Jul 10·edited Jul 10Liked by Jennifer Michael Hecht
I think that for some people (including me) there is a galvanising effect to thinking that we are at the end of things. (The world, our times, something something, zeitgeist...) Or at least, I think that the feeling of 'fuck it, nothing matters any more' can be harnessed as a freeing influence. For me the Pandemic caused me to relinquish my obsession with the future- 'posterity'- and to try to communicate now, in an 'If not now, when? If not me, who?' kind of way.
But I think you are also right. Time continues. Although time for each of us individually does stop, and we don't know when. (It tolls for thee etc.) So we have to work with both continuing and ending in mind.
That's really interesting. I think the end times idea does feel both good and bad for the reasons you say here, and we do have to process our pain over all that we are losing, but the whole community does best when people are invested. I also worry people will look back and feel they checked out during this time, and wish they hadn't. But I'm all for finding freedom in remembering death. Thanks for commenting!
I think that for some people (including me) there is a galvanising effect to thinking that we are at the end of things. (The world, our times, something something, zeitgeist...) Or at least, I think that the feeling of 'fuck it, nothing matters any more' can be harnessed as a freeing influence. For me the Pandemic caused me to relinquish my obsession with the future- 'posterity'- and to try to communicate now, in an 'If not now, when? If not me, who?' kind of way.
(I wrote about it here, in what became my most popular post: https://rosiewhinray.substack.com/p/on-being-galvanised-not-paralysed )
But I think you are also right. Time continues. Although time for each of us individually does stop, and we don't know when. (It tolls for thee etc.) So we have to work with both continuing and ending in mind.
That's really interesting. I think the end times idea does feel both good and bad for the reasons you say here, and we do have to process our pain over all that we are losing, but the whole community does best when people are invested. I also worry people will look back and feel they checked out during this time, and wish they hadn't. But I'm all for finding freedom in remembering death. Thanks for commenting!