The Joy of the New

Huge swathes of humanity live in fear, sorrow and despair and yet there is hope in our hearts that yes, soon, things will be better.

- Mitra Phukan

So here we are once more, ringing in the new, saying goodbye to the old. Just as December is the time to take stock of what has gone, every January is a time to look forward, to plan, to hope.

Time, of course, is an arrow. It moves forward, with never a backward glance. It is we, the people who are imprisoned on this planet, who try to bind time into chunks and pieces that our finite minds can understand, and make sense of. We invent calendars that seem to make Time move in cycles according to the season. Or we create festivals, religious and social, so that we can be reassured that even though Time is moving forward, inexorably, inevitably, it will appear to come around again and again, every time the year changes. This, of course is a delusion that gives us comfort. It is something that makes Time seem to be within our grasp, with its repetition of festivals, birth anniversaries, and seasons. It is contrapuntal to the inevitable changes we see happening around us as Time makes its mark on all things physical and mental.

And thank goodness for that.