Me and My Rocks!
I always have my rocks. I found this one late last fall while working on another Journey Map project. It seemed different and really stood out, so I decided it would need to stay with me instead of going in the project. I carried it around in my pocket and kept it by my bed at night. I didn’t know why, just that I had to have that reminder. Then, in January, when my kids were home from college we went to see the movie Arrival. Have you seen it?? It was probably one of the most powerful movies I’ve seen. All three of us left the theater in stunned silence, tears streaming down our faces. Not that it was sad, but that we each had an odd and overwhelming recognition of a power much larger than this life as we know it. We didn’t speak for most of the ride home. When we did it was unanimous, we had all experienced the same thing. Once we got home, it hit me. I went in the bedroom and got the rock. We laughed because this kind of thing happens all the time for us. We all agreed to its significance but didn’t know exactly why and why me. What a strange connection to a movie, that I still didn’t understand.
Last night I read the short story that the movie is based on and now I know why. Here’s how I know:
“Working with the heptapods changed my life. I met your father and learned heptapod B, both of which make it possible for me to know you now, here on the patio in the moonlight. Eventually, many years from now, I’ll be without your father, and without you. All I will have left from this moment is the heptapod language. So I pay close attention, and note every detail.
From the beginning I knew my destination, and I chose my route accordingly. But am I working toward an extreme of joy, or of pain? Will I achieve a minimum, or a maximum?” -Ted Chiang, Story of Your Life
The heptapods lived in conscious awareness of the entirety of a situation. That’s how they made choices, based on whether they were minimizing an experience or maximizing it. Imagine that before a relationship ever began, you were shown exactly how it would end. In that end, you would experience pain, but the substance of the relationship would bring you immense joy. Would you choose to enter the relationship or would you play it safe and avoid the pain? But, also miss out on the joy. Say you choose to avoid that relationship and wait for one that will last forever. How long will you wait? Will there ever be “The One?” Maybe there’s not “The One.” Maybe life is just a collection of beautiful moments and the choice of maximizing the joy of each.
Are you maximizing or minimizing?
