Photo by Grianghraf on Unsplash
Hello there,
With a majority of the shelter-in-place restrictions behind us (cautiously optimistic), we’re waking up to a new normal. Akin to a bird taking its first flight we are cautious about this new normal.
As I was rereading Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, a particular passage struck me that hadn’t earlier done so:
“Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone — those that are now, and those to come. Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is a constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations. Nothing is stable, not even what’s right there. The infinity of the past and future gapes before us — a chasm whose depths we cannot see.”-Meditations 5.23, Marcus Aurelius
On rare occasions the human mind can craft such words. These have resonated for millennia among the halls of men and will continue to weather many more.
Heraclitus too proclaimed, "You never step into the same river twice."
Time as we are aware is progressive in nature. We also view time as exhibiting a continuous characteristic outlining and defining our lives. Flowing like a river - smooth sometimes and rough at others, but always continuous.
Instead of describing time as continuous, it may be worth quantifying time as a series of separate but sequential — “fleeting moments”. This is analogous to the principle of light not being a continuous wave, but discrete packets/ quanta of energy.
How does this change our perspective?
Like the definitive energy each quantum of light carries in itself, the fleeting moment has only so much to offer. They surround us for a moment and they vanish. Owing to their subtlety, often we are unable to detect their presence.
But, when we immerse ourselves in each fleeting moment we may experience it in its entirety. As a consequence, we may also observe every moment objectively — perceiving the moment as it is.
We lament over our past actions and obsess over what the future holds for us. In doing thus, each fleeting moment passes by to never return again.
How then do we immerse ourselves in these fragments of time given the everyday pull of life?
The answer, comes from an unpretentious source - Infants.
They:
are able to define what time well spent is. Without myriad distractions that plague an adult mind, infants have the ability to discern time well spent. Time well spent gives them joy and satisfaction.
focus on that which they love. They love the company of family, engage in playing the whole day and are smiling and giggling most of the time.
focus on that which they need. The preceding activity only seems to pause when they take time out to eat, bathe, pee/ poop, or sleep. They are ruthless about giving away their time.
We can draw parallels to this by defining what each of these mean to us. We can define what time well spent is, focus on what we love and focus on what we need to judiciously use this precious resource.
Bill Keane said, “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” A present that never loses its sheen over time.
We can leverage time to be Achilles' body or Achilles' heel. The choice is ours. Be a miser with time, but a spendthrift when it comes to experiencing it.
Here’s some interesting stuff I came across:
The Context of Equality by Aella: “I personally suspect that intimate interactions are better done with contextual equality, and large systemic interactions are better done with contextless equality. The strength of contextual equality is that it is warm, personal, and it’s very difficult to maintain that effectively on a larger scale. The strength of contextless equality is that it promotes a sense of systemic unification, which can seem very cold when seen close up.”
Adam Robinson on Understanding: “Beyond a certain minimum amount, additional information only feeds — leaving aside the considerable cost of and delay occasioned in acquiring it — what psychologists call “confirmation bias.” The information we gain that conflicts with our original assessment or conclusion, we conveniently ignore or dismiss, while the information that confirms our original decision makes us increasingly certain that our conclusion was correct.”
Emotions, Integrity and Wisdom By Joe Edelman: “Every feeling is a reminder of something important to us…feelings help us reevaluate how we’re doing with what we value. Positive feelings remind us embrace or notice what’s important to us. Negative feelings do more: a negative feeling signals a conflict between our values that we have to think about...Someone who’s felt through all their situations has integrity. They’re grounded. Integrity means they know what’s important to them and they’ve grappled with all the conflicts...Integrity is easiest when your situation changes slowly: you have lots of time to notice your feelings, to find out what’s important to you, and to grapple with conflicts.”
The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months by Rutger Bregman: “No one noticed the small craft leaving the harbour that evening. Skies were fair; only a mild breeze ruffled the calm sea. But that night the boys made a grave error. They fell asleep. A few hours later they awoke to water crashing down over their heads. It was dark. They hoisted the sail, which the wind promptly tore to shreds. Next to break was the rudder. “We drifted for eight days,” Mano told me. “Without food. Without water.” The boys tried catching fish. They managed to collect some rainwater in hollowed-out coconut shells and shared it equally between them, each taking a sip in the morning and another in the evening.”
Communication Breakdown by Keith Walkiewicz: “The most "real" conversations you will have remain connected to the foundation of trust and honesty. When either party breaks from these the conversation turns adversarial. Each party will mount defenses because they cannot fully trust what the other is saying to be honest…Communication breaks down the moment a vulnerability is attacked instead of mutually addressed. The instant you move against someone and not with them, the communication is soured and the tether to a foundation in trust and honesty is severed.”
A thought I’m ruminating on - “It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
Till next weekend,
Prashanth