Seize The Day
A Declaration by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
Don’t ask to know what is forbidden, Leuconoë: what end
the gods have assigned to you, or to me. Don’t mess
with Babylonian numbers. Better to let happen what will happen.
Jupiter may allot you many more winters — or perhaps this very one,
which breaks the Tyrrhenian Sea on those rough rocks, is your last.
Be wise, drink wine, trim your hopes to fit this short life;
while we chitchat, envious time runs away;
so seize this day, tomorrow may never come.
Horace’s Ode 1.11, a loose translation with a nod to Louis Macneice and AZ Foreman
One of the misuses of astrology is as a distraction from living, as Horace so eloquently explains.
But the use of astrology is to enrich our hours and days, to help us to choose those moments that are most ripe for plucking, and to savour the fruits of time when they are plucked.
As with those who when asked what they are doing would answer nothing. There is no such thing as doing nothing. As with what is being intimated at by your post – there is no such thing as being distracted from living – we cannot help but live.
Generally you may have noticed that to be noted a point of view when expressed is more often than not unbalanced and one sided.
The best we can do is think about the sound of one hand clapping. When we have collected enough points of view like socrates asking questions in the market place you will find that blending all the points of view produces the same result as thinking about the sound of one hand clapping. There is no truth. There is no correct point of view. We need to look beyond what we are doing. The collection will enable this.
I was in a mystical timezone yesterday, but the collection only refers to the collection of different views on life and/or subject. To further clarify, and for the cheap seats at the back (only meant to be jokey) when trying to imagine the sound of one hand clapping and all the ways that this could be done eventually thought ceases. The mind goes blank. In that moment is truth. In that moment is reality. But this can happen with more than concentrating upon the sound of one hand clapping. Hence, collecting as many views and trying to synthesize them into meaning that covers all the views. The mind goes blank. There is some peace. Some truth.
The collection sounds kind of spooky, like something L Ron Hubbard might invent.
What the frack?
What do you mean by ‘The collection’?
I agree Cristina, sometimes we need a reminder about it. Astrology is a beautiful discipline and it can make life richer and bring meaning and color to it, but actually getting about you day and connect with your people and your work and even you body in a meaningful, productive manner is what (at least for me) can feel like, well, living. Eyes on the stars, feet on the ground, they say 🙂