TIME LIKE FRICTION WEARS NOVELTY AWAY
Time, like friction wears novelty away, the novelty of a new relationship, or a new house, a new car, or a new country. After awhile the novelty is gone and you are left with what it really is without the patina of excitement and newness. And so, one might say, that things must withstand the test of time, if they are to last or not. The intoxication of the "new" is sobered by time. It is like coming down from being "high" on something. The "freshness" disappears and one can be left with a stale taste in one's mouth, so to speak. We are then faced with the challenge of keeping it "fresh". It is like when someone is taking a photo of you, and they say "smile", and then they take forever to snap the shot and your smile loses its vitality and becomes fake looking, or the novelty of a new born child fades into the deep and huge responsibility which comes with raising a child for many years, Hopefully the love one feels for one's child carries one through it all. The routine becomes mundane. We all have to deal with it.
If it is too much, one might feel depressed. If one is strong inside or clever one might find ways to keep it fresh. It is something that is done often without any thought or consciousness of this wearing away, we just do it in our constant pursuit of happiness. It is one of those areas in life that remains pretty much unexamined, it seems. It is exciting to discover elements of our shared existence that may have been missed or overlooked and to bring them to light. Panning for gold in the nuances of existence, which can be very much like finding precious nuggets in the silty waters of a river. One can enjoy exploring and adventure without ever getting up from one's chair, and I am not speaking of vicariously experiencing as one might do, watching a film or reading a book. Since life as we know it, through the gift of consciousness which we all have been given, has seemingly infinite possibilities, there is no end to what we might uncover, through the process of introspection, if we are open enough to take the time to think, to imagine, because one idea can lead to a whole tree of ideas, starting from a stem or seed of one thought and branching out and even producing flowers and fruit.
One might imagine that it is through our consciousness that we are able to keep things fresh and novel, and without this, one might suffer from boredom. If however, our consciousness becomes rigid or rutted into deep grooves that are confining and repetitious, it becomes difficult to keep a fresh outlook and boredom, ennui, depression are the results. Drugs and alcohol are the easy fixes that are often resorted to, or serial sex, or whatever solution that people can find, maybe simply, eating a lot. These are all mediocre solutions to the problem of keeping life fresh and novel and are very commonplace, and it seems that it might be wise for these to be avoided as much as possible.
Since this is an area which hasn't been studied much as far as I know, I can only guess at what might be a healthy and effective solution, because I am someone who probably has more questions than answers. It really seems as though it is as all about the journey rather than then the end of the journey, the goal, the answer, the treasure. The journey is our life, we know how it is going to end. Spontaneity seems to be quite important, improvising all the way, as we do, just naturally. That is why I don't like to rely on stories or jokes that I would have to repeat to keep people entertained or to enliven a conversation. I would rather keep it fresh, relying only on the unknown. To dwell in the past, is another thing i avoid, as that might promote stagnancy. It is by being in the present which is always new that one keeps things novel and original. But that is assuming that one's present is not tedious and mundane, or if it is, to go within or to find the extraordinary in what seems extra ordinary.
There are many tricks that we seem to do to keep things interesting, without being very aware often that we are doing it and this is a skill, a mostly unconscious skill that most happy people probably have, a skill that is developed most likely, unconsciously, like learning how to talk. Babies learn to talk without putting any effort in it, like we must, when trying to learn a new language, they just learn this skill unconsciously.
Effortless learning would be the best or at least the easiest way to learn things. When one has a strong passion to learn something, the effort necessary to learn may become ephemeral and seem unnecessary, as one is simply swept into learning by desire. But this is another subject, maybe for another essay.