Impermanence Repeats
A few weeks ago, my wife and I did a two-night trip away together to Porvoo, in southern Finland. We had made a dinner reservation for the last night at a steak restaurant at a place called The Meat District, right in the heart of the old, wooden village.
And last night, it burned down.
It is also not the first time there has been a fire in the area. In 1760, nearly the entire town burned down, but instead of starting from scratch, the rebuild was made on the existing medieval foundations, which is kind of cool. It has been less than 24 hours and there are already plans in place for the rebuilding, involving the city of Porvoo and the National Heritage Museum.
But, as I was reading the story it reminded me of how even things that have lasted a long time are fragile and, no matter how careful, mistakes are made. It also reminds me of the impermanence of power, where event he mightiest of a time, will eventually fade and crumble, through force or disuse, or in this case, accident - possibly negligence.
Nothing lasts forever.
And I think that this is something to remember when it comes to any kind of investment. Not only do the return rates change, every industry ebbs and flows, mistakes happen, hacks are made, keys are lost. There are so many things that can go wrong that even the "best laid plans" can go awry. It doesn't matter how prepared you think you are, it is impossible to prepare for every eventuality.
Resistance is futile.
And I think that while this might sound doom and gloomish, it is also a testament to the failure of the worst of us. Up until this point in human existence, evil has never prevailed.
Neither has good.
Because nothing last for ever, no dynasty, dictator, or ideal of any kind has survived. No attempt to take over the world has succeeded and, even in our darkest times in human existence, we have eventually come through the other side - not unscathed - but able to continue. But even with this track record, our luck will run out eventually. Something will wipe us out in the end. But it won't matter, because none will be here to experience the aftermath.
Life really is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
So, I guess it is best to make some meaning out of the life we have, while we have it. What that means for you or for me, might be quite different to the meaning for someone else. For example, the owner of the restaurant above might have found meaning in building his restaurant, and he might find even more meaning in rebuilding it. Not only that, someone from the museum could look back on this project to rebuild as a shining light in their lives, something they look back upon with pride, saying,
"I helped restore history in it's rightful place."
Rarely do people find meaning in this life, devoid of the influence or inclusion of other people and I think that doing so is a "secret to a good life" for those who are able be part of a collective force for what they consider, valuable, worthwhile, useful to others. It is a social trade of activity and emotional return and being part of a team, matters to us.
Still to this day, I have never met a true "loner".
Those two ladies sitting casually talking in the image above will likely talk again together about this fire, because just a few short weeks ago, they were sitting in the café attached to the restaurant, eating homemade cakes and drinking tea or coffee together. They likely talked about how friendly the waitstaff were, as my wife did. They might have commented on the charm, not entertaining the thought that where they were sitting, would soon be the charred remains of a 200-year old building.
Impermanence.
No matter what we do. We are never secure. We hold onto the thought that we can keep things safe, protect ourselves. Yet, history tells us a different story.
And history repeats.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Cool way to wrap up. I imagine the two ladies are now thinking along the same lines you were when you wrote this. All one, together in impermanence.
I'm especially struck by your seeming assertion that neither good nor evil prevails, and that because of this, life has no meaning. Are we looking for a meaning that can be put into words? A meaning that can be judged good? Ok, I kind of see your logic now - if having a meaning is a good thing, then because good isn't an end-all be-all, meaning cannot exist.
Trippy, man.
I think good and evil need each other - when good prevails, what is good will become increasingly bad as new and improved takes its place, whether it be tech or ideals. But bad is familiar, so there will be a division in society, where some will try to hold onto what they know, some will try to replace it with what they believe is good. It is cyclical and because perfect can't exist, the cycle will always keep rolling.
Way back in, I think about 2003, we were told to be ready to evacuate at a moments notice due to a fire in our area. The firefighting helicopter crew were in a marshy field just below our house. My wife was concerned about what we should pack in the truck if we needed to evacuate, I told her maybe a couple changes of clothes each, some dog food and forget the rest, all we really needed were our dogs and those and my wallet, the rest could all be replaced if it burned down, but we would never be able to replace our little dogs or each other.
In the article, the owner said that "we will rebuild - the most important thing is that thankfully, the staff are okay" - I am paraphrasing.
People die pretty much every year in Australia because they stay to "save their home" even though it is just stuff. What I think that those in fire regions should consider building is some kind of underground fireroom, just to store valuable belongings. That way, you can grab your dogs and run, knowing that all of those photos and heirlooms are okay.
It really is a situation of "don't play with fire".
Sometimes I think whatever we do, we achieve, we gain... we will die at the end. This feeling makes life meaningless for me, however what is important is to accumulate beautiful moments in one's life.
As Herakleitos said;
Everything changes and nothing stands still.
I think the worst times in my life are when I feel that I am stagnating in something - the "standing still" sucks.
No matter how prepare we are, and no matter how caution we are, they are things that can still happen,
Life is meaningless as everything we ever work for, we won't take it with us,but even in a meaningless world we should try and add some meaning to it.
So what is the plan of restructuring it?
Nothing lasts forever because change is inevitable. Everything in life undergoes change which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. If the change becomes too extreme, it can lead to the total loss of something and it will cease to exist but in this case of the restaurant being burnt down, if the owner can afford and wants to rebuild it, then he can do so and the restaurant can continue running, but it has undergone a change
Oof hope nobody got hurt in that x_x
It is terrible and so true how fragile our existence really is. Steak looked good and at least you got to experience it before and possibly after once rebuilt and can compare. Normally never the same as I can imagine a place like Notre Dame can never have the same feel as it is mainly a new build using the old techniques, but we all know what happened so you would be looking at it differently.
Actually, Life after all is not our own so we don't have full power over events of life. Exactly why it is advised to the live the best now as tomorrow is not promised🥲 This post actually made me meditate on my life for a few minutes. @tarazkp