Voltaire - A Day or Eternity
I came across an interesting passage in a French book that I was reading several months ago. The text, Micromégas, written by Voltaire, was named after a travelling extraterrestrial who traverses the Universe in search of intellectual reward.
Although the story emphasizes differences between the inhabitants of each planet Micromégas visits, the part which influenced me most was the difference of the varying life spans.
Micromégas himself has a life span of 10.5 million years. The Saturnian he meets has one of 1,000. Micromégas mentioned something as they discussed that difference that I would like to quote here:
… to have lived an eternity or to have lived a day amounts to precisely the same thing.
When I first read this line I experienced what's best described as a paradigm shift of the mind. It seems unquestionably true although Voltaire did not present any further information to support his claim.
I was always aching to become older as an 8 year-old boy. I craved the privileges that the adults around me had.
Now I'm older, and those years passed before I could notice.
The only proof that there was time between these two moments is the information gathered along the way.
If Voltaire was trying to say anything, it's that you should gather as many memories as you can.
Image via Ashley Van Haeften
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