Upon reflection...

I expect we all have moments of reflection. To be human and to be self-aware must surely require that we cannot escape the possibility of reflecting on who we are, who we might be and at time who we might have been. I really think the last one is something to be avoided at all cost. We must learn form our past but part of that learning has to be that we accept that the past remains unchangeable and any thoughts of changing it is a squandering of our present.

Perhaps Nietzsche was right when he argued that we waste our live in focusing on anything other than the present. We must be in the moment because that is all we really have. Of course that notion get easily misread and moment get wasted in superficial pleasure or self-indulgence. Instead Nietzsche would have each of us strive to fulfil our potential by living each moment, each day as consciously self-aware as we can be. We each can be an ubermensch - not that distorted and corrupted model employed by Nazis but the fullness of being we are all capable of becoming.

In a few days I reach another milestone in my life when I turn sixty. It is a powerful moment for me in part because I clearly remember my father reaching that age. But the difference in our lives is palpable. He was preparing to retire. I have just started on an whole new stage of being in my life as I work on my dissertation for my PhD and prepare to increase my engagement in my professorial teaching practice. There may be decades of become ahead of me but following Nietzsche's directive I will try to remain focused on the here and now.