It does not matter how slowly you go
as long as you do not stop.
Confucius
Wisdom, which seems diametrically opposed to the world’s idea of progress, moves at a very subtle pace, and if we don’t see her wisdom, progress will unequivocally grind us down.
Grind us down into sickness.
Grind us down into meaninglessness.
Turn us into a thing.
Our world is obsessed with progress.
Obsessed with speed, repeatability, reliability, deliverability, and profit.
Our world is obsessed with creating material goods that brands itself as bigger and better. Droves of people obsess themselves over the release of the next episode of whatever, and line up for days to adopt the next prototype, as long as they are the first. As long as its delivered faster, and faster, and faster.
What once took years, now takes hours. What once took hours, now takes minutes. But we are not any happier. We are not healthier. We don’t live any more meaningfully, but we certainly do love to quit. We love to stop, especially when the going gets tough, when life gets murky, when progress feels a bit distant and uncertain.
Our appetite for progress seems limitless and unbridled.
It is often our folly and downfall.
Wisdom is different.
It moves slowly. It moves most determinably.
It is not afraid to pivot and head in a new direction.
It doesn’t care how slow you go.
It doesn’t mind if you make countless mistakes and experience oodles of failures.
It only cares that you do your part.
It cares that you never stop.
Never stop trying. Never stop caring. Never stop living.
That’s the key to a good life.
Not giving up.
Never giving up trying.
Pushing through.
No matter how slow you go.
No matter how fast other people think you should be going.
