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No Moment Can Be Saved For Later

Thursday, September 26, 2019 3:25

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“No Moment Can Be Saved For Later”

by David Cain

“Last week I went for my midday walk first thing in the morning, because by noon it was supposed to be hot and muggy. The feel of that particular morning was so sublime and strange I have nothing but clichés to describe it with. It was the day before school started, and the neighborhood was both supernaturally quiet and uncannily beautiful. The sky was orange and still, and the air was so thick it seemed to filter out traffic noise, leaving a soundtrack of only birds. September-stage trees and gardens glistened in July-like morning heat. Boulevard flowerbeds billowed over the sidewalks.

Aside from the apocalyptic implications of such warmth coming so late in the year, the walk was a unique and remarkable experience, and I know I have absolutely no way of conveying that specialness to you or anyone else.

I did try though. I took a half dozen photos, and a few videos panning over the trees and gardens, hoping to somehow capture I’m not sure what – the sweetness of the air, the alien combination of summer humidity and dry leaves, or whatever unique quality made me want to document it. Of course, I ended up with nothing but flat photos and videos of trees and sidewalks and flowerbeds that will excite nobody, and which contain not even a speck of the experience I was trying to capture.

I kind of knew that already though. No matter how readily we pull out our devices to capture and Instagram the sights and scenes that move us, it is impossible to actually capture a moment. Being a better photographer might have helped me make more impressive photos, just as being a better writer would have helped me create stronger images in the paragraphs above. But that’s not the same as passing along to you the noteworthy sensory experience that inspired this post.

In other words, the only way for a person to experience that particular place and time was to experience that particular place and time, and I although I was in the right place, I spent much of that time goofing with my phone.

Clearly there’s nothing wrong with taking pictures and videos. They can be precious reminders of certain stages of life, and details we could never otherwise remember. But I think our 21st-century documentarian impulse often gets in the way of the simply appreciating nice moments while they happen. In an era where we’re never without a camera, we may be losing the ability to simply appreciate, in real-time, remarkable experiences in an uncomplicated way.

An English backpacker once shared with me his tragic experience of this problem. It was a bucket-list item for him to see the New Zealand rugby team perform the haka. When he was finally there in the stands, he was so determined not to miss it that he watched the entire thing on the two-inch LCD on the back of his digital camera, realizing only during the subsequent applause what he had done.

Only a few decades ago, we lived mostly free of this strange tension between the desire to enjoy something and the desire to document it. Because we did so much less documenting, we must have been much better at enjoying sensory experiences as they happened, since we had no recourse to a “captured” version later. Before photography and videography became a reflex, it must have been exceedingly obvious – too obvious to even think about it – that the only time you can enjoy an experience is when it’s happening.

But nothing can be saved for later. We can make images but we can’t capture experiences. Think of how many photos of sunsets have truly mesmerized you, and how many times you’ve stopped in your tracks for the real thing. We can create as many records and depictions of life as we want. But it’s life itself that we actually appreciate, and life can’t be saved for later.

I’m trying to re-interpret that “photo opportunity” feeling as an opportunity to enjoy something that’s only happening here and now. If we can see a sunset, or a perfect morning walk, or any other beautiful moment, as something that simply can’t be saved, then we’re free to drink it in till it’s gone.”

- https://www.raptitude.com/

Source: http://coyoteprime-runningcauseicantfly.blogspot.com/2019/09/no-moment-can-be-saved-for-later.html

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