A Life Worth Living

Short Reflections On Existence

Many times I sit and ponder what makes life worthwhile. Life seems to be a culmination of many things that make it worthwhile but I find myself in a time machine going to the future more than to the past or present to find that worth. It seems my time spent in university is more a book for preparation rather than an action of enjoying. Knowing that life itself is filled with unpredictability and ambivalence, I think it is unfitting to try and ponder what the future may bring for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as expected, death follows us with a label reading an expiration date. A simple reminder comes from when the command was given, "from dust thou came and to dust you will return." One day I will return to this earth I trample on. My dominion over a small portion of whatever I possess will inevitably find itself sifting in the dirt.

Secondly, the conditions of finality make themselves known with the years of growth. Wisdom and folly go hand in hand and the wisest idea that I can fathom is how foolish I actually am. To think that I, with my limited knowledge, can know what tomorrow will bring can only be but a prediction. A shallow fog that keeps me preoccupied with the drudgery that lay ahead. We dig our graves one inch at a time but some do it much faster than others when trying to be a fortune teller of tomorrow.

Thirdly, I constantly think about if I am wasting time and usually that is continued to a feeling of guilt and regret. My limitations feel like a defining factor throughout most of my journey. The inability to reach the ripest fruit on the top of the tree causes settling for the lowest. What would the fruit taste like if it had been cultivated to its best? The questions continue to riddle me because I recognize myself as the fruit I labor to grasp.

Fourthly, tomorrow is beautiful. Tomorrow will be beautiful. The grandeur of its design is that the renewing of day and night speaks in its own tantalization. Mystery reserves a right of its own. This right of being is a whole necessity to keep us wanting. To discover that which is unknown or unexpected is quite an adventure in itself. Lowering my own judgments of what may come in its quality prior to its simple occurrence thus limits the experience of the good that it might have. In this way, good may become better, better may become great, and that which is great may become holy. Mystery of itself is contained in the divine. Quarreling about whether something must be understood in order for it to be deemed fit for practice is quite fallacious. So my endeavor to understand tomorrow with all that the future holds displeases me. What comes will come. That is inescapable and that is good.

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” ― Soren Kierkegaard

Now time to move forward with the past.

Moving onto what I can say as a present, quite simply it has to be experienced. The present consists of what is occurring at the moment and the fascinating part about that is we get to choose what is to be done. That privilege and freedom fill me with excitement but also terror. We constantly move with changing tides. The lines we draw in the sand fade at each moment because time demands it so. Despite this, the progression allows for renewal and in particular, an upheaval of what the past reflection has done to influence the present. We are able to choose the pathway in which to follow from reflection. Still, certain axiomatic relationships exist within these histories. one of which is relating to the choice of a matter. Each day, we must choose not if we will sacrifice something but what will we sacrifice in order to influence the future. The simple-minded religiosity of daily movement becomes monotonous and filled with Hobson's choices. Limiting factors allow us to focus on the particulars and expand upon their knowledge. Simply cleaning one's room or making one's bed, while delaying the inevitable usage, distinguishes discipline and thus changes the character of the person. Some have said that these actions of elementary dimensions in upkeep are a waste of time. This could not be further from the truth.

What has come before and what lays ahead is what defines the present time. Without the past, the reflection is rendered useless and thus wisdom and folly have no distinction. Likewise, without the future, we cannot move in any sort of passion because what is there to anticipate? The present moment is the culmination of reflection and passion. So to truly live in the present is to, in the words of Khalil Gibran, rest in reason but move in passion.

Live now in the reason of the past as the foundation to build upon but move in passion accordingly as to be daring and revolutionary. We must make each moment intentional. Even rest itself is an objective to accomplish. Don't rely on aesthetic pleasures to drive you toward the edge of oblivion. Progress in each moment with the backdrop of ethics. Be vitally virtuous in all action by taking the past, making war in the present, and conquering the future.