able to make this incredible piece of art with these two artists into a lasting reminder that change is the only constant in life.