Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned
Eloisa to Abelard (1717) by Alexander Pope.
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We often want to think that we’re in total control of our lives. But in reality, life is so vulnerable to chance, and dependent on the choices and actions of others in this world.
In the course of life’s journeying, we’ll meet people who will thread into our paths and invite them to walk the journey with us - to experience the good, the bad and the peculiarities of life together. But the invitation - whether through family ties, love or friendship - is also an invitation of the probability of loss, and therefore the likelihood of sorrow.
No personal history is free from sorrow. It is a fact intrinsic to the social nature of our kind. And we never really quite get over our sorrow brought about by loss; we merely learn to live with them. Sometimes there is no closure and much is left unfinished and unsaid. When help is unavailable, we just have to pick up the pieces and move on ourselves.
What linger on are the memories of the past, brought forward to the present to help us make sense of the future. But there are no eternities in memories - they either fade or become more cherished over time.
If given the opportunity, how many of us would go the way of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) in the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and alter our archive of memories? How would you select the ones to delete, and the ones to keep?
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned
Eloisa to Abelard (1717) by Alexander Pope.
-
We often want to think that we’re in total control of our lives. But in reality, life is so vulnerable to chance, and dependent on the choices and actions of others in this world.
In the course of life’s journeying, we’ll meet people who will thread into our paths and invite them to walk the journey with us - to experience the good, the bad and the peculiarities of life together. But the invitation - whether through family ties, love or friendship - is also an invitation of the probability of loss, and therefore the likelihood of sorrow.
No personal history is free from sorrow. It is a fact intrinsic to the social nature of our kind. And we never really quite get over our sorrow brought about by loss; we merely learn to live with them. Sometimes there is no closure and much is left unfinished and unsaid. When help is unavailable, we just have to pick up the pieces and move on ourselves.
What linger on are the memories of the past, brought forward to the present to help us make sense of the future. But there are no eternities in memories - they either fade or become more cherished over time.
If given the opportunity, how many of us would go the way of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) in the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and alter our archive of memories? How would you select the ones to delete, and the ones to keep?