Here is an excerpt from a short story I've been working on. Enjoy the pictures and the writing.
Chapter 2
“On Forgetting”
There do exist a certain people in this world who are, as I would like to call them- forgetful. Other people may use more brash words, but I’m making a firm decision to stay with forgetful. These forgetful people are a difficult bunch to befriend. You have plans for dinner with them- they don’t show up. They say they will come by in a few minutes and they call you an hour later to see if you are busy. Although at times you really wish you could write them off, for some reason you keep them around. Well, I keep them around at least- I can’t really speak for you can I? I keep them around for reasons beyond my own head. It could be the stunning simplicity of the idea of forgetting that intrigues me. All that we know in life is memory and the present, well, everyone knows that present only exists for only a fleeting moment. The present exists for such a brief period, that the amount of time elapsed is simply inconceivable. Here is a challenge for you- gather up the worlds best scientists of all types: physicists, engineers, bio mechanical- whatever you want, and assign them with just one task; assign them to calculate the duration of the present. I bet you they can’t do it. I’ll even fund the project for you. All the brain power in the universe could not conceive the present, because, it simply does not exist. The moment that the present happens it is swallowed by the gluttonous notion of the past. But imagine now a world where the past did not exist. At first we are in a universe where the present does not exist- all is the past, but now the past is slowly fading as well. This is the life of the forgetful mind. The mind that says and does with no feeling or meaning behind it besides the most animal of urges. The mind that reacts to situations and its surroundings but does not act on its own accord. The forgetful mind puts its keys down because it got back to its house, but where the keys were left- the mind does not remember. The forgetful mind speaks and speaks to entertain, but does not realize what it is saying.
With all of this, we will have to put down on paper that yes, the forgetful mind is a bleak existence- where the only existing thing is that small fraction of the idea of a moment, and the past is if not instantly, soon forgotten, but! with all of this, the life of the forgetful mind is the life of bliss. What better way to live than to demolish time? Time only exists because the past exists, but if we destroy the past, than we also destroy time. The forgetful mind will be the only mind capable of shedding the chains of time that we are all shackled to. So long as our leaders: all the presidents, dictators, clergymen, Gods, priests- tell us to remember our past, the sole idea occupying our mind will be death. The threat of death. What better way to stay in power exists than to intimidate with the threat of death? All learned people are concerned with death, and in reality, all being learned, in the scholarly sense and in the pious sense, means that you are aware of death. I have met a few forgetful minds, and they are the types who don’t fear death. They live, as they say, they live every moment as if it were their last. For them the moment is the moment, thats all. While all of us “smart” people sit around on our high horse, we let that moment of now, of the present- essentially disintegrate. We live in a world of the past. We can remember, oh yes we can remember, but we can’t actually live. It makes me wonder if it is the smart one who does not feel, or if it is the forgetful one that does not feel.
