Mid year rambling

July 1, 2006

Today is July 1...half of the year 2006 is past! Is this really posssible? As I grow older, the malleability of time never ceases to amaze me. When we are young, time seems to proceed at a lethargic pace and, with the aging process, seems to pick up speed until it is lightning fast.

Then, again, even when we are older...if an impending event tends to put us off...time can revert to its slow pace. The same situation transpires if we are performing tasks we do not enjoy. Conversely, when engaged in activities for which we have a passion, time is back to its mercurial speed.

Of course...this is all occurs within the realm of perception. A second is a second is a second. Nonetheless, it proves that both uniformity (the exact measurement of a second's duration) and relativity (the perceived duration) are coexistant. They are both "true".

By implication, the insight that apparently opposing measurement concepts can be compatible helps to partially elucidate the nature of contradiction and paradox. In this case, it is one of apparent contradicition and apparent paradox because it is more akin to an "apples and oranges" model. We are using two different metrics and trying to establish some kind of commonality.

There are, of course, paradoxes that defy this viewpoint accomodated resolution. But...the time example gives us a hint into the manner in which we may come to an understanding. We must throw away convention and apply other nonconventional techniques. There are instances wherein the moment we cease trying to understand is when we begin to see a glimpse of reality.

Life is maya, illusion, and what we perceive to be reality may not be real at all. Again...it is a matter of perspective and, if we have a limited perspective, than how would we even know that we were living in quasi-realilty.

I take these musings as fodder to fuel the fire of my search. Search for what? I really do not know. Yet, something spurs me on...maybe it is the indeterminate nature of time which can seem so fluid and so rigid simultaneously. Maybe it is the indeterminate nature of reality which defies our attempts to define and delimit it, to categorize and describe it. Perhaps Reality chooses to not be known as that would some how degrade or demean it. Or, perhaps, Reality wants to be pursued yet remain elusive, like the anticipation and not quite fulfilled desire of young lovers.

Perhaps it is the quest and not the goal that really matters.

trickster108