May 6
The salvation of life: to see each thing whole, for what it is — and with one's whole soul to do what is just and speak the truth. What then remains but to enjoy life by joining good to good — so that not even the smallest gap is left between?
Meditations XII.29
Listening mode
The salvation of life: to see each thing whole, for what it is — and with one's whole soul to do what is just and speak the truth. What then remains but to enjoy life by joining good to good — so that not even the smallest gap is left between?
On many days you divide time into two kinds: the kind that has to be dealt with, and the kind that comes afterwards. First the difficult email, the unpleasant conversation, the accounts you want to break down item by item for someone. Then, at last, the evening.
This division is sensible, and some things really can only be endured. But it has a side effect. What you do carefully and honestly ends up on the side of the costs. The life you are waiting for always begins only beyond it. The evening then has to make up for the whole day, and often it doesn't manage to.
Sometimes something shifts without your having planned it. In the difficult conversation you say a sentence that is exactly right. It is neither sharper nor sugar-coated, and the person across from you slowly nods. For a moment this is not the price of something later. It already belongs to what you were waiting for.
The conversation is still unpleasant. Afterwards you go home, and today the evening has a little less to carry.
