“Eternal Now” is a phrase I’ve heard repeatedly lately. In a lot of different contexts. But mostly, I think the gist is supposed to be that we live in an “always” society “everything, all the time” (to quote the Eagles), so live it up!
There are always reruns of our favorite obscure TV series.There’s always TVo and On Demand and DVD collections with directors cuts and bonus features. You don’t have to buy the album, because every song, in every variation, is just an iTunes click away. You can order up your next book, or every book you want, in any format under the sun without ever stepping foot in a bookstore–all you need is an electronic reader and the 3G connection available at most fast food joints now.
There are quicker ways every day to lose weight, or work out easier and smarter.Drive faster, freed from the drag of having to figure out where you’re going before you get going, because there’s an app that will get you door to door with no effort at all. You can meet the mate of your dreams without having to look, just answer a few questions and wait for your dream come true to scroll onto your computer screen. You can be who you’ve always wanted to be, just follow ten simple steps. The world’s at our fingertips. All now. All the time. And we haven’t even touched on self help mantras and financial must-jump-on schemes, like melt down your old gold and buy your neighbor’s foreclosed dream home while the markets tapped out.
But is that really now? Or more to the point, is it really what we want to be tomorrow?
In some ancient civilizations, there was little concept of immediate time. There was before, there was a distant sense of future, but the rest wasn’t about faster and easier and cramming more into every second that a person either used or lost forever.Their “now” was about living. Doing. Being. It was a rhythm and a sense of accomplishment and belonging as one day led to the next, and those you loved were there with you and for you and being taken care of by you in whatever way you alone could provide, however much you could get done.
My next week’s going to be a time different from anything I’ve ever known. My last few weeks have been different, too, to be honest. The world’s narrowed to a place in which where I am and who I’m with and what we share together hasn’t been interrupted by anything from before. And for the first time in a long time, my now isn’t being shadowed by what might come later, because that’s just not a place we’re choosing to look to yet. We’re just “here,” the people I love. It’s just now.
And it’s been good, even though tomorrow will be tough. It’s been quiet in some ways, and crazy in others. But it’s been real. It’s been living. It’s been my heart feeling it’s way through every day, without distractions and deadlines and must-dos and catching up so I don’t fall behind. It’s been breathing. Only three weeks or so, but it’s felt eternal.
I’ll be off for a while, but I’ll be thinking of my online friends.Find your eternal now and wallow in it while I’m gone. Then share your “living it up!” with me in the comments. A girl about to be on pain meds needs something to look forward to, right ;o)
TTFN!
there was a distant sense of future, but the rest wasn’t about faster and easier and cramming more into every second that a person either used or lost forever.Their “now” was about living. Doing. Being.
Anna, I love what you wrote above; life was so much simpler and stress free.
Thank goodness for pain meds I say. Hope everything goes well and take care.
I fill like I can’t catch up whit now its to far away from me.I only just learn the combuter well most of it.but it keeps changing.Phones and computers and outher things out there keep coming and i can’t keep up whit it.doing better then my mom she keeps calling me in to fix the VCR and TV.
sasluvbooks(at)yahoo.com
PS.Whis i had some pain meds my arm herts