In Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot (1952), two lost creatures spend their days waiting without knowing whom they are waiting for or whether he, she, or it, will ever come. Their hope is that a man named Godot will know all the answers to their questions and lead lead them to salvation.
At one point Vladimir says, “Why are we here, that is the question? And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come. [. . .] We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment.”
Is that enough, keeping the appointment? Sitting and waiting for our name to be called? What’s the point of getting up each morning, letting the dog out, making tea and toast, getting dressed, or whatever routines see us though the morning, noon, afternoon of life? What makes life ‘worth living’?
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“I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world”, writes Mary Oliver in “When Death Comes” and in “Wild Geese” reminds us to wake up — not just once, but again and again — to whatever shows up on the path.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers. [. . .]
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Past and Future are mere constructs: artificial ways of organizing life’s “full catastrophe” (Zorba) into more manageable chunks. All the while, smack between one momeny and another, lies the Present. It is timeless and inherently empty. Each breath a new page in the book of your life. p.s. Please remind me whenever my mind gets muddled again.
Remind me too!
In the last scene of the latest Bond movie the last three lines of this quote are spoken, “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, ever atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Your words, and the Bond scene, both speak to me at this time of my life. I do love endless pots of tea, but I have learned that if I succumb to my cozy couch with my cat, books and tea, that my mind starts enveloping me not in comfort but in dis-ease.
Thank you for this post.
Practice, practice, practice living in the moment. So difficult a skill to master. Easy to go back and ruminate, or try and crystal ball and worry of the future. Harder to stay grounded in the moment. I wonder why that is? We are hardwired for this. I do not struggle with the past but I do worry for the future. Loving kindness keeps me in the moment but that too is so difficult to learn and practice, practice always practising. Will I ever arrive fully in the moment and unpack and settle in to the moment. Will I ever live here instead of just visiting. I hope so.