Transit

As an adolescent, I spent a lot of time in transit. In transit in the sense that each day was a day of constant self revision, but also in the literal sense that I was always riding some sort of public transportation vehicle. Public transportation offers a world view untouched by restraint. It is at 6 or 7 in the evening that I find journeying most interesting, because it is at that time when I find people tend to occupy the whole spectrum of emotion. It is at this time that I find people at their best, or at their worst. Being in literal transit with other people is the best lesson in human nature there is. The problem is that most people who are in transit either have a stubbornly fixed world view, or they have a centrated or maybe even an apathetic world view. When one is receptive to the scenes of transit though, that is when learning can truly begin. Abigail Adams once said that learning is to be “sought for with ardor.” Without the prerequisite openness to learning, nothing will be learned.

The beauty of the Dao De Jing is that it is highly phenomenological. It is precisely that fact, added to that the insight that each minute in transit is a treasure trove of sensory perception, and the truth of the mind of the open youth as highly malleable and inquisitive, that makes the point of Youth in transit as a perfect period for insight. Youth is a time of identity formation. I, a youth in constant transit try to experience the world around me, in the given time I experience it, in order to make sense of, and find my place in the world. In this sense, the world I move in directly affects my person. I cannot look at myself simply as an entity fully divorced from the reality around me. The fact that I perceive and dwell on my perceptions are proof enough that it is precisely the world I move in that allows me to learn, and from learning, discerning who I may or may not want to be, and from there finally forming an identity. The same is true in reverse, because I, being one with reality, am part of the perceived world of all the others around me. I am not merely myself, but rather a proactive fragment of existence that is co-molded along with all other things existent.

When I commute, I discover that the world is in constant change. The cool breeze and falling leaves of February give way to the humid heat of March. In ten years of commuting home, Mark, who mans the internet cafe I pass by everyday on my way home has evolved from a young Communications student from UST doing part time work in an internet cafe to a balding 34 year old man who now mans the internet cafe full time. What is important to see though is that although I say Mark has moved from young student to balding man, he has gone through many psychosocial changes as well as physical changes. This is why my memory of Mark is segmented into a thousand Marks, beginning at “young friendly Mark ten years ago” and which current definition is at “balding Mark who told me to not step on the grass this morning.” It is just the same with a million other things I see along the way. Buildings undergo renovation, old squatter areas become new parks, and the people I co-experience reality with during my commute are never the same as the people the day before. Things I had experienced the day before are never the same things I experienced the day before that, nor are they the same as my experience today. This now dictates that what I perceive continually undergoes constant change, and the effects of those constant changes are perceived by me as milestones in time, just as a continuous stream of points on a plain make a line. What differentiates one dot from another of the same entity is how much importance I put into it. Importance must be put into it precisely because not doing so will be a great injustice to the individual milestones in time. In the human sense, it is dehumanization. We view the dots as individual dots. It is important to do so, but we must never forget that the dot is simply a part of the line. Chemistry, known as the “central science” also supports this point in the fact that in every atom that comprises a mass, energy is continually being used, and the particles of that atom continuously move in set patterns of movement. So fundamentally speaking, everything is a process. Nothing is ever “still” as in the conceptual idea of a photograph.

What then will I do, knowing of my proactive participation in existence? Being a proactive entity, I understand that all I do has corresponding consequences. Also, with the insight that existence is a constant process, I realize that coercive action towards existence is futile. It would be like trying to stop the rain from falling. I now have to move in accordance to the flow, while taking into account the uniqueness of each milestone in time. I cannot help but look back at Mark. In dealing with Mark, I must know that he is a proactive being that is constantly in transit. I recognize that he is a different Mark than the one I had originally met ten years ago. That is Dao, the constant flow of change. That goes hand in hand with seeing the fact of Mark’s change, I must also take into light the form of Mark that I am concurrent with. If I do not do so, I will not be able to make a decision as to how I will address or treat Mark. If he is grumpy at the point of interaction, I would probably act lowly. If he is congenial, I will talk to him as a friend. It’s all about mirroring the current state of Mark, as to analyze best how to act in the situation. If I am unaware of constant change, I would treat Mark as I would treat him during our initial encounter 10 years ago. If I was unaware of his defined current state, I wouldn’t know how to interact with him at all.

In summary, balance is the point of existence. I am proactive existent, who affects and is affected by reality so that I may be able to find internal equilibrium of identity. I am aware of the ceaseless transformation of reality, which without it would mean no change at all since change is the direct consequence of change. Inertia says so. I see the world solely from my own perspective, and it is by that perspective that I am proactive participant in constant change. I interact with the world, with the knowledge of this constant change, and the fact that to be able to interact, I need to mirror the De, or the individuality of experience. All this aimed at keeping balance in the world. Non coercion leads to a balanced world, while coercive action will only lead to disequilibrium. The world, like I, is in constant transit. We need to be aware of the stations to be able to get down at the correct one.