Arnold wrote:
>Or perhaps it’s too dark for you to “remember” as much of the journey - without
>visible landmarks you may spend more time on autopilot. Or both.
Arnold, I believe, is the closest. If you’ve ever been to walt disney world
and ridden on space mountain you’ve experienced the same illusion. The ride
begins with the cars going into a long tube. All around the tube are lights
streaming past you very rapidly, wind blowing in your face, sound effects
added so that one gets the impression that you are going very, very fast. In
actuality, the car is moving VERY slowly. The distorted surrounding has
created the illusion of speed.
Riding in the dark is sort of like this. You’re pedalling hard. The wind is in
your face, the surrounding is not as clear as in the day. It is very easy for
your mind to be convinced that you are going faster than you actually are.
Now if speed isn’t the sensation you’re feeling, then perhaps it is the overall
time spent on the ride. Let’s think about this. What makes a trip seem long? I
think seeing a goal way up ahead of you and then constantly striving to reach
that goal is a lot of work. Let’s say a stop sign 1/2 mile away. There is a
significant amount of time that you are focussing on reaching that goal but in
the meantime, you are “unfullfilled” - not focussing on where you are but where
you want to be. In the night time, landmarks, etc get blurred or even removed.
You find it difficult to focus on far off matters so you just focus on the
present. You focus on where you are. Heck, you may not even focuss - you just
ride and live. No thought about where you’ve been. No thought about where you’re
going. Just where you are. You have arrived - at each moment you are arriving.
When your mind is focussed on the present, there’s no time to worry. There is no
worry. Just ride. Just live. Time just flies because you’re not counting minutes
and hours.
I suppose life is like that. Many of us when we’re young focus on the future.
How we’re going to live. When we age, often times one dwells on the past - what
we’ve done and where we’ve been. But those of us who live, who really live,
realize that yesterday is gone and tomorrow never comes. We live now. Now is all
we have. We are in a constant state of amazement. We live life to the fullest.
Now look, I’ve gotten carried away. Well, that was my theory. Carpe Diem, y’all.
Brian “Socrates” Berlin Austin, TX