The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr, 2011)
It's easy to confuse the goal with the journey. We're all busy going somewhere, and doing something. But the journey and the activity are not perceived as being of as much importance as the goal. But what is the goal?
When I'm going to work, I'm going to work. And when I'm at work, I'm working. But what's the goal to all this?
Some people would posit something like 'quality of life'. Some would say 'the impact you make on the world'. Some would say 'the love of those around you'. These are all noble. But while it's true that these are important, it may be pertinent to remember that the goal for all of us, the final place of arrival, is death.
Life wears away at you, as the sea erodes the rockface, until there are no more journeys. No more activities. Yet we remain, for the most part, unaware of this. Possibly because life moves so slowly. You watch your children grow, the flowers in the garden tease their way out of the soil, but don't notice the large change that occurs as it happens so gradually. Change is hidden.
Part of the hiding process involves routine: the routines that we all fall into. I, for example, eat toast, sugar coffee, and wash my face in the same way. I take coins from my pocket and flip them over as I count them, always in the same way. Every time. Whether I notice it or not. The steadfast habits that we build up in the routine give the impression of that which is not being worn away. Something impervious to change.
But to believe this would be to believe a lie.
All good and well, but what do we do with this knowledge? Well, in general we do nothing. There is food to be prepared and eaten, doors to be opened and closed, clothes to be put on, taken off, put on, and taken off. The routine builds from necessity, and hides the erosion, despite our awareness of it.
But as we move through these routines we can consider the big lie, and postulate questions, asking ourselves which is a preferable position for humanity: that we acquire and then debase, or that we debase and then acquire?