I look at the Augusteum, and think that perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic, after all. It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated. The Augusteum warns me not to get attached to any obsolete ideas about who I am, what I represent, whom I belong to, or what function I may once have intended to serve. Yesterday I might have been a glorious monument to somebody, true enough - but tomorrow I could be a fireworks depository. Even in the Eternal City, says the silent Augusteum, one must alway be prepared for riotous and endless waves of transformation. -Elizabeth Gilbert
This is an excerpt from a book I am reading. I just love it. She is talking about the Augusteum monument in Rome which has been there for centuries and has served many purposes, from a temple to a public restroom. As I see myself in the past and now the present and look forward to the future, I love how she puts this. It brings me much condolence and peace and to some extent hope. Wherever we are in our lives it is just one moment. Whether we like who we are or not it is just who we are now, we won't always be this person or in this place in our lives. It will inevitably change. Whether we are a stay at home mother, a husband, an ironwoman, a wife, a student, a biker, a runner, a best friend, or a salesman chances are we won't always be any of those things. We may find ourselves none of the things which we are now and in a completely different place in the world with completely different people. That is the beauty of life, we maybe would have never pictured ourselves where we are now and hopefully in the future, or hopefully not, we will find ourselves in a place we would have never guessed ourselves to be.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
An Excerpt
Posted by Toni at 8:35 AM
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2 comments:
Great excerpt. Love it.
I also have this one hanging on my frigde.
..."people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descent upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, you strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight in its good attainments."
I love that Toni, it's so true, and reminds me that I will not always be in this part of life and to savor it.
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