Three beautiful meditations, Kate! But the one that especially sticks with me is of your playing with your child, and how badly you want to hold on to the moment - how we all want these moments to last forever. I want to say with complete certainty that your son may not remember that specific moment, but he will remember some, and most importantly, he will remember how much love his mom gave him when he was a kid, and will cherish it. 💛⭐💛
A beautiful reflection, there’s this idea of cognitive reserve in psycho-biology and essentially that the rich and complex environments that caregiving to children brings (noisy/messy in my case!) might lead to higher levels of cognitive reserve in later life. Your writing made me think in response to ‘Does it still matter? Is it still worth it? If the passing of time erases this moment’ that these moments and memories are like transparent building blocks for the future!
There’s also evidence that mums pay attention to memory , it’s more salient for them because memory ability changes throughout the pregnancy and post partum stages, which is curious for the way we think about memory more generally perhaps?
Stunning, beautiful, an entirely *present* read, Kate. So many things I'd like to quote.
I think I needed this one this morning. I've been entirely devoid of the "now" this last week or so and living in a constant rush of what needs to be done "next".
Thank you for slowing me down for a few moments and reminding me of the importance of the present.
"We love it and it goes. It goes somewhere invisible, undocumented and often forgotten."
I quit skiing in favour of snowboarding, never looked back, but, yes, perfect description. Ah, I have to go to the mountains again soon, it has been too long! All moments count, even if not remembered, everything adds, moment by moment, and some will resurface at the unlikeliest of moments. It's interesting, I, too, am reflecting on my writing on Substack specifically and what I want to focus on next, because time, we never have enough of it.
Thanks Kathleen for getting me to think more about this topic. When we experience time differently, I think we only realize it in hindsight. So, while skiing, when you're in "the zone" so that you're not really aware of time, it's only when you're done that you recognize that hours have passed. It is sweet indeed to be relieved of time's tyranny.
I think that memory is not only a case of recalling an event - it can build within us in subtler ways. In the example you give, you or your son may not remember one specific activity you enjoyed together on any given day, but it creates one tiny addition to the bond you are building, so in this sense it qualifies as a "memory" - you both know you love each other a little more even if you don't remember why! Instinctively he has the right idea..."let's just play!"
I am most "present" when I write. This is the time when I achieve the focus that means I am released from any other concerns or anxieties. Perhaps it is our diminishing ability to live in the present as children do that makes us feel as if that time speeds up as we age.
I once stood at the top of the Olympic ski jump in Innsbruck and I just thought that anyone who flings themselves off the top of that has to be insane! 😄
Thanks for your piece on Being & Becoming. I'd add Wittgenstein to the mix. His writing is dry and largely incomprehensible, but he's also far out there in his thoughts on consciousness, particularly in language/linguistics and I'd say more relevant than ever in the AI present. Heidegger is another, though discredited for his inaction/collusion with the Nazis during his tenure at Frieberg. Being and Time is a monstrous undertaking to read in isolation, but taken as part of the long road of Idealist philosophy and as a reworking of the standard western Christiantiy, it can be a great stimulus. His central idea is as simple as it gets. He calls consciousness (in German) 'Being thrown out of Being into Becoming' or as you might see it Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise. Another important thread running through modern philosophy, is the idea of authenticity, of being authentic, which might be interpreted as being naturally who you are, a little like the notion of grace in Chistianity, or being free of 'persona', which is the socially constructed identity. I've always been taken with the huge difference between me alone, and me with others. Alone, I'm quite melancholy and much more serious. In public I'm funny and optimistic, and often actually feel that way! I can't square that circle... I've written stories and novels (largely unsuccessfully in terms of publishing or earning a living from it) most of my adult life. If I don't write I become depressed. I think this is because only when I'm writing can I make use of my experience, reflection and learning, not to mention the writers I've read. Put another way, writing is pure solipsism, me and my arcane, alchemical mind having a private time of it away from the discourse of the everyday (Heidegger's a key influence here as well). The influence writers have on consciousness is a remarkable thing. Consciousness might easily be called Interpretation of Reality. Reading great writers in youth and young adulthood, though I don't rule out Stephen King or Philip K. Dick or many other 'genre' writers, is going to permanently alter your consciousness. The influence of, oh god the Russians full stop: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Pushkin, Gogol, Bulgakov, and on and on (I appreciate I'm a bit bloke-ish), but then Russia had a Writers Institute like no other state on earth, and prized writing so highly. But back to your (I hope) main point; I've been doing Transcendental Meditation for a short while, and though a western cynic struggling with Eastern mysticism, it has been immediately beneficial. The method is simple (though no doubt it can be dived into and would become subtle and complex), unlike trying to become a Buddhist and adopting a vast panoply of ideas, or Mindfulness which is terribly empty (no pun intended). The mystic element is Brahma, pure consciousness infinite, unbounded, within which everything is. This aligns with the most modern theoretical physics (atomic and quantum). Brahma is within, might be the mantra. Apologies for the lack of coherence here.
Thanks as always DKW! Finally catching up on newsletters today and I’m enamored by so many writers on this platform and your beautiful meditations. I’m reminded that those Ansel Adams-esk images are not just pieces of simulacra to be catalogued by photographs or watched like a BANFF film festival entry or a Warren Miller movie, but physical settings of our own stories. Im assuming that the “pen’s ink gliding onto smooth paper” is not just a metaphor. Recently, ive been shifting to exploring alternative mediums for writing, as well as locations, to spur on new creative outputs, especially as the weather in New England shifts into spring. Thanks again!
I really enjoyed this three-part essay, Kate. I want to call it the most European thing I've read from you so far. I don't really know what I mean, but I know it's a good thing. 😊
I find that there's a space between reading and writing where I find myself most "present". Perhaps there's something about the losses and gains in transfer when I write about what I read, the churn of thought, that contributes to that.
I also feel present, in perhaps a different way, when standing in my local botanical gardens, where the trees are in charge and humans go to pay their respects.
Kate, I really enjoyed reading this as it got me thinking on a number of things. In the first part where you talk about your skiing experience my thoughts saw this as a metaphor for anything in our life where risk, dedication, commitment, training, love, etc... are combined. How often do we find ourselves on that precipice, peeking over the edge, knowing the risk involved while also anticipating the reward? The first time we take that leap into the unknown could be frightening but with time we gain confidence and knowledge and experience. How easy it might be to never approach that edge, to stay on the safe flat ground. But all the wonder and thrill and reward happens when we slip over the edge into the exhilaration of the unknown.
Three beautiful meditations, Kate! But the one that especially sticks with me is of your playing with your child, and how badly you want to hold on to the moment - how we all want these moments to last forever. I want to say with complete certainty that your son may not remember that specific moment, but he will remember some, and most importantly, he will remember how much love his mom gave him when he was a kid, and will cherish it. 💛⭐💛
A beautiful reflection, there’s this idea of cognitive reserve in psycho-biology and essentially that the rich and complex environments that caregiving to children brings (noisy/messy in my case!) might lead to higher levels of cognitive reserve in later life. Your writing made me think in response to ‘Does it still matter? Is it still worth it? If the passing of time erases this moment’ that these moments and memories are like transparent building blocks for the future!
There’s also evidence that mums pay attention to memory , it’s more salient for them because memory ability changes throughout the pregnancy and post partum stages, which is curious for the way we think about memory more generally perhaps?
Stunning, beautiful, an entirely *present* read, Kate. So many things I'd like to quote.
I think I needed this one this morning. I've been entirely devoid of the "now" this last week or so and living in a constant rush of what needs to be done "next".
Thank you for slowing me down for a few moments and reminding me of the importance of the present.
"We love it and it goes. It goes somewhere invisible, undocumented and often forgotten."
I quit skiing in favour of snowboarding, never looked back, but, yes, perfect description. Ah, I have to go to the mountains again soon, it has been too long! All moments count, even if not remembered, everything adds, moment by moment, and some will resurface at the unlikeliest of moments. It's interesting, I, too, am reflecting on my writing on Substack specifically and what I want to focus on next, because time, we never have enough of it.
Thanks Kathleen for getting me to think more about this topic. When we experience time differently, I think we only realize it in hindsight. So, while skiing, when you're in "the zone" so that you're not really aware of time, it's only when you're done that you recognize that hours have passed. It is sweet indeed to be relieved of time's tyranny.
I think that memory is not only a case of recalling an event - it can build within us in subtler ways. In the example you give, you or your son may not remember one specific activity you enjoyed together on any given day, but it creates one tiny addition to the bond you are building, so in this sense it qualifies as a "memory" - you both know you love each other a little more even if you don't remember why! Instinctively he has the right idea..."let's just play!"
I am most "present" when I write. This is the time when I achieve the focus that means I am released from any other concerns or anxieties. Perhaps it is our diminishing ability to live in the present as children do that makes us feel as if that time speeds up as we age.
I once stood at the top of the Olympic ski jump in Innsbruck and I just thought that anyone who flings themselves off the top of that has to be insane! 😄
Lovely piece, Kate. Thank you.
Thanks for your piece on Being & Becoming. I'd add Wittgenstein to the mix. His writing is dry and largely incomprehensible, but he's also far out there in his thoughts on consciousness, particularly in language/linguistics and I'd say more relevant than ever in the AI present. Heidegger is another, though discredited for his inaction/collusion with the Nazis during his tenure at Frieberg. Being and Time is a monstrous undertaking to read in isolation, but taken as part of the long road of Idealist philosophy and as a reworking of the standard western Christiantiy, it can be a great stimulus. His central idea is as simple as it gets. He calls consciousness (in German) 'Being thrown out of Being into Becoming' or as you might see it Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise. Another important thread running through modern philosophy, is the idea of authenticity, of being authentic, which might be interpreted as being naturally who you are, a little like the notion of grace in Chistianity, or being free of 'persona', which is the socially constructed identity. I've always been taken with the huge difference between me alone, and me with others. Alone, I'm quite melancholy and much more serious. In public I'm funny and optimistic, and often actually feel that way! I can't square that circle... I've written stories and novels (largely unsuccessfully in terms of publishing or earning a living from it) most of my adult life. If I don't write I become depressed. I think this is because only when I'm writing can I make use of my experience, reflection and learning, not to mention the writers I've read. Put another way, writing is pure solipsism, me and my arcane, alchemical mind having a private time of it away from the discourse of the everyday (Heidegger's a key influence here as well). The influence writers have on consciousness is a remarkable thing. Consciousness might easily be called Interpretation of Reality. Reading great writers in youth and young adulthood, though I don't rule out Stephen King or Philip K. Dick or many other 'genre' writers, is going to permanently alter your consciousness. The influence of, oh god the Russians full stop: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Pushkin, Gogol, Bulgakov, and on and on (I appreciate I'm a bit bloke-ish), but then Russia had a Writers Institute like no other state on earth, and prized writing so highly. But back to your (I hope) main point; I've been doing Transcendental Meditation for a short while, and though a western cynic struggling with Eastern mysticism, it has been immediately beneficial. The method is simple (though no doubt it can be dived into and would become subtle and complex), unlike trying to become a Buddhist and adopting a vast panoply of ideas, or Mindfulness which is terribly empty (no pun intended). The mystic element is Brahma, pure consciousness infinite, unbounded, within which everything is. This aligns with the most modern theoretical physics (atomic and quantum). Brahma is within, might be the mantra. Apologies for the lack of coherence here.
Thanks as always DKW! Finally catching up on newsletters today and I’m enamored by so many writers on this platform and your beautiful meditations. I’m reminded that those Ansel Adams-esk images are not just pieces of simulacra to be catalogued by photographs or watched like a BANFF film festival entry or a Warren Miller movie, but physical settings of our own stories. Im assuming that the “pen’s ink gliding onto smooth paper” is not just a metaphor. Recently, ive been shifting to exploring alternative mediums for writing, as well as locations, to spur on new creative outputs, especially as the weather in New England shifts into spring. Thanks again!
I really enjoyed this three-part essay, Kate. I want to call it the most European thing I've read from you so far. I don't really know what I mean, but I know it's a good thing. 😊
I find that there's a space between reading and writing where I find myself most "present". Perhaps there's something about the losses and gains in transfer when I write about what I read, the churn of thought, that contributes to that.
I also feel present, in perhaps a different way, when standing in my local botanical gardens, where the trees are in charge and humans go to pay their respects.
Beautiful writing
Skiing. What a perfect vehicle for exploring the present. This was wonderful.
Kate, I really enjoyed reading this as it got me thinking on a number of things. In the first part where you talk about your skiing experience my thoughts saw this as a metaphor for anything in our life where risk, dedication, commitment, training, love, etc... are combined. How often do we find ourselves on that precipice, peeking over the edge, knowing the risk involved while also anticipating the reward? The first time we take that leap into the unknown could be frightening but with time we gain confidence and knowledge and experience. How easy it might be to never approach that edge, to stay on the safe flat ground. But all the wonder and thrill and reward happens when we slip over the edge into the exhilaration of the unknown.