Kairos; more on kairosis in a future episode, because; acausal connecting principle!*
Dear Y'all,
I was at a party, and you know, I got asked that awkward question from the Trader Joe's checkout line: What are you doing this weekend? Trader Joe's associates put it in a little more contemporary language, like, "what are you up to today?" Or, "have anything good planned for your weekend?" Anyway, you know what a sudden and precipitous fall into a slippery sided and deep well this question is. My mind goes frantic looking for something appropriate to reply; a lie even, anything. Ideally something that makes me sound cultured, intelligent, interesting, fun, and generally a person with Important Things to Do and Places to Be. And, you know, I am not. I am actually kind of dithering, pottering, puttering, and loafing, like I love to do.
Well. You can imagine! And this is why I love you so, you would never ask me such an existential crisis of a question, but, sometimes, even people you like ask this question, mostly out of awkwardness, I suspect. I find myself often talking in these weird cipher phrases, kind of on autopilot, with my mouth forming inanities just as fast as jiminy. But, that isn't important right now; what is important is that I got asked this question at a party, and so I looked to my mind for help, and all I could do, because I'd been reading a book for most of the day, was to sort of describe the place my mind still was, the world of the book. I am pretty sure I sounded geeky, and not in a cute way; I think I also probably sounded snobby, and bewitched; and of course, of course, I sounded old, because I am.
The book, oh, yes, it was good! A delight. It made me see things I thought I had witnessed from sides I didn't know there were, and really, is there anything better than that? A deepening of understanding of events, humanity, and your very own personal self? So, let me try again with that dread question: What did I do today? I read an amazing thing that put all these little instances, all these small talks, into a massive tapestry of story and being, golden threads pulled me here and there, and time was at my command; I could look right or left, or travel up or down, and the field went on forever. There were old friends, and old times, and old ideas, all sitting around waiting to gab with me, to sit close in the sun and watch the day go on. How about you?
* At the very same time as I was writing to you here, another of the Dodo's esteemed readers was pressing the big Donate button! As clear an acausal connecting principle as any, but, I suppose, in truth it could be explained by chance, too. But, oh pshh, chance is for children's games and fortune tellers; our lives must be a teeny tiny bit more than just that? Oh, and I almost forgot: Here's Where the Story Ends.
