Reactions

None, really. Yesterday’s post was the ‘World’s Shortest Play.’ It was four lines. I’m don’t know how many people saw it or read it. Or even if they wondered what was meant by it.


The genesis of the ‘play’ were thoughts running through my head in the wee hours of that morning. Random thoughts pricking my consciousness. One series of ideas played with the concept of past – present – future. Consciously thinking of the past is what we mainly do, attending to the present is always a struggle of focus; but the future? Now that is always a looming in our lives.


Remembering the Future


We don’t remember the future. We imagine it. We hope for it. We wonder what it will bring. We help it become whatever we want it to be. We want to be part of it, yearn for it. What it will be, however, is the product of forces unseen and uncontrolled by me, you, we. It is a force unto itself; what we do with it – the future – is an open question. It is not remembered. It is embraced, prepared for, worked for.


The Power of Why


Understanding anything is an exercise in logic and intellect. Putting bits and pieces together informs us. Realizing the enormity of time, space and life informs us of possibility, potential. We can experience what surrounds us while not understanding it. Like the Grand Canyon, or the Grant Tetons, or the Pacific Ocean. It is present. It stares back at our stares. But why it is, what it is, how it came to be, and why it is important, is for us to figure out.


The struggle to understand anything is the act of living life. Understanding and not understanding all at the same time pretty much explains our existence. What we do with it is the result of our power to ask questions and to wonder the purpose, the origin and the all-inclusive Why.


Fulfilling possibility comes from the empowering Why.


Because


My dad mainly answered by questions with ‘because.’ At every age the answer was universally ‘because.’ Time unfolded and I understood why he answered that way; I did the same with my kids. You, too?


‘Because’ is the root of begging why, the ‘why’ you take on to discover. It is a motivator to stretch into the unknown. It pulls us into the more of life. Bit by bit we learn more about ourselves and the world around us. It comes from ‘why’ and ‘because.’ Think about it.


Discuss


All the above is the meat of our daily lives. It is the sinew of our being and the stuff we can think about, work with, and produce with. It comes from interacting not only with ‘it,’ but also with other people. Social interaction. Loving. Knowing. Appreciating each other, friendship and relationships of all sorts. Our explorations are not done solo but in context with others doing the same as we.

Discussing our experiences alone and with others produce the lessons we learn. Exponential learning.

This morning I awoke thinking of this ‘shortest play.’ I wondered how to stage it. What would it look like. And then I realized it didn’t need to be staged. Let it be. Get out of bed and write about it. So here I am, still early of morn writing elemental thoughts of the universe.


May this always be our fresh start of the future.


September 20, 2019