We are flooded by fragments. Countless bits of information are given to us from everywhere: the media, experts, friends and last but not least – are own experiences. The sheer amount of information is overwhelming for any individual. We thought a solution would be for everyone to concern themselves with only a small portion of reality; this way we would collectively achieve something like a big picture by combining the particular visions of specialists. But who, among a society of specialists, can do that? A collection of short-sighted individuals does not result in collective long-sightedness. We do not live in the details. We don’t live in the big picture either. We live in between and in both, and blindness in one sphere has effects on the others. We may sigh for the past, smile in the present, and cry for the future. We have memory, awareness and vision. We enjoy the thrill of chaos as much as we fear it. We may choose the safety of order yet regret in not avoiding its boredom. We are complex and simple, pathetic and glorious, beautiful and horrendous. A view of our history sometimes fulfils our grandest hopes, other times our worst nightmares.
How do we make sense of it all? From the grand mosaic of life, what is worth our time, which is after all, so short? What are the conditions, both inner and outer, which we should be looking for? How do we know we’ve found them? And if we cannot find them, how can we create them?
