Super Sonic Elixir Tonic

Do you yearn for a world of simplicity? While I do my best to entertain the notion, often it is to the chagrin of more cosmopolitan types. If given the opportunity, I undoubtedly could pass an entire day on the banks of a flowing river, coffee in hand and unexposed to modernity’s intrusions, contemplating the serenity that abounds. I find comfort, if not clarity, in such solitude, not secluded isolation as some may deem it. People nowadays have an inability to maintain undisturbed stillness for extended periods of time, any external stimuli interrupting them. Perhaps it is the understandable, and assuredly inherent, chaos of their own internal thoughts that cause issues, possibly as a result of those contemporary distractions. At times, I may find myself silently concentrating on a ladybug crawling across a leaf, curious about its thoughts and ideas on its own existence. Perhaps it is our overexposure to those things that detract from observing, let alone appreciating, these solemn occasions against the backdrop of a world evermore drifting away from simplicity.

At the same time, I duly embrace modernity both current and in the near future. We live in a prodigious age, on an amazingly beautiful planet in all of its natural and innovative complexities. Despite the latest talk about fake news and social disengagement - notwithstanding the rose-colored perception that past centuries had neither, gazetteers and tabloid provocateurs having thrived on the former to enhance the latter - humanity is more connected and engaged in various technological ways, particularly social media, than in any generation in history. Unbelievably, we are only on the cusp of such developments, even if in various remote corners of the globe this is not entirely the case. In an instant, we can communicate with each other or travel around the world without leaving the comfort of our homes. While we may lose ourselves - either literally or figuratively - in the infinite possibilities such advancements present from only a keystroke or swipe, we never truly can be lost given the prospects we gain from the real-time interconnectedness achieved thus far. 

As the Irish saying goes, “may you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far.” As a species, humans are complex creatures now evolved to the point of seeking, and especially in need of, uncomplicated answers to labyrinthine questions that may never be candidly forthcoming. If only to persist in the journey of exploring that condition, albeit what may seem a futile, if not fleeting, venture in the grand scheme. If anything, it is quite the opposite. Perhaps it is a tranquil moment in time shared with intimate company as the surrounding world is forgotten, or a nocturnal sojourn imploring the vast cosmos in a world yet again, consistently, on the brink of insanity. None of which and all of which matters, but only if one holds strong to what personally is needed to be believed and felt. To survive. To understand. To live. It can be difficult at times, yet also that simple.

©2017 Steve Sagarra