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Rhobin’s topic:
What are one (or two) writing projects you want to accomplish this year? What will be any obstacles you might encounter?
There is a wonderful Buddhist custom: treat every day as if it was the last of your life, and at the same time, act as if you were going to live forever. So, resolve any cause of ill feeling, because if you die before meeting the other person, you leave pain behind. And at the same time, plant a tree that will yield wonderful timber for furniture 250 years from now.
Photo by Bjorn Burton.
I’m fairly sure I won’t die today, and even more sure I won’t live forever. However, as I’ve argued, we’re at the end of days. The evidence keeps pouring in that our life support base is disintegrating at an ever-increasing pace.
So, is there any point in writing if I honestly believe myself?
That’s where the second half comes in. The past is history, the future is a mystery. I give you a PRESENT. That’s all there is, and the best way of filling it is whatever gives you joy. Writing gives me joy. So, I have it both ways, and write about this concern of mine. Our ecosystem may be on its last legs, but I might as well write about how to delay disaster and save what we can.
That’s how my current project started. It is the Doom Healer series. As of this moment, I’ve finished the first volume, seeking beta readers for the second, half finished the third, and am brainstorming about the content of the fourth.
In this story, I have managed to explain something that’s puzzled me for decades. All the religions specify that the greatest force in the universe is Love. There is actually suggestive evidence that the point of life is to go round and round, life after life, learning and growing until we have learned the ultimate lesson of Love and need not be born again. But if this is so, then where does evil come from?
If you want to know, you might want to read the Doom Healer stories.
Please visit the other blogs in Rhobin’s round:
Diane Bator
Beverley Bateman
Victoria Chatham
Judith Copek
Rhobin Courtright
Helena Fairfax
Margaret Fieland
Hollie Glover
Rachael Kosinski
Fiona McGier
Kay Sisk
Anne Stenhouse
Skye Taylor
Connie Vines
Bobbing Around 
I like your ‘present’: thanks for the gift. 🙂
I do have one pendantic quibble: shouldn’t the title be ‘Writing as if there were a future’? — the implication being that there isn’t one, not for our species.* It’s at times like this that I wish I’d paid more attention in skool instead of (ironically) daydreaming of the future.
* The belief that ‘we each get as many lives as we need’ must be a great source of solace. Life would be more bearable were I able to subscribe to that.
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On the matter of love, I found a lovely, simple comment by – of all people – Jimi Hendrix – He said “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will know peace.” Veronica-Mae “Only two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not so sure about the universe ” Einstein
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Thank you, Veronica-Mae. Naturally, I agree with Jimi.
At one of his speeches, my character Bill also quotes the Beatles: “All you need is love.”
🙂
Bob
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I like the outlook – do what makes you happy – that’s been my mantra since I nursed a husband with cancer for six years and got all of my kids through college. I chose to move to the place I wanted to be most and I love writing so that is how I fill my days.
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Thank you for visiting, Skye. You sound like you deserve a good life. Well done.
Four years ago, I had to leave the place I wanted to be most. For about three weeks, I felt like a snail plucked out of its shell (fortunately, there were no French cannibals around), but then I did some therapy on myself and regained contentment.
At the moment, I am getting a lot of therapy from my friend Bill Sutcliffe, whose story I am writing. It’s great when your characters teach you stuff.
🙂
Bob
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I’m a gardener and have written about plants, and trees, and their special brand of intelligence. This time extinction won’t be caused by a comet but by the superiority complex of the ‘most’ intelligent species. This gives me worry about my grandchildren and their children’s future. However, I try to also carry hope that things can change. Insightful post, Bob.
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We’re on the same page, Rhobin. Looking after the welfare of future generations has been my main motivation since 1972, so I am getting used to it.
You know, those grandchildren will die one day. Maybe they’ll be 100 years old, maybe 10. Doesn’t matter, because we get as many lives as we need. And maybe they’ll die all at once, or one at a time. Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you and I do our best to improve things.
🙂
Bob
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Always a calming influence among us, Bob. I like your idea of living as if today was the last and also planting trees. I recognise it as one of the major conundrums of existence. Anne
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Thank you, Anne. I’ve been trying to live that for many years (occasionally with success).
🙂
Bob
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