My friend understood what he meant.
She told him she once had an experience with a kayak that got her dumped in the
drink unexpectedly. “I told him it was much like going from a feeling of
confidence to incompetence in nanoseconds,” she said.
What’s wrong with these people?
They’re the victims of pernicious psychobabble, specifically the oft-repeated injunction
to “live in the moment.”
It took me a long time to figure out
what living in the moment actually meant. I was not really sure whether I lived
in the moment or not. I didn’t know what living in the moment felt like, compared
with living outside the moment, either in front of the moment or behind it.
But it occurred to me eventually
(I’m a slow thinker) that it was largely bound up with meditation, and that
explained to me why people who are not natural sailors can go from happiness to
terror in the blink of an eyelid; because, if you are a real sailor, you never live in the moment. You live in
the future. And he who meditates is lost.
A real sailor is aware all the time
of what could happen next. He or she stays ahead of current conditions and
wonders what might happen if this or that occurred. A real sailor who sees a
dark cloud on the horizon doesn’t take a deep breath of satisfaction and think how beautifully it contrasts with the
fluffy white clouds overhead. A real sailor imagines what could happen if that
cloud is hiding a white squall. What would be the best way to handle the
downburst gusts? Would it be better to
double-reef the mainsail right now? Roll the jib, maybe? Are the reef pennants
in place? Can someone else steer while you do the reefing? Are the jib furling lines free and ready to
operate? What else might happen?
All the time he or she is afloat,
the real sailor is thinking ahead, not living in the moment. There is never a
time when you are under way when you can afford not to be living in the future.
You must give full rein to your imagination. That’s why, when the future arrives, you are
neither surprised nor terrorized. You are prepared and confident.
On the other hand, those whose heads
are idling in neutral, awash with the pleasures of the moment, will certainly
experience fear and uncertainty when their surroundings suddenly change into
the inevitable fury of the future.
Many of you will recognize this
theory as an extension of my own Black Box Theory (quod vide), which, succinctly stated, says “the more I practice the
luckier I get,” and explains why some boats survive storms and groundings when
others don’t. Take no notice of those meddling non-thinkers who keep urging us
all to live in the moment. If you’re a sailor, live in the future, and you’ll
probably live longer.
Today’s
Thought
The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare
for it.
— Thomas S. Monson
Tailpiece
“How
about a kiss, gorgeous?”
“Certainly
not, I’ve got scruples.”
“No
problem, babe, I’ve been vaccinated.”
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday,
Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
2 comments:
Ahh, now that's a great observation, and very true. It's why I like sailing so much--being constantly aware and alert to my surroundings despite the fact that no one else appears to take much notice!
I'm sending this to my friends!
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