RE: The Healing of an Addict Pt. 1: Moments of Clarity
Empathy is powerful, moreso than most realise: it not only requires a significant quanta of cognitive function, but also the capacity to comprehend 'self' and 'other' - a feat only possible by executive function and imagination combined in the act of questioning one's own existence, actions, and consequences;
Most lifeforms are not possessed of this capacity and thus live only in a succession of 'nows', triggered by stimuli, responding to immediate needs or threats, bereft of the ability to reflect on past experience or imagine things and events that are yet to be.
Genuine empathy requires genuine experience, counterfeit will not surfice for long. Self evaluation can oft be mercenary in nature, if efficacy of action and acquisition are the primacy of concern. But, sooner or later, the human psyche will grow dissatisfied and crave more, much, much more.
Acknowledgement. Meaningful dialogue, with the self, with others, with reality.
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera irreverently challenges Friedrich Nietzsche's existential postulation that the universe and all events have previously occurred and will recur ad infinitum (a pointless and nihilistic state without free will), instead exploring the very real possibility that each person has only one life to live, and all that occurs in our lives occurs once, and only once, but cannot be known in full until after the fact (hence "lightness") yet nevertheless is full of uniqueness and choice.
Lives have meaning, but only when instilled. It won't be measured in dollars, or accolades. Afterlife will be the memory that lingers, the consequences of actions borne out in the world during and after your time on this stage we call life.
I for one am very glad your verse is genuine, candid, replete with mirth and melody.
A song, for you, one of my most favourite, and one I believe to be one of the most remarkable, at least in philosophy:
Pando, another stanza, if you will...
Thank you so much for your response.
One thing that really stuck out was your reference to Kundera - I read that book on the recommendation of my ex last summer. And while at the time, I didn't fully appreciate it, over time, it started to click and really hit home in certain aspects.
I'm honestly glad that I even have the opportunity to be here, to have the opportunity to truly be the person I know I want to be and am capable of becoming - but only when I'm sober. When I am using, there is no hope for me to bring any sort of "Lightness" into my life.
Substances snuff the candle in my room and leave me in the dark, alone with only my thoughts and twisted memories.
To be here today, to build, grow, and share with everyone, is a gift that I absolutely cherish and do not take for granted.
So thank you, so much, for your kind words, your deep wisdom, and insight, and your level of intelligence. It's refreshing, honestly.
Best wishes my friend,
Panda.
Experiences we don't live through are but stories, whether truth or tale is then subject to argument. History doesn't rhyme, it repeats, and that is why, but it could rhyme, if only we can learn how;
We must continue to live through the same follies again and again, unless we grow from each other's lived experience, a feat only possible if our empathetic fix is of the utmost quality. That in itself is predicated on the quality of both communication and listening skills. Can't receive much if only ever broadcasting, right?
All of your experiences are genuine and useful, each of us has to decide when we've had our fill of those tired old experiences that no longer hold any new learning, and write our verse anew.
Looking forward to reading your next verses.
My Monty Python song would be "Always Look on The Bright Side of Life" lol
Another brilliant offering from MP which I considered using but chose the Galaxy Song specifically for the lyrics and intent. Here's another one.