At this time of year with exams and the holidays looming in the future, being mindful is practically impossible. I can barely go an entire two seconds without rattling off the assignments that I have yet to do, and then stressing about how I am going to do said assignments in a timely manner. Essentially, that means that I life completely in the future. Unfortunately, living in the future does not allow me to make time to sit and focus on being in the present. Obviously this is still something that I have to work on, and I have no doubt that I will speed a lifetime being more mindful. I just so happens that I am still not there yet, and I have a long ways to go.
On that note, I found some inspiration to live in the moment in a relatively unexpected place. This week, along with The Dancing Wu Li Masters, I started reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. There is a thread in the plot line regarding the main character in which he visits another planets and communicates with extraterrestrials called Tralfamadorians. The moment the man steps on the space ship, he is inclined to ask as to why the aliens had chosen him to enter their world. The aliens reply, "'That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is" (Vonnegut 97).
I find that I am constantly asking questions, which means I am not focusing on whatever it is I'm doing. I am however focusing on what I am about to do. I find that this quote seems to express something which goes against the study of physics and at the same time, is what the study of physics is all about. Here we go again with the paradoxes. First of all, there would be no such thing as physics because the goal of physics is to study how the world and universe around us works. We have to ask questions in order to get answers. However, sometimes questions can get in the way of observing. Scientists are essentially asking what is going to happen next? They aren't asking about what is happening right now? Hypotheses and theories try to predict and explain patterns, things which will happen again and again, but does that necessarily mean that that thing is happening right now? Something to think about.
