Life as a Paradox

 Maybe we exist in a Matrix of some kind.  I just saw a title of YouTube video that says the James Webb Space Telescope proves that time doesn't exist.  We say Rome wasn't built in a day, then we say the early bird gets the worm.  We say youth is wasted on youth, but growing old is literally the pits.  So, life is filled with paradoxes.

My pipe could be a paradox.  I hadn't smoked my pipe in two weeks and my BP rose to 130/70.  I insist smoking my pioe literally lowers my BP.  But can I say smoking a pipe is good for one's health?  I live with many paradoxes in life, but all that really matters to me is Human Life.  That's it.  You just can't get any more simple than thus.  I could say it matters not what you do or don't do as long as you live and let live.  We had an exterminator come out to get rid of ghost ants, but then I wonder whether they have a right to live.  They do according to my wife, but not when they get into our food.  And she has a point.

Some people are like fingernails on a chalkboard and others we can't be around enough.  The fact is people as a whole are full of paradoxes.  Philosophy can be be full of paradoxes.  T. S. Elliot said that consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.  If one thing is a paradox it's people.  We are all consistently full of paradoxes.  Life is nothing but a great big paradox.  Nothing is consistent about life unless you are in a prison.  But, and I will state this plainly, that is the joy of living.  

I might be one great big paradox from what I say to what I do.  Some say it is best to keep your plans to yourself, otherwise someone might steal your idea or say you can't do this or that.  I read that if you have a plan B, your plan A is doomed to failure.  But we are told not to put all our eggs in one basket, but you do if you don't have a plan B.  We like choices and options.  But too many choices and options limits our ability to choose.  The more items a menu has to offer, the more one regrets what they order.  

So, which is it?  If you say you will NEVER have regrets, odds are you will.  But if we say Rome wasn't built in a day, then we can look forward to tomorrow.  But if we miss out tofay, we never get today back.  So, which is it? And what if we're early and still don't get the worm?  Then what?  They say not to peak too early.  No NFL quarterback wants to retire after losing the big one.  We like to go out on top.  But what if we don't?  Our last effort is what is most remembered by others.  And so we ask whether death is losing, but we know everyone dies.  So, we say there is a time for all things, but how do we know the time is right? 

When it comes to smoking my pipe, the time is always right.  I can choose any of my 30+ pipes, but how do I know any of them is the right pipe for any given day?  Will I ever regret having smoked a pipe? And if I have some couple of thousand tobaccos I can choose from, how do I know I've chosen the best if I haven't sampled them all? There are things we know, not because we know all things.  We just know.  I have a sixth sense about people and places, but I have decided that where I am is where I'm supposed to be.  How do I know this? I just do.  Same with a pipe choice and tobacco.  We can't always explain how we know, but the fact is, sometimes we just know.  And it's a paradox that only sometimes we know.  The rest of the time we guess.  It's all we can do, I guess.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave