To be, to have, to think, to move — which of these verbs is the one you feel most connected to? Or is there another verb that characterizes you better?
”Cogito ergo sum” stated Rene Descartes in order to postulate his existence; ”cogito quod sum et tunc solum sum” one might state in order to postulate his non-existense outside the realm of his thoughts and ideas. Countless human intellects, throughout history, have spent countless idle hours contemplating the nature of being-ness; and rummaging answers to questions as: Is there something? What is it? Why is it? Should it be? And all the like.
Not surprisingly, countless answers have been offered for the aforementioned questions; however none of them has been satisfactorily cohesive; and neither is it likely that any will be in the future; probably because of the ineffable nature of the questions themselves. Thus I deem the preoccupation with them futile; and furthermore detrimental to mental health and stability. I assume that Fyodor Dostoyevsky had something similar in his mind when he once wrote that: thinking is the worst disease of human.
Thinking, being necessary in nature, is not an action we do by choice. And even though some, of the meditation-guru kind, might claim that they are able to utterly clear out their mind of thoughts; I like to see it as a constant flow of energy; cogitative energy let’s say. A ceaseless process taking place within every mind. A process which closely resembles the physical laws, considering it’s necessity and inevitability to be occurring; however it drastically differs from them in respect to the degree of determination governing them. Where universe is governed by a rigid and inert ”thing” of a sort or another; Human mind is governed by free human will; which though it cannot determine the very occurring of thinking, it can in a wide range determine the direction and intensity of it.
So personally, I try to not direct my cogitative energy towards the unraveling of inscrutable mysteries; even though some ferocious, dark nights may lure me, every now and then, into the snare of doing so. Also I must admit that in some cases, for brief periods of time, spending some lazy hours sitting under a tree and staring to the sky for example, contemplating of fundamental questions can be recreational. Anyway, where I do direct it now; could be widely described by the verb: to have.
Understanding the verb ”to have” in it’s broad, linguistic sense; in which one can be said of having: water, food, clothing, housing, wealth, health, intelligence, tranquility, love, et cetera, et cetera; I may say that each one of us (minds), does endeavor to get to have somethings desired, while getting not to have some others undesired. What one may desire or not; and what one one should desire or not; is another subject, which I shall not discuss here.
Also I want to add that the verb ”to be” can be used in an equivalently broad, linguistic sense with the verb ”to have”. As the above given examples of have-able things could be converted as: being satiated, dressed, accommodated, rich, healthy, intelligent, tranquil, in love. I do however prefer to use ”to have”; as it’s notion is not that abstract.
What can be said of being the medium of acquirement of desired-to-have things; would be motion! Motion is what implies space and time. Motion is what brings the universe in existence. Motion is what pervades every occurrence; in universe; and in ourselves as well. We are in constant motion. Weather it is the motion of our body in relation to another piece of matter or the space; or of one part of our body in relation to another; or the race of blood-globules inside our veins; or of electrons slung in mad speed along our nerves; or the rhythmic beats of our hearts; everything is predominantly, before anything else, motion!
Thus, the verb I feel most connected to is the verb ”to move”. Moving is the medium of having. What I want to have the most is new experiences. The more I move, the more I experience. The faster I move, the more enthrallingly I experience. As long as I move, that long I shall be alive. Keep moving! The destination is just the occasion for to travel, not the purpose! I think that is what was in Kavafis’ mind when he instructed Odysseus:
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery
