Friday, October 10, 2025
Life is mostly about getting a little closer, without reaching. It’s about getting to an event horizon, but never being able to see over the edge. There’s just more to see. Sensing there is more you can do without, just a little longer. Always a little closer.
My grandmother quit smoking by putting her cigarettes in a cookie jar. Every time she had the urge to break down and take a drag, she simply said, “I can go another 5 minutes.” Eventually, she realized 5 minutes and “for good” were the same.
She quit, for good. If she could do without a cigarette for a measly 5 minutes, she could do without her vice forever. And you can do without your vice too. Can you make it for the next 5 minutes? What’s in your account or not in your account doesn’t matter. Can you go without your vice? – without thinking? Keeping it there, holding it alive as “a need.” Tomorrow, you’ll need it. Today hasn’t need.
Shrinking supply and dwindling time are illusions of a future held alive by a thought. Can you do without your vice? You are, every time the future is unthought. Can you do without a “drag” of the past or future? For every 5 minutes the past and future aren’t dredged up, you are experiencing life everlasting. Eternity is flaccid when you call to mind las necesidades del mañana.
If you can go one second without thinking, you’re doing better than most who are addicted. Put it in a cookie jar and see how long you can go without keeping the future alive. But I must remind you, if little old grandma can go without for 5 minutes, you can go without forever. It’s amazing how long we can last. Urgency vanishes now, not mañana.