As an academician, the year’s end is marked by the waning days of summer, the beginning, fall. I count the days of renewal and rebirth in the first hint of coolness in the breeze after the sweltering days have ended. As the students return to or enter for the first time, the hallowed halls of learning, my mind stretches out seeking to engage or re-engage discovery and the sharing of ideas.
It is my hope and conviction that the life of the mind offers a foil to the re-action of the many who do not take time to consider the consequences of acting without thinking. That through discourse and an openness to understanding we can find the commonalities of our humanity. It is my hope, that through the process of discovery, we find that rationality is a way to a better common future than raw emotion.
But the river flows. Time seeks the lowest level of energy and all that is, passes to dust. It is an inevitability. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is absolute. At least, in four dimensional space-time. But the experience of the human is a passing away. Regardless of religious persuasion, the physical laws indicate that all that is will grind to a cold, timeless halt. So where will all our acting without thinking be then? Whither thought, in the cold, silent expanse of the end?
The river flows through the timeless now where all our thoughts, dreams and actions take flight. Whether raging or locked in ice, the river is a visitor to our singular moment of consciousness. “Be here now” was not a flight of fancy propagated by the psychedelic epicureans of the 1960’s, but an invitation and a warning from the time-honored traditions of the East. So important, it was echoed in our fantasies by the most famous Master in contemporary times, Yoda. Is your mind where you are at? Is your mind focused on what you are doing? If your answer is no, you are choking on the dust of the future. If it is yes, you have a chance.
We cannot stop the end of time. But, we can alter the end of our time. With conscious action and focus on the now, we can be in the world with integrity and honesty. We can consciously choose a path instead of emotionally following what feels good. And never doubt that hate can feel wonderful, full of self-righteousness and surety. The harder path leads to rational consideration of options, choices that benefit the communal self interest over the individual self interest. One of the most important documents in U.S. history begins, “We, the people…,” not “Each of us, individually….” We rise and fall together.
So the river flows, the wheel turns and students show up on campus seeking to get a better life through a better job. But in the process, they, hopefully, learn to think, to consider the world. To find the eternal now and be there. And as they sift through the dust of ages for the gems of the human tradition, let them be humbled by what has gone before. Let ego relax and let the self come to the fore. Let the human condition become the focus of their efforts at understanding what is. And, above all, may the suffering of others spark compassion in their hearts and minds, for the sake of us all.
Namasté