Tag: wait

Monday Morning Wake Up Call

~ Live & Learn ~ 23 Comments

I lived when simply waiting was a large part of ordinary life: when we waited, gathered around a crackling radio, to hear the infinitely far-away voice of the king of England… I live now when we fuss if our computer can’t bring us everything we want instantly. We deny time.

We don’t want to do anything with it, we want to erase it, deny that it passes. What is time in cyberspace? And if you deny time you deny space. After all, it’s a continuum—which separates us.

So we talk on a cell phone to people in Indiana while jogging on the beach without seeing the beach, and gather on social media into huge separation-denying disembodied groups while ignoring the people around us.

​I find this virtual existence weird, and as a way of life, absurd. This could be because I am eighty-four years old. It could also be because it is weird, an absurd way to live.”

— Ursula K. LeGuin, Interview by Heather Davis. “Stories from wide open, wild country: An Interview with Ursula K. Le Guin” Hobo Magazine 16: 130-131. (2014)

Notes:

Tuesday Morning Wake-Up Call

~ Live & Learn ~ 11 Comments

You know what, explain this to me. We live with miracles at our fingertips. We fly to the stars. We split atoms. We’ve got robots taking out the trash. Why, are we all still waiting, to live our dreams? Well, there’s a technical term for that in my business, that’s called a shit deal. Our best days are piling up in the rear view, and that hope, it keeps us going, it’s wearing down to the bone. Some of us are losing people we love. And just like that, any day now, that turns into too late. Gone forever. Because every day we’re not living for now, right now, we’re waiting around dying, one empty promise at a time. I’m not waiting around anymore God damn it. Neither should you. The time is NOW. And regret is a killer worse than death.

— Jack Billings (Billy Crudup), Hello Tomorrow! (S1:E1 – Your Brighter Tomorrow, Today. AppleTV+ Original)

Lightly Child, Lightly.

~ Live & Learn ~ 17 Comments

If we are separated I will
try to wait for you
on your side of things

your side of the wall and the water
and of the light moving at its own speed
even on leaves that we have seen
I will wait on one side

while a side is there

— W.S. Merwin, “Travelling Together”  from The Rain in the Trees

Notes:

  • Poem via adrasteiax. Photo: By Margarita (via seemoreandmore)
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

 

Saturday Morning

~ Live & Learn ~ 23 Comments

(She) enjoyed the privilege of stillness, most days did absolutely nothing but breathe and look and hear and smell the world turning.

A self-appointed Judge of Existence.

~ Niall Williams, “This Is Happiness” (Bloomsbury Publishing; December 3, 2019)

 

Photo: Carlos Gotay (via Mennyfox55)

Saturday Morning

~ Live & Learn ~ 13 Comments

And for moments, nothing more.

Some people understand the privilege of stillness and can sit and breathe and look and hear and smell the world turning and let what’s next wait the while.

~ Niall Williams, “This Is Happiness” (Bloomsbury Publishing; December 3, 2019)

 

Photo: Levas Žiriakovas with Spring Sun