Future, Present, Past, or the Memory?
Someone told me that we live not for the moment and not for the future, but for our memories, for anticipation and playback. In day-to-day living I can see that this is true, that I spend hours sometimes days shaping coming events in my head and when the event is over the memories of the event are those mostly composed in my head before hand.
I remember winning a writing contest in high school. The prize was $25. I remember how I anounced to the class that I would win that contest, and how I intimidated anyone and everyone that would compete against me. Vocabulic intimidation can be the worst sort. Yet the memories, when sorted, are hazily discernable from what transpired and what I expected. My victory was virtually a non-event. No one in my family recalls it. Not a classmate that will still talk to me recalls it. Yet I, triumphant, a prosaic hero as it were, remember it all so clearly.
Is it possible that the “live for the moment” and the “live for the future” camps are just juvenile interpretations of “live for the memory”? Where and what makes life valuable? It is our memories of the present that we carry forth with us, to churn like a cud, and it is the anticipation of the future that makes those memories so valuable to us. Could it be that the goldmine of my life are the memories that I carry with me, that I can pull out like precious baubles to roll across the reflections of my mind?
April 25th, 2007 at 10:08
Hello Michael,
I am a Cagayan de oro city native who is now a citizen of Australia. I have lived in this country for fifteen years now and am beginning to feel this longing for home.
I was trying to find some information about how safe living back in Philippines is and came across your postings.
Anyway, I do want to make some comments about what you wrote regarding \\\”present, future, past, or the memory\\\”.
I do believe that every single being in this planet have individual choices on how we want to live our lives. For me, there is not really any past or future. Each day of my life is a \\\”constant now\\\”. It works well for me this way as it keeps me from feeling uneasy about negative occurences from the past. Things from the past does not exist anymore, and the future, as some people say, \\\”can take care of itself \\\”.
For me, the value of existence comes from the beauty of being alive. I believe life is a gift and there is nothing as exciting for me than waking up each morning in my new \\\”now\\\”. Life is wonderful because that is how I choose it to be.