Four Thousand Weeks
This is a great book I just read. I recommend you get a copy. I will wait.
OK. Now I usually devour books but this one demanded more care in the reading. After each section, I would close the book and digest a little, reflecting on the philosophical thoughts introduced therein.
Finite Time
Oliver Burkeman’s provocative title alludes to the fact that the human life is extremely finite. 4000 weeks is 77 years, which is a generous estimate of how many years we have available with enough autonomy to choose our path. At the core of the book lies the same idea which underpins the teachings of mindfulness and meditation. The only time you have is now. You cannot count on anything in the future.
You yourself are very ordinary and just a small part in the great universe that surrounds us. There are more things in the world that you will want to accomplish than you will possibly be able to. The sooner you acknowledge and surrender to this, the sooner you can give up striving towards some future now and start living your real life in the now this is right here.
Infinite Possibility
Most people can acknowledge that there are things we give up when we choose certain paths. You might be able to be an Olympic athlete in two sports but likely not three and certainly not all. You are unlikely to be a recognized author in multiple fields and genres. You achieve the most when you stay on a chosen path and keep persisting, materially, in the face of distraction and the attraction of shiny new paths. But, no matter how you persist, you are unlikely to be a truly significant historical figure.
Often, people who realize the above truths turn towards self development. This is important, meaningful and necessary work, but it can lead one to think that one can be in control of one’s life. This is false.
This Moment
If you want to be free from striving and start living in this moment, you will need to acknowledge that you will not always show up the way you want to in all of the myriad roles you participate in. You cannot always act as the person, parent, partner, friend, child, sibling, employee or employer you would ideally want to. And placing pressure on yourself to achieve this will just perpetuate a cycle of unrealistic goals, failure to achieve them, self recrimination and thus separation of yourself from the universe.
Natural criticisms of this idea will focus on why you should endure any delayed gratification, for example in service of higher education, a job promotion, parenting or a goal larger than your own lifetime such as tackling climate change. I intend to address these criticisms in later posts.
Emotional Response
If you really take the time to think about this – that we each have finite time, specifically only this current moment, that we each have infinite desires, and that we suffer until we accept this discrepancy – you will likely have an emotional response. I encourage you to feel those feelings, as long as you need to, as intensely as you need to, as often as you need to.
TL;DR
The only moment you have is now. Living and acting in accordance with your values is important but not because you will achieve something. Surrender to time and start living.