Moving Pictures

In CS Lewis' book Out of the Silent planet, the narrator, Ransom meets the beings of Malacandra.  The one of the hrossa told him the life of a moment.  He said, and I paraphrase, a full moment is in three stages.  First is the anticipation, then the actual moment itself then the memory.  When all these elements are put together and savoured, then you have a whole moment.  And in our minds this can go on for ages, we can enjoy a moment for yonks.  

I find art to be the commemoration of a moment, be it a photograph, a painting, a song, a movie, play...name it.  There was an occurance that the artist decided to immortalise.  I tried to take pictures of all the wonder worthy sunsets  I saw.  My camera never did them justice.  So I tried to 'memorise' them.  Even then, memories are only so long.      

"The painter had achieved what we would all like to do: capture time and make it stand still" - Across the Nightingale Floor, Lian Hearn

Life is a bunch of moments strung together.  Some are brilliant, some are absolute rubbish.  Though we find a need to make some of it stand still, we should not be hung up on anyone instance, but rather keep moving along the continuum.  Though the current scene is the most breath taking, awesome thing ever beheld, one ought to keep moving.

A long time ago, when I was super spiritual I 'preached' to a bunch of college students.  They loved the sermon (I called them talkie-thingies to get away from sermon, it sounds too official.)  They loved it so much they spoke about it for weeks to come.  I honestly thought they did not pay attention to the other great talkies that came after because they were bent on that one.  It distressed me.  They missed out, because they found one good thing and decided to stay there.

It makes sense, with all that life throws on us, to want to spend eternity in one moment.  I stand with the hrossa on this one, a moment is not fully realised until you live through its three phases.  Anticipation (however brief), staging and retrospection.  You cannot revel in the stage forever, like manna it will grow maggots and become nightmare.  Less lofty is my immense irritation at the people who live by the adage 'high school is never over.'  Most become rotten adults.  When the moment is gone it is gone.  Holding on only ruins it.

Life is bunch of moving pictures.  They should only stop when the whole story is told.  You think you have found a 'perfect place to stop and linger' there is likely more and better things to come.  But you held on to the  thing now it is ruined.  Anticipate tomorrow, live in the present and revel in the memory of yesterday.  Anything else is ruinous.

"So I've got to keep on going..."