Why Wait Until Tomorrow…

Since I can’t help sounding like the (soon-to-be) proverbial corrupted MP3 file, we are SO attached to our artificial cognitive constructs of time!

There.  I said it.  Phew!  Out of the way.

We mark and measure and observe the passage of time with great enthusiasm and zeal.  Regardless of social status, economic situation, or political inclination, just about everybody I know is an expert at watching the clock and keeping track of the calendar.  It’s a vital human practice these days.  One must be aware of the passage of time each day lest one forget to eat, sleep, or leave work early enough to have a life but not so early so as to attract attention.  For these things, understanding a clock is essential.  And one must also maintain skills associated with calendar-consciousness.  After all, one must be aware lest one forget to prepare for winter, submit one’s taxes on time, or remember which days not to show up for work.  Further, when one combines these skills of clock-watching and calendar-consciousness, one can ensure that the new episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” are not missed (on Thursdays at 8:00 PM Central).  Every day has its place in the cosmic order of things, and we must honor that place!

Today is no different than tomorrow.  Well, tomorrow hasn’t happened yet, but I think you might get my drift.  The rest of the cosmos doesn’t care about the obsessive-compulsive need of our species to catalogue EVERYTHING, particularly time.  It really, really doesn’t care.  Whether you believe in a natural force balancing all things in existence or you believe in an organizing consciousness…whatever you choose…the fact remains that the way we slice and dice time is a purely human construct meant to provide order to what appears to be a somewhat chaotic universe. 

As is the case with so many other things we do, there are very real, very necessary roots to our obsession with time, but that obsession need not pervade our lives.  The opportunity to disengage is there, we just need to seize it.  Why should we?  I believe that we lose ourselves in the ebb and flow of the currents of time.  If we allow ourselves to get caught up in the external flow of time, we run the risk of being overcome, of drowning, in the larger zeitgeist that drives the machine of modern society.  What’s more, so many of the sources of this global flow are reinforced by entities with a vested interest in your being aware of what to buy, when to buy, and where to buy. 

This time of year is a perfect example.  Where I live, in the United States, you can already see Christmas displays coming down and Valentine’s Day displays going up.  I’m all about the loving, but these cues are so obvious, and they aren’t coming from the need to prepare for the cold months to come.  OK, maybe Valentine’s Day might have something to do with warmth on a cold February night in Illinois, but that’s not the point.  Don’t get suckered in by the details. 

Step back.  Relax.  Close your eyes.  Open them

Open your eyes.

Every day is the same.  It is filled with potential.  It is no better than the days before, than the days yet to come.  And there is no guarantee that there are more days.  Today could very well be your last day.  Embrace that fact.  Squeeze every last drop out of today.  Sure, you are assuming you’ll get another one tomorrow, but why waste what you have in front of you?

2009 is almost over.  2010 is almost here.  It starts tomorrow.  It’s a brand new year, filled with endless possibilities, with so many things that we could potentially do.

Why wait until tomorrow to start?