Born Shouting

Two peasants discuss the need to rebuild a boundary wall that lies between their properties:

“…my luck is such that no sooner would we complete the task than the sun would go black, with all the toil for naught.”

The first flourished his arms in derisive reject of the argument.

“This is a risk we must assume. Notice: I drink wine, though I may not live to become drunk. Does this deter me? No! I reject the future; I drink now, I become drunk as circumstances dictate.”

from The Eyes Of The Overworld - Jack Vance page 187.

…don’t let fear of the future hold you back…drink to it…

I think it’s a great book (Saul Bellow’s novel with the same name as this post) and I love the carpe diem sentiment. However, is such a attitude to life - to live in the present moment ignoring the past and the future really one that is sustainable at any level - environmental, social or economic?

Personally, I think not, but it’s essential to Seize the Day when the opportunity arises.

…The spiritual compensation is what I look for. Bringing people into the here-and-now. The real universe. That’s the present moment. The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real - the here-and-now. Seize the day.

Dr Tamkin in ‘Seize the Day (Penguin Modern Classics)‘ by Saul Below.

(I’ve realised that all the quotes I’ve taken from ‘Seize the Day’ are the words of Dr Tamkin - a charlatan and fraud … what does that say about me?)

Despite being a chancer, rogue and down-right charlatan Dr Tamkin is certainly a wise man, I think most of us could benefit from living in the here-and-now rather than on the crest of the what-if wave…

You should try some of my here-and-now mental exercises. It stops you from thinking so much about the future and the past and cuts down confusion…

Nature only knows one thing, and that’s the present. Present, present, eternal present, like a big, huge, giant wave - colossal, bright and beautiful, full of life and death, climbing into the sky, standing in the seas. You must go along with the actual, the Here-and-Now, the glory.

Dr Tamkin in ‘Seize the Day (Penguin Modern Classics)‘ by Saul Below.