Sunday Thoughts 💭

    Sunday Funday.

    Let’s celebrate. Another week in the books. What did you do this week to make it count? What did you do to earn the completion of week 3 of 2024? Was it something amazing? Something incredible? Did you grind your way to the top, every single day? Or was it more of the same-old, same-old? Did nothing change from your year before? Time is such a weird concept. One minute it’s here, the next it’s gone. No pun intended. One year is here, the next it’s gone. One decade. One generation. One lifetime. Time, constantly flowing forward, regardless of what you say or do. In the grand scheme of things, Time, can be viewed as the true enemy. The true enemy of life, the true enemy of love, the true enemy of torture. No matter what you say or do, everything eventually turns into dust in the wind, lost within the fabric of Time.

    See, the irony with Time is that without it, we would mean nothing. What purpose could one hold, if we were to live forever? How could anything we ever accomplish or achieve, be worth anything at all? Time. The ultimate contradiction. We spend our entire lives, chasing it. We run after it, doing all that we can within our power, to hold on just a little longer. We work our whole lives, wasting Time away, just to reach a point where we wish we could have it back. Spend all our money, all our resources, trying to reverse the hands of Time. New car, to replace the old one. New house. New skin. New partner. New, new, new. It’s a never-ending rat race, where we do our best to simply beat the clock. Yet we never truly do, do we? We never truly end up victorious, in the great battle versus Time. Time has a way of humbling us. A way of defeating even the most stubborn souls. It beats us, it bruises us, it even bleeds us down to our very core. Old man, take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you were. Out of every single individual who has ever gone up against Time, all have failed. All have been laid to rest, turning bones into dust. We struggle against the flow of Time, looking for a way to swim against the current. Looking for a trick, a shortcut, where we can manipulate it just to have a few more precious seconds. Every single thing we do, we do against it. Yet it remains undefeated none the less. It beats us all, within Time. Perhaps we simply look at it in the wrong light? Perhaps we simply do not fully understand what it is we’re trying to do? Perhaps, it’s we, the people, who are confused- not Time. For what purpose could ones life have, if it weren’t for the very flow of which we are trapped in? I often think about that. Much like 300, where King Leonidas looks upon the hunched-back traitor, who lead the Persian army thru the goat path to surround them. He points directly at the servant of evil, and wishes him the power to live forever. To defeat Time itself, and become an immortal, trapped within the flow of things. When I first heard that sentence, it did not strike me as important. In fact, it probably went right over my head. But as Time continued to bash down on me, as it continued to flow thru my veins, and beat me senseless- I finally understood what he meant. To live forever, one of the greatest curses to be uttered. Every single day, to wake up, and experience the same things, over and over again. To feel new pain, new suffering, new challenges. To constantly be faced with the blistering sun, the dry earth, the piercing winds. To fight against the very elements, the very body, the very hands of death himself. Forever, something which we all have talked about, coming out of the shadows to face us once more. The never-ending battle between man and Time. I don’t believe in it anymore. I don’t believe in pursuing forever. If you were given the opportunity to live forever, would you take it? Would you snatch up the ability to postpone your own life, in order to defeat the final enemy? 

    What purpose can an endless life truly hold? One where everything and everyone lives on forever. If you told me that I had until forever to accomplish my goals, what urgency would I have? Why wake up early? Why even get out of bed? Why would you do anything, ever? Forever, in retrospect, sounds more like a curse than anything. There are very few things I can imagine in my life which I would wish to do forever. Very few activities, very few exercises, very few conversations. In fact, most of them I do with the precipice that they are not forever. Riding my bike, working out, playing sports. All of these, require tremendous effort and suffering. Why would I wish to partake in them, were they to last forever? How can one push themselves beyond their limits, beyond their own borders, if they have forever? The contradictions and mental capacity of our own will would be broken down into nothingness. Forever would allow us the false sense of security, believing that we can do whatever it is we please, at whatever pace we choose. Would Death even exist at that point? Would it truly wait around for us, at the end of the journey, hoping we would slowly accept the inevitable? Or would it move on itself, knowing the true value of Time? Would Death grow bored of his own suffering, and find a greater purpose instead?

    Another line which resonates is from the movie Troy, where Achilles speaks to his younger cousin. He tells him that the Gods which they worship, envy them, the humans. They envy them because they hold purpose, they hold death in their own timeline. Something which is an extremely profound observation. Would the Gods truly envy mere mortal men? All I know is that if I unlocked the power to live forever, I certainly would. Watching lesser forms of life, willing to suffer and sacrifice all it is that they have to their name, in order to achieve something for a short period of time. The very battle of Troy echoed this exact sentiment. For before Achilles left for battle, he consulted his mother, the oracle. She told him that if he stayed where he was, he would be remembered by his children, and his children’s children. Three generations, until eventually, his name would turn to dust and drift into the wind. The sands of Time would claim him, and everything which he held dear. Everybody he had ever known, everything he had ever accomplished. Or, as he was told, he could ride into battle. He could sail the Aegean to conquer Troy. And there, he would find his fate. His destiny. The ability to withstand the sands of Time, and live forever. Achilles chose to battle against the sands of Time, and do everything within his power. He fought for many years in a gruesome war, which lasted for roughly a decade. Countless lives were lost, all which have been returned to dust within the very earth for where they came from. Yet here we are, thousands of years since the event, continuing to speak upon Achilles and his name. A true warrior, a true force of nature. One, which has withstood the sands of Time until this very day. Yet even the mighty Achilles, will eventually fall. One day, his story and memories of a lifetime past, will come to an end. One day, the last remaining individual who remembered his story, will come to pass. How many other heroes are there like Achilles? How many other Kings who fought like Leonidas? How many other great men, powerful conquerors, ruled with an iron fist, who were promised to last forever? Every single one of them, one by one, fall like dominoes. No matter what they achieve, or what they accomplish, their names and stories become nothing more than distant memories. Distant memories, until one day, they become nothing at all. Nothing, Nobody. Would they have achieved all there was to achieve if they knew they had Forever to achieve it? Would Achilles had gone to war, if he knew that there would be other opportunities ahead of him? Would Leonidas have sacrificed himself if he knew there would be many more years to come?

                                I don’t believe sacrifice is possible, without the knowledge of Death. 

    What purpose can one hold, if one knows that Time is forever? What can cause a man to push further, dig deeper, stand taller, if he does not understand that Time is the ultimate Death? The ultimate enemy, who patiently waits at the end of the tunnel. The longest journey, walked thru the longest road, only to come face to face with the inevitable. I don’t mind that tale. I don’t mind knowing that no matter how hard I try, I will eventually come face to face with it. I understand that Time is the ultimate enemy. Time will consume me and all that I love. Time may bend and twist, may manipulate and waver, but Time will never stop. It will never rest. It will continue forward, with or without permission. Time is the unstoppable truth which we must all come to face.

                    Amen.