What I Think: Nostalgia
Hi.
So I had a brief look on the internet for this quote but I couldn't find it. This is likely because I don't have a rich vocabulary as the kind of people that come up with these ideas but whatever.
"The aim of life is to return to childhood." - Someone.
I read or heard somewhere once I am obviously paraphrasing but this is the gist of what the quote was.
I got to thinking about that idea a lot today and I drew some interesting conclusions about naivety in relation to general well-being. Here goes:
When we are young, everything is magic. The latest Telstra ad really captured the idea of magic in a nutshell. Okay, so Telstra didn't come up with it (obviously) but they made me aware of it as I watched some ads in a cinema once. The actual quote, it turns out, is attributed to Arthur C. Clarke.
Basically, what I took from this is that magic is the essence of what we don't understand. When we don't understand something, it sits at the frontier of our individual universes and we strive to understand and explore it.
But this comes at a cost.
As we explore, the world around us is mapped out and understood. Information compounds layer upon layer in our minds and as a result, we grow and mature. This path ultimately leads to wisdom but unfortunately is littered with suffering along the way. Such is life.
As we understand things, we become more cynical about it. Once you get that "oh, that Ant is following some daft instinct to pick up that leaf and cart it off to its nest" then there is no longer anything magical about it. So magic slowly becomes all but absent in our lives.
I always found it interesting how no matter how shit of a time we are having in the present, it is almost inevitable that five or so years down the track we will look back at this time fondly as if there was something beautiful about it. The further back we go, the more nostalgic we get. This seems to be true of most people I have met.
The obvious answer to the cause of this is that people always remember the best parts of the past; the things that made them the happiest. However, being somewhat of a pragmatist, I consider memory as more of a tool of practical use and see little utility in rose coloured lenses. Maybe to keep a person from wanting to die? Unlikely.
What I thought today was what if it was more of a framework for storing information? Like a file system on a computer. When you are young, you record information differently because your perspective is different. This is a perspective of wonder, mystery and the sweet bliss of simple play. As we grow and learn more, our lenses become somewhat more secular and dull. Things just lack that sparkle around the edges and it's no wonder really.
So back to the original idea of people needing to return to their childhoods. That quote makes sense to me in this context. Life is quite dreary unless you allow yourself to believe, like a child, in the mysteries of the universe rather than rely wholly on what it is you know. The aim, therefore, is to return to that state. But there is a bit more to it than that.
A child views the world in such a beautiful way because a child is naive. An adult that has become sceptical and laden with criticism of the world does not have that choice. So, therefore, it must be an act of courage. Similarly, a child trusts anyone who offers them candy and an adults thinks twice. Naivety and courage respectively.
What I think I am trying to say here is that I really do believe that this is a primary goal of life. I bet you know of at least one or two people who are stuck in the past trying desperately to cling onto the younger and less dreary versions of themselves. I think this is what drives it, though I know that is not the solution.
People have to courageously believe in the magic that is all around them. Yeah, it's airy-fairy as shit but I think it's true. Here is a picture of some kind of devil on a motorcycle to offset that.
Bye.
Basically, what I took from this is that magic is the essence of what we don't understand. When we don't understand something, it sits at the frontier of our individual universes and we strive to understand and explore it.
But this comes at a cost.
As we explore, the world around us is mapped out and understood. Information compounds layer upon layer in our minds and as a result, we grow and mature. This path ultimately leads to wisdom but unfortunately is littered with suffering along the way. Such is life.
As we understand things, we become more cynical about it. Once you get that "oh, that Ant is following some daft instinct to pick up that leaf and cart it off to its nest" then there is no longer anything magical about it. So magic slowly becomes all but absent in our lives.
I always found it interesting how no matter how shit of a time we are having in the present, it is almost inevitable that five or so years down the track we will look back at this time fondly as if there was something beautiful about it. The further back we go, the more nostalgic we get. This seems to be true of most people I have met.
The obvious answer to the cause of this is that people always remember the best parts of the past; the things that made them the happiest. However, being somewhat of a pragmatist, I consider memory as more of a tool of practical use and see little utility in rose coloured lenses. Maybe to keep a person from wanting to die? Unlikely.
What I thought today was what if it was more of a framework for storing information? Like a file system on a computer. When you are young, you record information differently because your perspective is different. This is a perspective of wonder, mystery and the sweet bliss of simple play. As we grow and learn more, our lenses become somewhat more secular and dull. Things just lack that sparkle around the edges and it's no wonder really.
So back to the original idea of people needing to return to their childhoods. That quote makes sense to me in this context. Life is quite dreary unless you allow yourself to believe, like a child, in the mysteries of the universe rather than rely wholly on what it is you know. The aim, therefore, is to return to that state. But there is a bit more to it than that.
A child views the world in such a beautiful way because a child is naive. An adult that has become sceptical and laden with criticism of the world does not have that choice. So, therefore, it must be an act of courage. Similarly, a child trusts anyone who offers them candy and an adults thinks twice. Naivety and courage respectively.
What I think I am trying to say here is that I really do believe that this is a primary goal of life. I bet you know of at least one or two people who are stuck in the past trying desperately to cling onto the younger and less dreary versions of themselves. I think this is what drives it, though I know that is not the solution.
People have to courageously believe in the magic that is all around them. Yeah, it's airy-fairy as shit but I think it's true. Here is a picture of some kind of devil on a motorcycle to offset that.
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