Heroes Not Zombies

This old wall revealing layers of paint reminded me of something important about memory.

The past isn’t something with disappears behind us, like the last station we just passed on the train. Rather, it’s what the present emerges from.

And because the present emerges from the past, the past is always a part of the present.

I am who I am, and my body is what it is, not brand new, isolated from the rest of the world and reality, but, as a living, developing, growing phenomenon.

I am emerging from not only the past in my life time, but from the life times of all who lived before me.

I think that’s partly why many people are fascinated by genealogy. It’s not just interesting stories about ancestors, its an uncovering of patterns, streams and influences which continue to create the here and the now.

Here’s some more beautiful photos of paint from the old fisherman’s shed on the Ile d’Oleron –

I hope you enjoy them.

As well as stimulating my thoughts about the past and the present, they also demonstrate (I think) a very beautiful Japanese aesthetic concept – wabi sabi – which I love, not just because of the beauty but how it honours the beauty of reality as opposed to the delusional ideas we have about “perfection” (which doesn’t exist!!)