29 Mar James Joyce

Posted at 18:41h in Observations by

“History…is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”

The stories we’ve created of our past frame our experiences in the present. While some of our stories are nightmares, others are happy fairy-tales. Our stories are like the children’s game of Chinese whispers; the stories change as we retell them to ourselves and others over time. Often the stories have little relationship with the past facts upon which presumably they are based.

Experiencing the present in the context of our stories doesn’t allow us to experience the present as it is;  truly unique, unlike anything we’ve experienced heretofore. Only by awakening from our sleep-inducing stories can we be present.