Thoughts on time and the hereafter
pre-scriptum: If anyone has any thoughts on the below I'd really (really) like to hear them. s'all
It is always interesting to hear a writer discuss the time in which he or she is living as being a much different place than the century before, as if they are living in the now and are less connected to the past than previous centuries. I believe Virginia Woolf’s exact words are, “I tell you, rather to your surprise, that this sentence was written not in August 1828 but in August 1928, you will agree, I think, that however delightful it is to us now, it represents a vast body of opinion - I am not going to stir those old pools, I take only what chance has floated to my feet - that was far more vigorous and far more vocal a century ago."
The point is that the way she writes, one begins to believe that 1928 is actually the present day, and everyone can feel this for themselves, as it is a feeling each person has thought at least once, and mostly more: that one is living in “modern day,” that other centuries are archaic, useless compared to the conveniences of today, supposedly at their peak, when really, this “2008” which seems so advanced and contemporary will soon be rendered ancient and antiquated, to those of 2108 and so on. I cannot even imagine the world then, but if it is as different from 2008 as 2008 is from 1928, and from 1928 to 1828, then it is a scary thought and one worth remembering.
It is curious to consider the perspective that everyone is living in the past, perhaps not according to oneself, but if he or she were to gain perspective from a future individual it would completely change his own view of the world and of his future. Often he looks from the past, because that is where he come from. He whispers, “We’re living in a truly modern age,” when whoever he's whispering to is already dead.
If one looks from the future, he can change the now. Life is so temperamental and changeable that in addition to looking to the future/present from the past only makes one feel even more like he is groping about in the dark. To analyze life from the future’s perspective means that one can generally understand the course of his or her life, and because of that, they can choose to reject it. They can choose to change it. You see, when a person stumbles forward through a cave, they know, even if they pretend they don’t, that the end has to come eventually, either by their own demise or by a way out. In the end it all comes down to food and water to carry them on, but does it matter where they’re going when they have run out of bread? It does not matter where he is going if there is no way out, especially if one doesn’t even accept that this may be true.
But when a person’s cave is lighted, they do not think - they know the direction of the cave. They have plenty of vittles, so they are free to choose, to think: which way do I go? Do I go anywhere at all?
Though seemingly a depressing viewpoint, that is, to see one’s whole life vaguely charted before him, it really is a truth everyone knows. Each person was taught how life begins and ends, each one given a map as they entered the cave; though for some reason, many people throw that knowledge away, believing it to be painful or easier to forget. As they say, ignorance is often bliss, but before one decides whether or not to take the map, to rely on the future or the past, it depends whether or not one wants his life to be about bliss. To rely on the past, to feel through the dark, is a kind of false euphoria, and eventually the so-called “adventure of it all” wears away. To rely on the future, to keep the map and keep the light, to know where one is headed, is not a child’s bliss but a greater adventure still, and in my opinion it is the wise choice.
To accept one’s inevitable future, and that his society will one day be made defunct, mean’s one is able to change the course of events leading up to the inevitable. To revel in the past mean’s one fate is still unchangeable, but that the events leading up to this are also not pre-pondered on or given thought but as they come, which is a grave mistake if one is to do all that they want in life.
On the world’s finger is tied a string which has quite a length to it but currently goes nowhere, dangling idly from the pinky. Every person is given a length; that is all. Some will spend their whole life pulling on the string connected to their finger, trying to shake loose the other end and buy more time, to pull on life’s knot. Thankfully, many understand that the string is tied down securely at both ends. They can neither remove the string from their own finger nor unknot the other end. In the face of fear and the future, they don’t turn the light out and hope for the best, they face it head on, because they accept that the string is tied, but they don’t intend to go down without a fight, and they intend to make waves in the world, and they intend to give their life to some greater cause that is worthier of all their precious attention than death.
Each person has a past, and the past is in them, but more so, they are of the future, even if they cannot see it. It is this people should understand, this toward which to focus one’s eyes, to understand the urgency of life, that the now has already passed, and that the past is history.
It is always interesting to hear a writer discuss the time in which he or she is living as being a much different place than the century before, as if they are living in the now and are less connected to the past than previous centuries. I believe Virginia Woolf’s exact words are, “I tell you, rather to your surprise, that this sentence was written not in August 1828 but in August 1928, you will agree, I think, that however delightful it is to us now, it represents a vast body of opinion - I am not going to stir those old pools, I take only what chance has floated to my feet - that was far more vigorous and far more vocal a century ago."
The point is that the way she writes, one begins to believe that 1928 is actually the present day, and everyone can feel this for themselves, as it is a feeling each person has thought at least once, and mostly more: that one is living in “modern day,” that other centuries are archaic, useless compared to the conveniences of today, supposedly at their peak, when really, this “2008” which seems so advanced and contemporary will soon be rendered ancient and antiquated, to those of 2108 and so on. I cannot even imagine the world then, but if it is as different from 2008 as 2008 is from 1928, and from 1928 to 1828, then it is a scary thought and one worth remembering.
It is curious to consider the perspective that everyone is living in the past, perhaps not according to oneself, but if he or she were to gain perspective from a future individual it would completely change his own view of the world and of his future. Often he looks from the past, because that is where he come from. He whispers, “We’re living in a truly modern age,” when whoever he's whispering to is already dead.
If one looks from the future, he can change the now. Life is so temperamental and changeable that in addition to looking to the future/present from the past only makes one feel even more like he is groping about in the dark. To analyze life from the future’s perspective means that one can generally understand the course of his or her life, and because of that, they can choose to reject it. They can choose to change it. You see, when a person stumbles forward through a cave, they know, even if they pretend they don’t, that the end has to come eventually, either by their own demise or by a way out. In the end it all comes down to food and water to carry them on, but does it matter where they’re going when they have run out of bread? It does not matter where he is going if there is no way out, especially if one doesn’t even accept that this may be true.
But when a person’s cave is lighted, they do not think - they know the direction of the cave. They have plenty of vittles, so they are free to choose, to think: which way do I go? Do I go anywhere at all?
Though seemingly a depressing viewpoint, that is, to see one’s whole life vaguely charted before him, it really is a truth everyone knows. Each person was taught how life begins and ends, each one given a map as they entered the cave; though for some reason, many people throw that knowledge away, believing it to be painful or easier to forget. As they say, ignorance is often bliss, but before one decides whether or not to take the map, to rely on the future or the past, it depends whether or not one wants his life to be about bliss. To rely on the past, to feel through the dark, is a kind of false euphoria, and eventually the so-called “adventure of it all” wears away. To rely on the future, to keep the map and keep the light, to know where one is headed, is not a child’s bliss but a greater adventure still, and in my opinion it is the wise choice.
To accept one’s inevitable future, and that his society will one day be made defunct, mean’s one is able to change the course of events leading up to the inevitable. To revel in the past mean’s one fate is still unchangeable, but that the events leading up to this are also not pre-pondered on or given thought but as they come, which is a grave mistake if one is to do all that they want in life.
On the world’s finger is tied a string which has quite a length to it but currently goes nowhere, dangling idly from the pinky. Every person is given a length; that is all. Some will spend their whole life pulling on the string connected to their finger, trying to shake loose the other end and buy more time, to pull on life’s knot. Thankfully, many understand that the string is tied down securely at both ends. They can neither remove the string from their own finger nor unknot the other end. In the face of fear and the future, they don’t turn the light out and hope for the best, they face it head on, because they accept that the string is tied, but they don’t intend to go down without a fight, and they intend to make waves in the world, and they intend to give their life to some greater cause that is worthier of all their precious attention than death.
Each person has a past, and the past is in them, but more so, they are of the future, even if they cannot see it. It is this people should understand, this toward which to focus one’s eyes, to understand the urgency of life, that the now has already passed, and that the past is history.