"The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything"

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. A friend of mine asked a hard question: what makes life worth living? Or in other words: we are born, we live, we die. Is that it?
Being such a hard subject, I couldn’t answer quickly. I have this habit of thinking a lot before answering hard questions. Also, it’s embarrassing, at my age, to not know this already. The problem with the meaning of life is that it is something very personal and it changes over time, like everything does when new data are gathered. I am going to try to find a general answer, though.
Let’s see. The things that matter most in our lives are the things that are there for the duration of our whole life. Such constants are: oneself, others, the Earth, the Universe. Further, I will try to explain why these are the constants, why we should focus on them, and how we should treat other important things as variables, including family, career, passions, and possessions.

Oneself
We must live with ourselves all our life, whether we like it or not. So we better like ourselves, or change into somebody that we like, in order to live happily ever after. But do we really know ourselves that well? To create a healthy life-long relationship, we need a deep understanding of the other person, to be able to love and accept him or her with all their virtues and faults. The same is true of ourselves. We have to understand our body, our mind, and our feelings. If we know how they work, we are able to shape them. Thus, we can prevent, avoid, and diminish pain. Controlling pain leads to less fear. We are in charge now.
It sounds selfish, but it is a simple fact that we are the most important person in our life.

Let’s take some time to know ourselves better.

Others
Our lives depend on others. Here I also include other life forms. We cannot live without them. We ought to treat them like ourselves; that is, learn about them, listen to them and understand them. We can transform hate and indifference into respect and gratefulness. Just look around! Every little thing in our life is produced by something or somebody. There is no way we can make most of these things by ourselves. Isn’t it uplifting knowing that we can cooperate to survive? Cooperation is the only way that everyone can win – without it, someone has to lose. Then why are we threatening other people and other species? Is it because we don’t know, or we are indifferent, or we are scared of the unknown?

Let’s take some time to understand others.

The Earth
I guess you already know why the Earth is important in our life. Yes, it is the only home and spaceship we have. Our lives depend so much on it. Recently, we started to listen to it. Let’s hope we will understand what the Earth is saying before it is too late. It is unlikely that a miracle will happen, so we better prevent further damage. Do we really know what is going on and what can we do to help?

Let’s take some time to learn about our planet.

The Universe
Apparently, there is no “reason” for anything in the Universe, yet, if you look closer, you will find that everything is interconnected. There is a flow of causes and effects, unforeseeable emergence of complexity, ultimately leading to life, so that the Universe can know itself. Knowledge is the new toy, and it will be developed until it reaches the point of a new, unpredictable outcome. On a universal scale, it is very likely that we won’t find out what’s next in the grand scheme of things. Regardless, our purpose is to expand knowledge and limits. We already know a little about the Universe, but the real challenge is to touch it in order to know far more. Maybe our destiny is to reach the stars. We’ve been dreaming for millennia about it. Before leaving home we have to pass the maturity test: can we survive in our own world before trying to survive in a foreign one?

Let’s take some time to dream.

And Everything
Now, that the constants have been described, perhaps you’ve already figured out what the variables are - family, career, passions, possessions, etc. I call them variables because they can come and go, and in many cases there is not much we can do about it. Obviously, if we rely entirely on them, sooner or later we’ll be hurt by loss. Spending some time developing the constants will reduce the impact of variance. For instance, if we know and trust ourselves and others, then shocks like a divorce, or getting fired, or losing wealth, etc. will be less disastrous and recovery will be faster.
Although subject to change, these things are invaluable because they give us the opportunity to experience and discover ourselves and the world. However, we should take care that we do not identify ourselves with the family, career, possessions, etc. A somewhat detached point of view should be maintained so that we control our lives, not the external factors. When they do so, we feel trapped and thorn. Detachment is hard to achieve, but the result is to see things as they are.

Let’s take some time to see our lives from other perspectives.

Our life is a ship sailing on the sea of constants. Variable wind and waves are the events that make the ship struggle, stagnate or go forward full speed. It is up to the captain to make the right decision in order to reach the shore. Is the sea his friend or his enemy?

-- --

After reviewing the text, I realized that this is a super-condensed version of my thoughts and it would take many pages to express my ideas fully. I hope I didn’t jump to conclusions without a good explanation, and in any case, I plan to develop the topic in future posts.

Ghosts and movies

If you are expecting me to talk about movies with ghosts, I tricked you. The truth is that it is just windy, again. So I am thinking that howling and moving curtains looks exactly like people usually describe ghost sights. No wonder that they were seen so often in UK and Ireland. It means that it is not windy but ghosty! ;-)

OK. We do have some movies in the menu, too. I recently saw two good movies: Amazing Grace and Blood Diamond.

I was eager to see Amazing Grace even though the subject looks lame at first. It is about the abolition of slavery. Unappealing, huh? But I read Wilberforce’s story in Wikipedia and it seemed inspiring. My expectations were way surpassed. It is a very well done movie (much, much better than many recent block busters) with well defined characters, very well told story and a good flow in action. Did I use too many “well” and “good” words? I guess I really liked it. Also, it is a movie for the whole family. Guess what: no killings, no violence and no chase scenes!

On the other hand, Blood Diamond has everything. Violence, killing, mutilating, chasing, suspense -- all the ingredients of a modern movie. I found it a little too violent for my taste but after all, this is the reality in Africa. They kill each other for no apparent reason. Of course, leaders are manipulated to play the game of those who want cheap resources. It was even a joke in there: “let’s hope they don’t find oil in Africa”. It is sad, very sad. Apart from the violent side and some very long time-outs in the action to build up drama, the movie tries something good: to make you think (;-) about the nature of people and life under the gun for years and years. It is a story about true events and was made, unfortunately, many years after the conflict was settled.
In conclusion, I didn’t expect much from these movies but they turned out to be very good. Life is full of pleasant surprises (if you don’t count the bad ones)!

adventures in mundania

Moving to Ireland is not one major change -- it's a million little changes.

I could list a few, or a few dozen, and it wouldn't seem like much of a big deal. I mean, does it really matter if the yogurt here has less than 5% protein and is made with whipping cream? Not so much. But when it's *every little thing*, it keeps you perpetually off balance. It's hard to get into a flow state, because flow requires ignoring everything except the one thing you're immersed in. I miss having the real world fade away for hours at a time...

Even things that are the same are different. For example, Xan bought the exact same brand and type of hair colouring she always buys, but discovered that the chemicals and the instructions were completely different. I walk down the aisles of the grocery store, and not even 5% of the brands are familiar. Sometimes it feels like i'm living in a totally foreign country!

We miss a lot of things, it's true. Especially in regard to the extremely healthy diet we had in Canada. Oh what i'd give for a big bowl of 3-colour coleslaw with diced dill pickle and creamy cucumber dressing. I had that almost every single day at home, but *none* of those things exist over here! But then, there are just as many new things that provide ample compensation. Nevertheless, the constant need for learning and adjusting and improving solutions gets to be a bit of a drag after a while. (Listen to the whine of a comfort junkie).

Xan neglected to mention who our first dinner guests were -- the finest of the fine, Aaron and Christine. Our transition would have been thrice as hard without them having already figured out the hardest things.

Mundane things

It’s been a while since I last posted. Darse is to blame. He stole all the hot subjects so I am going to tell you about the dull ones.

During the past days I was busy with mundane things. We bought some office furniture that I had to put together, we received a new leather couch for the living room and I arranged the guest bedroom. I also spent a lot of time looking for things on Internet like where to buy things, ordering some IT stuff and finally, booking my flight for Romania.

Yes, after almost four years, I am going to Romania for a week. It is the second time since we met that we are going to be apart for more than two days. Tough days are heaving at the horizon.

The great news is that (hurray!) we have all our papers issued. It is very funny that Darse has an immigrant card ;-). They didn’t give me one too because I am an EU citizen. We had a very long day because of that. We woke up at 6AM to beat the rush at the office but it turned out that there was no rush at all, at least there wasn’t before 9:30 when we left. It was a very short night, and on top of it, we received a call at 1AM from the Credit Card Company to confirm some shopping that I did yesterday. Crazy!

Sunday we had the first guests since we moved. It was a nice evening with good wine and good talk. I really enjoyed it. It seemed too short, though.

Things are getting even better. Monday I received the treadmill. I can walk and even run for however long I want in spite of the wind and the rain. I strategically positioned it in front of the big window facing the garden and it is like being out there but sheltered from the elements.

Life is very good!

PS: I attached some pictures taken during the New Years Eve in Dublin and Charleville castle.

Dame street, Central Bank



Ceilings in Charleville Castle, Tullamore

have fun stormin da castle

We had an interesting New Year's Eve, attending a formal masquerade ball at Charlesville Castle in the heart of Ireland (www.glimmerball.com).

First we strolled through downtown Dublin, viewing the light displays along Grafton Street (a pedestrian mall near the cultural hub of town), en route to the departure point for the coach. After a 90 minute drive in the dark, finishing with a narrow road through some ancient woods, we arrived outside the walls of the castle. "Yup, that's a castle" i astutely observed. The smell of kerosene torches confirmed that we weren't in Dublin any more.

We quickly determined that the castle was genuine, being rather cold and draughty in areas away from the hearths (soulless corporations like Disney would never allow that!). After checking our coats in the catacombs below, we climbed the stairs toward the grand hall and adjoining parlour rooms.

At least 90% of the guests were decked out in fancy regalia -- we were among the few without costumes or masks. The outfits were fabulous and ornate. All of the costumes fit the theme of the evening (with one notable exception). There were noblemen and gussied-up ladies in beautiful gowns, squires and wenches, wigged lords and mysterious women in red hooded robes. Top-hats and tails, and slinky sequined golden gowns. Feathered masks of black and red were the norm. There were druids and friars and monks, and more than a few pirates and buccaneers (including Captn Jack, and a buxom shameless hussy pirate in red who was my pick for best costume). There were 1920s flappers, and fictional characters from Mary Poppins, Zorro and the Phantom of the Opera who all fit in seamlessly. And then there was one very conspicuous guy wearing... wait for it... a bright red Mr. Incredible suit (complete with fake muscle-padding and flashing insignia). Eesh, he so much did not it get. (But hey, he diverted attention away from the costume-less party-poopers, so there's that).

As great as that sounds, i found it to be rather cold as a social event. Early on, no one was dancing, and there wasn't much mixing -- just a lot of posing. I've never liked poseurs, so i felt a bit out of place, since this was clearly an event designed for poseurs. I found the general attitude of smug superiority to be rather amusing (being entirely smug in my superiority). At $500 per couple, i guess there were a lot of high-falutin self-important people there, many of whom came across as being rather insecure, even desperate. Whatever, i was content to play the role of anthropologist, observing the curious behaviour of the monkey-apes, and their trajectories as they got progressively more liquored-up.

And hooray for the disinhibiting effects of alcohol -- things did indeed warm up as the evening progressed. A subset of the guests exhibited some of that heartfelt down-to-earth friendliness i'd been told about the Irish. One lovely lass struck-up a conversation without any pretense, and upon learning that i was a non-American North American, was delighted to bequeath her native knowledge of the best places to visit in Eire. (The Cliffs of Mohr are a must-see, of course, but i was told of lesser-known unspoiled areas that are at least as impressive).

By midnight the place was rocking. The new year was greeted with a boisterous count-down on the dance floor, followed by bedlam resembling a mosh pit.

Amusingly, the high-light of the event may have been the ride home. In stark contrast to the trip out, the bus was packed to the gills, with singing, laughing, mingling and cavorting. High-spirited would be an understatement, but without anyone getting unruly or out of hand. A bunch of people disembarked at near-by Tullamore, and the din gradually diminished down to silent slumbering. Dublin was still hopping with people and taxis, and it was about 5:30 AM when we finally arrived home.

All in all, it was a novel experience that we enjoyed, but wouldn't necessarily do again anytime soon.