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Frontiers of Possibility

The well-known poet, Rilke once said, “Being here is so much.” I agree, it really, really is. However, the human condition crowds out the frequency of which most of us reflect on those five significant words.

The traditional structures of family, parenting, community, and communication have become increasingly unsure. We lose sight of the reliable presence and repetitions of the stars, sun, moon, and seasons. Our lives become predictable, and our behaviors become routine and mindless. We lose ourselves in the daily mechanical functioning of our lives. We take the same route to the office each day; we park in the same parking spot, we eat our meals at the same time and often eat the same thing over and over again, we interact with friends and colleagues with little presence or creativity, and we rarely step out of our comfort zone. We begin to develop patterns of thinking which render us incapable of feeling or thinking with any authenticity and refinement. We have handed much of our daily living over to Smartphones, busyness, and mindless consumption. And all of this is why Rilke’s quote goes unexamined.

Don’t Wait For Tragedy

Alas, it is only when something throws a wrench into our drone-like existence that we wake up to the fact that ‘Being here is so much.’ It is the diagnosis of a terminal illness, the unexpected death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or some other sudden disruption of our comfort and familiarity that awakens us to