At the suggestion of a friend, I tried out the Netflix serial called "Versailles" today. Watching and listening, I realized as I have more frequently of late that things have become too fast and too complicated for me. I can no longer, as once, immerse myself in the unspoken complexities being unrolled before me. Or I simply don't want to or something.
The same is true for the news shows that dig and delve into the complexities of today's world as (largely) dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. No doubt there is importance to be winkled from one collection of facts or another, but the importance no longer grabs me by the short and curlies. And everyone talks too fast.
Depending on the day or time, I find myself alternately dismayed and relieved by this situation. What I do not find is any sense of competence relative to what is unfolding. I am lost and have no special desire to be 'found.' Things/I am simply slower and can find little or no reason to despair of it. I was savvy and smart once. Now I am not: Why should I tease myself with an intelligence I no longer have?
Consider "meaning."
Consider "everything has a meaning."
And of course things may indeed have a meaning ... no need to be an asshole about what's staring you in the face.
But the meaning that continues to go begging is this: Take five minutes a week and divest all and sundry of all meaning. Everything is meaningless. It's not a matter of cynicism ... just a fact: Things-have-no-meaning. Give things a rest. Let them flop back to the place from which they arose ... so to speak.
No meaning.
Try it.
For five minutes.
And after five, you can set about re-infusing them with the meaning that 'everything' is alleged to have.
No meaning ... slower and slower and slower and slower......
The same is true for the news shows that dig and delve into the complexities of today's world as (largely) dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. No doubt there is importance to be winkled from one collection of facts or another, but the importance no longer grabs me by the short and curlies. And everyone talks too fast.
Depending on the day or time, I find myself alternately dismayed and relieved by this situation. What I do not find is any sense of competence relative to what is unfolding. I am lost and have no special desire to be 'found.' Things/I am simply slower and can find little or no reason to despair of it. I was savvy and smart once. Now I am not: Why should I tease myself with an intelligence I no longer have?
Consider "meaning."
Consider "everything has a meaning."
And of course things may indeed have a meaning ... no need to be an asshole about what's staring you in the face.
But the meaning that continues to go begging is this: Take five minutes a week and divest all and sundry of all meaning. Everything is meaningless. It's not a matter of cynicism ... just a fact: Things-have-no-meaning. Give things a rest. Let them flop back to the place from which they arose ... so to speak.
No meaning.
Try it.
For five minutes.
And after five, you can set about re-infusing them with the meaning that 'everything' is alleged to have.
No meaning ... slower and slower and slower and slower......
As for meaning exercises, sure, you can get to a mental state and you can say, “my favorite chair is a thing without intrinsic meaning. But then when your wife says, “Fine, it’s time to throw out that old piece of garbage,” I bet it’s meaning comes right back.
ReplyDeleteLet me know.
No meaning.. Nothing.. Emptiness.
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