Once upon a time...

...or maybe it was twice. Come to think of it, it was definitely much more often than that.

It was, after all, all about the time. Then again, it was also about the place and the people who were there and the things that happened. So maybe I need to restart.

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Once upon a spacetime, I was there. I have been an observer. In many ways I have lead a Gumpian existence. Somehow I adopted the notion that it was important for me to observe and record. If not me, who?

It all started with a vision, although it may have started before the vision and elsewhere. That's the trouble with spacetime. One wherewhen's herenow is another wherewhen's therethen. But for the life of us we keep counting the time. Sometimes it becomes all too apparent that it is a dwindling resource.

But I've kept recording. It is my nature.

The search for sense in this existence is inward. One dives as deeply as one dares. The layers of the onion are carefully unwrapped to display more onion, ever deeper. The fear is that eventually a layer will be removed and reveal The Void. Dare I go that far? Is it possible to observe that?

The search for sense, I've discovered, requires a metaphor...or several.

 

 

 

 

Darmok and Jilad at Tanagra 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robyn at the vigil 

 

 

Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel 

 

 

The task of teaching people to learn how to help others survive is assumed. I am, after all, a teacher.

 

Shaka, when the walls fell

 

 

Failure happens more often than not, but observing and relating and hoping people will learn continues.

We are all in this spacetime together. The only way out is to live through it. The question is, Are we going to contend or cooperate? Shall we survive by working together for the mutual good or fail while insisting on individual benefit? Does the village prosper through collaborate effort or sow the seeds of mutually assured destruction?

Time in an Egg    The Complement of Time        When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. --Tao te Ching (tr. Strephen Mitchell) Time is the collective counting of humankind With recognition of time comes recognition of mortality To live long becomes the objective And while we're all counting together maybe we should also tally our stuff I guess to break the tie when two people die simultaneously So greed is born Why is life a game? --Robyn Elaine Serven --November 28, 2005

All I can do...and all I can ask others to do, is to choose the cooperative path...and mourn when it is not.

 

Kiteo, his eyes closed   

 

 

And meanwhile spacetime changes. And some placeday there will need to be a new observer. Maybe the observer already exists. Maybe there are many. How would I know?

And maybe it is not too late to change this common experience, although I do not know if I have the energy or wisdom to contribute to that anymore.

I have my doubts if I can even manage to give my report...and often am confused about to whom it should be given.

And I am Oh, so very tired...and in search of a spark to rekindle the flame.

The days grow longer again. May they signal the start of a new era in human interaction.

 

 

 

 

Nugget