I see ‘em!

and that which is done is that which shall be done:

and there is no new thing under the sun.

It is an ache to remember our first years. I remember entering NIE with fresh eyes and really enjoyed what I was doing there. It was the most meaningful period of my life studying. Yes, no typo there man, so stop sniggering.

Now into the third year, my first week was quite a nightmare as I somehow couldn’t retrieve the extra spring in my step. Perhaps this dilemma has often been faced by many a man, finding the paths already trodden, and the lands of promise discovered. There was nothing new to be awed by.

This brings to mind an article that all the greatest discoveries of science have been found, and that the remaining scientists are scrapping at the barrel. Is this true? What else is there to motivate in the field, what place to take that’s new?

In literature or the arts I believe there is the same scenario. Studying literature, the same patterns seem to be turning up, like the dates of a calendar. Its the same story just a different time.

Harold Bloom, some prof at Yale or something wrote about the anxiety of influence, how everything new is produced under the shadow of something else, its father. Can we never step out from under the light? Is the self condemned to repeat others before itself? I’ve also written an essay on this called ‘Heavy History’, how we carry the knowledge of before and how it influences. But does it matter all that much?

Before I sound like some egoist, I must say I felt this strongly in my first week. Assuming that you are a student, let me genuinely ask you, when’s the last time you left a class fulfilled? Fortunately for me, I did not have to endure the first week’s drudgery long, my literature classes being set in motion.

This second week, I’ve enjoyed the company of many brilliant teachers, both my literature teachers. I enjoy their company and being in such a class is like hearing from an old friend and having a chat into the night. Is there a common language that the soul speaks from? Where the matters of the heart commune? Today, standing in a lift alone, I realised this change. It was still the same me in the mirror (yes that’s what I do in a lift) but I had greater resolve to prove myself and teach literature. For all you out there who know your purpose in life, do yourself and your life a favour, stick to it, I know it will pay off for you. Don’t let irony make you think that such things are cliche. When you die your life’s work cannot be disputed if you believe in it.

Cos we all know that mondays don’t change, its how we choose to gear up on sunday night.

How then do we erase the rust of the past? We never forget. Perhaps it is acceptance and a sense of a mission and a purpose. That time is bringing you not towards death, but towards the final goal, of a life well-spent.

I will end with the another quote that I felt illustrates this. I’m no christian advocate but I have not read widely enough to quote from other cultures or sources.

To everything there is a season,