Life goes on, a new Mayan cycle of time begins. Whether that means anything or nothing to you, it is interesting to note the collective reaction to the possibility of yet another predicted apocalyptic event. Skeptic or believer, a lot of people were talking about it.
We have a linear view of history, or more specifically, our own history. And if it is linear, then I guess that's why we wonder where we are going. Are there patterns of progress? Or is history random? If there are indeed patterns of progress in history, what then is the ultimate direction? What (if any) is the driving force of this progress? Philosophers such as St. Augustine and Hegel spent a lot of time thinking about eschatological matters, end points and the inevitability of humankind running its course.
We do seem consumed by the final cadence. Whether that comes from a buddhist, christian or secular standpoint.
But ambition, competition, social rules of constraint, in the end, nobody wins. All that really matters, all there really is, is the moment. Feeling joy, even exquisite joy or something authentic in the moment. If you're not feeling it, you must do something about that. We're here now. This is it. Find something that works. Love, appreciate, strive to be thoughtful and good, create, don't sit on the fence, don't be lukewarm. Do it now.
Indeed Jo, as glib a saying as it seems, life does go on. The challenge is to find that balance, between the joy in the moment and the tense deferral of withholding, when anticipation can create an even more exquisite joy for the future, paying interest as it were, perhaps in part because of the risk that the future may not ever happen. The here and now is almost always followed by another here and now.
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