"The only thing you are going to do today is: what you do today.
Therefore, the only thing there is to do today is: what you do today.
That's all there was to do when you started no matter what you thought
or think."
...
"It is important that you get clear for yourself that your only
access
to impacting life is
action.
The world
does not care what you intend, how committed you are, how you feel, or
what you think and certainly it has no
interest
in what you want and don't want. Take a look at life as it is lived
and see for yourself that
the world
only moves for you when you
act."
...
"Carpe diem!" (Latin for "Seize the day!")
... Horace, Odes 1.11, circa 23 BC
This essay,
Carpe Diem!,
is the companion piece to
My Scripted Life.
I am indebted to
Steve Zaffron
who inspired this conversation.
Carpe diem! Seize the day!
Act!
That's what there is to do. And that is all there is to
do. When I seize the day ie when I
act,
that's when
the world
moves or starts to move for me (as
Werner
eloquently distinguishes). But it's more than that. It's when I seize
the day ie when I
act,
that's when
Life itself
moves (or starts to move) for me. This isn't just another bon
mot,
belief,
or a strategy. Neither is it
an opinion.
It's just plain to see when I
observe
life as it's lived.
That's what I'd already gotten some time ago from taking on
Werner's
inquiry into seizing the day /
acting.
It was something I already knew as the mother lode ie the
pay dirt of an inquiry I'd been in for years. But look: "what
you and I know", as strange as this may sound, may actually be
limiting rather than
freeing.
I am ... that what I know, is
freeing
ie that what I know grants me
freedom.
And then,
inexorably
/ inexplicably, I started noticing how so much of what I
know oh so innocuously actually gets in my
way - that is to say, I notice it gets between me and what's
possible newly.
God!
That is so pernicious.
Some time around now (it may have been closer to
when I met Werner
face-to-face for the first time,
but nonetheless some time around now) I restarted this
inquiry, diving in newly ie drilling down newly,
used by
what he brings to the table / makes available, and a new facet of it
showed up
for me, like this:
I'd always had it that seizing the day /
acting,
is what we must do, what we have to do ie
that it's what's required of us etc etc. Oh no it's
not! You don't have to seize the day. You do not
have to
act.
There is no coercion. You can seize the day ... or not. You're
free
to seize the day ... or not. There'll be few virtuous or
integral
or even righteous consequences for you if you do not seize the day.
Seize the day ... or don't seize it. It's OK either way. Really it is.
And if you have it that you must seize the day (like
you're under some kind of moral obligation to seize the
day), you may be adding
significance
to something which has no inherent
significance
at all. And adding
significance
carries no weight. In fact it may even get in your way of living life
well. Really. No kidding.
What started to distill out for me as I renewed this inquiry, came from
a
Wernerthird rail:
if I do not seize the day ie
act,
then
the world
doesn't move for me ie if I don't seize the day, then
Life itself
doesn't move for me. And that does carry weight. There is
nothing that says seizing the day is a requirement, or imperative or
even necessary. But ... if I do not seize the day,
then
the world
doesn't move for me ie
Life itself
doesn't move for me. That's what carries weight. Seizing
the day isn't a "must" ie a "have to". There is no
freedom
in either. Rather it simply
works
better ie it's pragmatic. There is
freedom
in that.
Speaking candidly, there's a sense of ennui I wake up with
from time to time. It's that blah feeling of listlessness
and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation and excitement.
And speaking totally candidly, I've awoken with that sense
of ennui one time too often. I've got two comments to make about that
now, having engaged with
Werner
in this inquiry into seizing the day /
acting.
The first one is: life promised us neither occupation nor excitement,
so expecting them clearly comes with a steep price tag. The second is
there's a cure (if you will) for ennui, and it's this: carpe
diem, seize the day,
act.
No, not because you must or because you have to, but simply because it
works
ie because if you do, then
the world
and
Life itself
move (or start to move) for you.
