Savoring

My wrap-up blog will cover the Why of this past week (rather that the Whats, which each of our team members wrote about throughout).  I will first share the transcript of a short video that I watched over the weekend, then put some of my own words to the week.


So there's a great essay written by Sigmund Freud called 'On Transience' and in it, he cites a conversation that he had with the poet, Rilke, as they were walking along this beautiful garden.  And at one point, Rilke looked like he was about to tear up.  And Freud said, what's wrong?  It's a beautiful day.  There's beautiful plants around us.  This is magnificent."  And then Rilke says, well, I can't get over the fact that one day all of this is going to die.  All these trees, all these plants, all this life is going to decay.  Everything dissolves in meaninglessness when you think about the fact that impermanence is a really real thing.  Perhaps the greatest existential bummer of all is entropy.  And I was really struck by this, because perhaps that's why, when we're in love, we're also kind of sad.  There's a sadness to the ecstasy.  Beautiful things sometimes can make us a little sad.  And it's because what they hint at is the exception, a vision of something more, a vision of a hidden door, a rabbit hole to fall through, but a temporary one.  And I think, ultimately, that is the tragedy.  That is why love simultaneously fills us with melancholy.  That's why sometimes I feel nostalgic over something I haven't lost yet, because I see its transience.  And so how does one respond to this?  Do we love harder?  Do we squeeze tighter?  Or do we embrace the Buddhist creed of no attachment?  Do we pretend not to care that everything and everyone we know is going to be taken away from us?  And I don't know if I can accept that.  I think I more side with the Dylan Thomas quote that says, I will not go quietly into that good night, but instead rage against the dying of the light.  I think that we defy entropy and impermanence with our films and our poems.  I think we hold onto each other a little harder and say, I will not let go.  I do not accept the ephemeral nature of this moment.  I'm going to extend it forever.  Or at least I'm going to try.

- Jason Silva (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-OYmHVchQ)



I journal in a stream of consciousness for the week (a quote here; and summarized moment there).  They are the little ways I savor each moment while we are in Jamaica, and how I will continue to do so when I look back on this week many years from now.  To me, there is no other way to live: you let the moment embrace you, and you welcome it, letting it wash away into the past as the future flows into the present.  We live in a society that is very future-focused: we are always planning the next party; thinking about what we're going to eat next; scheduling any number of things for tomorrow or next week--that we miss out on the opportunity to be fully in the current moment--to be *present* to whomever we are with or whatever we are doing.  When we constantly live this way, life gets a little watered down--it isn't nearly as potent; it isn't nearly as vibrant.  So as we get back into our "regular" lives today, I encouraged my team (and you reading this) to practice the art of savoring--of presence--so that by definition we are all living each day fully...and in that way, enriching ourselves, and every person we touch.

- Andrew (7th Year)

The team heading to the gate to board our flight home.