Presence vs Knowledge
I saw a wonderful quote on X yesterday, fittingly I can’t find it or remember the user, but it went something like, “Maybe the reason why our childhood was full of wonder is because we were fully present for it”. After school snack was a 5-star meal and any piles of sticks were mountains to climb. Yes, our imaginations ran wild, but maybe that is one of the beautiful outcomes of being fully present in the moment- you are able to immerse yourself fully. The same feeling you get when you read an amazing book, or your favorite song comes on, or you cuddle up to a loved one- a feeling like the world outside is far, far away and all that matters is the here and now.
Connecting with my previous blog post about the tyranny of email, maybe this is the most pernicious impact of the encroachment of knowledge and immediacy through technology in our lives- the removal of our soul from the present. Going a bit biblical, Adam and Eve were happy in the Garden of Eden until eating of the Tree of Knowledge and then were made aware of their own “inadequacies”. Think about in your own life, does more knowledge make you happier or unhappier? Take a look at the graph below that has been rocketing around the internet (which was apart of this very thought-provoking article by the below author.
Now, for anyone that does not know me personally, I am pretty darn far from an anti-intellectual. Just one look through the different blog subjects proves that. However, I struggle as much as anyone with anxiety over things that I cannot control. And in many cases, the search for knowledge can provide the false impression that I “can” control these things out of my control, and therefore drags me back into the cycle where I am the furthest thing from present.
To those of you who are curious, I will leave you with a quote that has really stuck with me recently.
"There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will." -Epicetus
Sounds a lot like childhood bliss to me….