The story of a person is told through experience. Each life story is the gathering together of a collection of moments that unfold or explode in a seemingly cacophonous order across time - your personal experiences.
With an incredible number of possible permutations, each life bounces from event to event and caresses a trail across human existence. Every life forges this trail, regardless of the duration or the external impact - every life creates a path. This journey, and the human who is on it, is completely unique. There has never been nor will there ever be a duplication of a human life story. Many lives will be similar. Perhaps, in fact, most lives are very similar when viewed from the drastic distance of time and space. If we zoom way out to see our species from a universal level each tiny life follows a pattern - creation, struggle, reproduction, extinction. The human story repeated innumerably across the course of the species. When viewed up close, however, the unique collection of experiences melded together by each single consciousness is staggeringly divergent to any other. Each little life then expands incredibly to include a universe of personal moments - conception, birth, physical environments, interpersonal associations, choices, cultural interactions, internal and external commitments, experiences. From the point of view where we each perceive our lives the range of detail is vast, personalised and significant. Each life is huge and unique. Those who experience triumph in their lives do so after their own journey to that success. Building upon preceding experiences, to eventually reach success. People who suffer during their existence, face the pain of that experience coloured by the circumstances of the moment and all the moments leading to that discomfort. Suffering exists and is perceived based on the unique events leading up to it. Those that share joy during their life journey perceive the sensation as an element of their personal passage through time. The experience is influenced and informed by many other previous sensations. Each experience, even those shared with others, forms a unique component of an individual and a unique collection of experiences, influenced and understood in the context of its place in a trail of life experiences. The timing, sequence, nature and magnitude of the specific moments each individual encounters are unique, never to be repeated, and exclusive. Only one person can be exposed to the specific unique elements of a life. Only one person can have that experience, and only one person is capable of knowing that value. This realisation seems useful in the context of understanding how to live a valuable life. To inhabit the moments of our life with the active knowledge that the experience occurring right now is genuinely unique, and therefore precious, may help us to find merit in that moment. There is a choice in each experience - either to be in it and perceive, or to escape and discount. Many unpleasant experiences stimulate us to escape and avoid. Mundane experiences tempt us to escape and ignore, or seek distraction in remembering prefered moments of another time. Every time we escape an experience, any chance of insight, realisation or value-creation is lost. That nuanced and unique moment will not happen again. The experiences in each life are singular and precious. Many of them will be difficult and unenjoyable; many will be special. Every experience is an opportunity to find value. Our task may be to remember this even while life is happening. Every moment is unique and precious. Your task is to be there and experience it.
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AuthorHigh school teacher Archives
September 2023
CategoriesThemes |