 Because of the Generations Project, which will be occupying me half-time from October, I have begun reading around the fraught subject of dementia. The current wisdom is that those who sadly suffer from this condition live most really in the present moment. There is little or no connection with anything else. The distant past might come closer and the future holds no meaning, but where the relationship between one time and another has lost significance it is the present moment where they might be engaged best.
All this leads me to wonder how much of life we miss in a world that has its focus firmly on the future and planning for it. I spend too much time sorting my diary and to-do lists, such that the present moment disappears without any significance. I miss things on the tv because I’m too busy looking up what is coming next. I need my holiday photos to enable me to recall and reflect on things that I didn’t give enough time to when they happened. The image here is of a significant occasion – a family wedding. This moment will not occur again and we are keen to capture it. But where is our attention fixed? The screen on our camera or mobile phone! The visual moment might be captured, but we miss out on sharing it there and then. How many of us have been so focussed on catching one piece of action that we miss another that is far more significant?
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These reflections, which are all personal to me, spring from many aspects of human life and experience. In their variety the common thread is the place and action of God, who is present in it all. Archives
December 2019
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