(Crossposted from The Wild Wild Left
(a natural follow up to my future shock essay)
I remember a line from a book or movie, having no recollection of the source material itself, where someone asked this genius what he thought about most of the day. They were sitting outside, and the genius had this far off look of wonder on his face, staring out into the world. He answered his curious friend, who was sitting there, palpably concentrating, trying to “figure out” the workings of his mind,”Colors, mostly.”
“Colors?”
“Yeah, I like all the greens a lot.”
I really liked that line a lot. I loved the bafflement of the listner, who was so busy trying to figure out the answers to everything, he totally forgot how to live in “time.”
To be fully aware, you have to live in the now, the scents, the colors, the sounds, the tastes, right in your skin, and appreciate the full wonder of the moments that pass before you.
I’m acutely aware of time, I live in time more than space. History is cool and all, but the greatest of philosophies happened because the people living them wrote to their times unheeding of those before them, and only paying minor attention to the future.