Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Finding Time

Sure, it's only a perception, not force. Sure, according to the laws of nature, it doesn't move in any direction, pass, slow, fly or any of the other verbs we so commonly attribute to it in conversation.

Still, you got your first grey hair, and it wasn't there before.

Still, you have to wait until closing before leaving work.

Though we can glimpse into likely possibilities, and focus on one to try and create into reality, there are no guarantees and something totally unexpected could happen. Taking guitar lessons does not a rock-star make. Playing chess at work improves ones logic, but those are minutes that could be spent... well doing virtually anything else at all. It is through choice that we determine the enormous volume of actions NOT-taken.

It is through wisdom and spontaneity that we strive to make the most of our brief moments here. Being creative or aggressive, dominant or passive, systematic or anti-establishment (in the universal sense) we are shuttled into smaller and smaller ranges of possibility until finally the time arrives, and we are forced to decide.

We've come to a point in our collective history where we can make an incredibly profound impact on the world in the time it takes water to boil. Through art, money, influence, power, combined with our latest technologies for remaining connected to the global consciousness, we exert ourselves over greater distances simultaneously than ever before. The effects of this are only just beginning to be understood.

As bandwidth increases (from dial up, to DSL, cable, and soon Fiber Optic), processing power doubles every couple years according to Moore's Law, and devices begin to scale down smaller, in size and power requirements, the ubiquity of our connectivity is bound to increase. Our reliance on technology to live our lives with the comforts we expect is well documented. The problem comes when you consider that some of the architecture on which the would system is built is frail, or plagued with security issues. Should any number of possible catastrophic events occur (caused by man or nature) then the world as we know it could crumble.

Combined with periods of politic instability or health considers or more topically, economic troubles, and you could have a truly apocolyptic event such like humanity has not seen in records times.

On the other hand, we will adapt.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

On being significant

Coming to grips with the harsh reality that is our universe, is never easy. It's pushing and pulling, stretching and contorting the mind around a million facts at once. It's seeing patterns that don't exist. It's uncertain. It's unpredictable. It's really, really, really enormously huge. The strange thing is though, that for brief moments, our language sums up the experience quite nicely. Nothing can replace the senses, but for those who have not yet succumb to this jolting revelation, reading about it must be the next best thing.

Depending on how a person sees their own worth; the value of the sum of their experiences; the time they've spent and will spend just living, they may deem themselves important, in a grander sense, or not. Some do not prize this label, considering it inferior to credibility, honesty and most of all, humility. To some, these things like money and fame are enough to instill pride in ones own accomplishments, and so they are proud. For others, though they may never be writ into history, their lives are sewn into the fabric of time, and it's enough just get the chance to be alive.

Mostly, I feel I fit into the latter category, but I think at one point or another we all ask ourselves the question: Why am I here?

My next post will be an exploration into that question. Let's see what I come up with, and in the meantime, please send me your comments or questions that you'd like to include in the discussion. That's an offer that won't expire until I do. Ha!