The Passing of Time (Mono No Aware)

[jimwell]

I somehow feel sad tonight. And I feel like capturing this feeling via words; hence, here’s the saddest post I’ve ever shared in this forum.

The passing of time and the changing of forms make me very sad from time to time. There’s a Japanese phrase for this: “mono no aware.” “Mono no aware” is a Japanese idiom for the awareness of impermanence (無常, mujō), or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.

What triggered this “mono no aware” is the girl I saw in a 1976 film. That was her acting debut, but she won best actress.

Her name is Charo, and she was 20 here. This type of girl can be my wife and have kids with me, not just one of my concubines. She epitomizes genuine (no makeup) feminine beauty, gentleness, and purity.

She reminds me of the intern doctor I flirted with. I'm not the type of man who misses girls. But I miss her because that level of beauty is extremely rare. 

47 years had passed since appearing in the film, and here she is (in 2022). She had become a class-A actress, film producer, tv host, and President and CEO of the biggest media company in her home country. That’s equivalent to being the CEO of Walt Disney Company or Comcast in the USA.

The passing of time brings with it the changing of forms.
She was still beautiful, especially for a woman her age. But her accomplishments (and makeup) did not stop the passing of her feminine beauty, gentleness, and purity. At 68, she looked as if she was a different person.

I feel sad and disappointed thinking that even if I married this girl and enjoyed her splendor when she was 20, she would gradually and eventually lose her beauty as decades pass by. And then she'll lose her life.

Then I think about the things I love about myself. Damn, I will eventually lose them significantly or completely via the passing of time and changing of forms. It makes me experience “mono no aware.”

I'll end this post with a poem I generated via AI:

The minutes tick away so fast,
And soon the present becomes the past.
Days turn into weeks, and weeks to years,
And we're left with memories and tears.

The sun rises and sets day after day,
And the seasons come and go, in their own way.
We watch as the world changes before our eyes,
And we're left to ponder, as time flies.

Sometimes we wish we could stop the clock
And hold on to the things we love and cherish
But time is a river that never stops
And forms are the shapes that always perish

But though time may take away what we hold dear,
It also brings new beginnings, and hope, and cheer.
For with every ending, there's a chance to start anew,
And to make the most of the time we have, before it's through.

So let us cherish every moment, and make it count,
For time is a gift that we cannot do without.
Let us live life to the fullest, and never forget,
That time is a precious, fleeting asset.

[Breakingthewall]

true beauty is the love that is within you. authenticity, courage, transparency and total integrity. the exterior is seduction and has no value, it is a mirage.

[Jowblob]

The love that you have for a person creates an illusion how you will see the said person outwards. Apperance is mostly an illusion of your own consciousness

[michaelcycle00]

You must really love your life if that worries you. I mean, yeah, you're gonna die at some point. Doesn't have to be negative, in fact, it is necessary... you don't want the hell that would be immortality in human form.

Do you not look forward to death at all? I romanticize the idea of dying peacefully and becoming a gentle nothingness where I can sleep for eternity as the Universe disappears with me. Just typing it alone makes me feel warmness and love 

[jimwell]

22 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

true beauty is the love that is within you. authenticity, courage, transparency and total integrity. the exterior is seduction and has no value, it is a mirage.

The internal things you mentioned are surely true beauty. But the external things are also true beauty and have value.

 

22 hours ago, Jowblob said:

The love that you have for a person creates an illusion how you will see the said person outwards. Apperance is mostly an illusion of your own consciousness

The other way is also true. External beauty or appearance creates love and joy inside me.

Everything in existence is an illusion. But this illusion is all there is and is all you have access to; hence the illusion is also real. It's better to take life seriously. 

[Breakingthewall]

15 minutes ago, jimwell said:

But the external things are also true beauty and have value.

Yes, they have, are is a system of nature to perpetuate the species. it all depends on whether you want to be a puppet or stand on top. really, there's nothing wrong with being a puppet

[jimwell]

20 hours ago, Jehovah increases said:

Beautifully enunciated jimwell ❤️ ♾️ ❤️?

I'm happy to hear that.  Thanks.

 

12 hours ago, michaelcycle00 said:

You must really love your life if that worries you. I mean, yeah, you're gonna die at some point. Doesn't have to be negative, in fact, it is necessary... you don't want the hell that would be immortality in human form.

I don't love life per se. Life is difficult and absurd in many ways.

But I love beauty in various forms. And I see mind-boggling beauty (appearance, intelligence, and love) in life. I always do my best to appreciate, create, enhance, or intensify the beauty I see and perceive. That makes life worth living. 

It's correct that immortality in human form would be hell. In fact, that would be the worst hell. Being human is being limited. My capability to appreciate and create beauty is limited. My capability to feel love and joy is also limited. After a thousand years of human life, I would be sick of it all and desire death. So, my lifespan should also be limited. I see intelligence in God's design there.

 

12 hours ago, michaelcycle00 said:

Do you not look forward to death at all? I romanticize the idea of dying peacefully and becoming a gentle nothingness where I can sleep for eternity as the Universe disappears with me. Just typing it alone makes me feel warmness and love 

I don't look forward to death despite knowing it's heaven in some ways. In fact, I'm scared of it. 

But when I have maximized the accomplishment of the purpose of my human existence, I can die peacefully.

How could you romanticize dying without romanticizing being alive first? That's twisted. Have a romantic relationship with your life first before having a romantic relationship with death. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by jimwell

[Water by the River]

Yes. All appearance/form is impermanent. Everything is appearance/form. What is Reality? What is constant?

...

Beauty opens to the divine, and relaxes the contraction of the separate self perceiving the beauty for a moment.

When aging, the youthful skin-deep beauty can be replaced by an even deeper beauty: A radiance of inherent love and openness, depending on the inner growth of the beautiful being. That radiance can have an even more heart-opening effect on others.

A life well lived leads to a growing radiance of love/compassion and wisdom/awareness/peace. 

In Tibetan Buddhism, it is these two properties (wisdom/awareness and love/compassion) that are the main imprints of the soul carried from life to life as Karma. All of that happens on the relative level, but still decides the future of the (relative level) individual being/perspective, this life and the following ones. Until one is permanently established in non-separation, Karma holds its grip.

Water by the River

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Water by the River

[jimwell]

@Water by the River

I watched the video but couldn't finish it. I'm the type of man who likes direct and clear way of speaking. That man in the video simply confused me, I was forced to click on the 'Stop/Pause' button.