Aloha, PhiloSurfer!
This week we have been arguing from different angles on time & death.
How relevant it is for all of us to understand that we only live once!
Yes, it is a simple idea. And a poignant one.
Facing mortality is one of the most philosophical endeavors anyone can undertake. It’s a necessary system stress check of “your self”:
How do your beliefs, values & thoughts align with the ultimate challenge of knowing that ours is a limited existence?
All of us tend to avoid that system check because it is painful.
- Will it be painful to leave this life?
- How will I be remembered?
- What will be my legacy?
- Is there anything else?
But we all know people whose lives have dramatically changed after being near death.
My confrontation with death happened while I was on a surf trip in Berria, on the North Shore of Spain. I received a devastating call:
“Cousin Pablo has jumped from the sixth floor.”
Talking of “memento mori,” that was a total & very urgent recall:
- We are brought to this planet and given a limited amount of time.
- How much is that amount of time, we don’t know.
- We all, one day or another, will die.
We only know it’s up to us how to use our time. Invest in doing something meaningful out of it.
‘Cos no one has surfed the same wave twice = No one has lived the exact second twice.
So, whatever you’re after, don’t postpone, or you’ll regret that it will be too late.
Tempus fugit.
In Spanish, we have an extremely odd saying:
“Las oportunidades las pintan calvas.”
It is similar to “Strike while the iron is hot.”
But literally, it can be translated as “the opportunities are painted bold.”
Weird, uh?
Of course, there’s an explanation for it. And it’s no other than Greek mythology:
Greeks have 2 gods for time:
Kronos & Kairos, representing Chronological & Personal times.
Kairos is also the personification of opportunity.
(the Roman equivalent of Occasion or Tempus, you know the one that flights)
Kairos only has a lock of hair on his forehead.
So, if you wanna seize the opportunity, if you want to make purpose out of time, you must take Kairos by the hair before it passes.
Otherwise, it will be too late.
And what is another thing that you can only seize from its face and not from its back?
Yes, you’ve got it.
Life & Waves.
Life’s a one-way street.
(Make sure you don’t make it a dead-end street.)
Seize the day.
Just do it.
Paddle, paddle, paddle!
