A month ago, sunlight could still shine through and brighten the sky, however weak, even at 9PM. Lives are still bustling till 10, and then rises up again at 5.
Now, it's only 5:30PM and, with no streetlamps, you cannot recognise any more the thing you just pass by is a statue or a human.
Well, it's Autumn now!
Last week my University was off, so I stayed at home most of the time, and during this time, Autumn begins. Well, I didn't realise it, because I didn't go out at all (Too lazy). Hence, the first time that I reluctantly burst out of the door to get some food, I was caught off-guard, of how beautiful the street is: Golden leaves cascade to the earth like strands of gilded silk, unfolding ceaselessly along the path. There are only a few remnants of green foliage left, and they receive their spotlights—as the lingering echoes of a disappearing summer. Reluctant to say goodbye, they seem, resisting the looming realm of winter darkness and icy cold, as if they are determined to stay.
I forgot temporarily about what I had to do, which was, to buy food, because otherwise, I would starve on Sunday (Welcome to Germany!). I walked along the street, turn left, then right, aimlessly. I let my feet and the eyes, which constantly fixed onto the top of the trees, guide me along. I want to inhale all the autumn in, let my brain remember every detail of it, before it turns cold and the winter invades.
This is the first Autumn that I have ever experienced!
I enjoy this walk so much, part of it because it's only me, and the nature, no talking, just admiring the sky, the trees, the atmospheres, the speciality of the season. Sometimes, it's not about having to have people to talk with to ease the loneliness hunting me, but rather about going out, and sit with the nature, gazing out far away, and enjoy the solitude I have with gratitude.
Nature calms us down, especially when we stand in front of marvellous and in awn landscapes, sky… Suddenly, everything that have been hovering in our mind seems not to be that important any more. As in The Emotional Education, Allain de Botton captures it beautifully:
At this moment, nature seems to be sending us a humbling message: the incidents of our lives are not terribly important. And yet, strangely, rather than being distressing, this sensation can be a source of immeasurable solace and calm.
I think of the saying from Heidegger, a German philospher, about what he has described as 'Das Nichts' - No one can escape 'Das Nichts', the voidness. The only justice in this world is that everyone will die at some points, and there's no way we can escape it. That's why, he advices to spend some times in the graveyard. Upon seeing the different life spans of people, some die when they're born, some live till their 100th Birthday, we know that nothing is expectable, especially death. We stop living for other, to stop worrying about other people's thinking and stop giving energy to people who don't like us at the first place. We compensate with death , we all will die at a time, so why not make the full out of it?
And through that, we slowly recover out authenticity.
Learning to be alone is also the advice of Andrei Tarkovsky giving to the young people. It's been a while since his interview, even date before the rise of Internet. However, his idea is still relevant till today, especially in our time of Social Media, in which having friends is easier than ever, to the point that it doesn't have meaning anymore.
What would you like to tell young people?
I think I’d like to say only that they should learn to be alone and try to spend as much time as possible by themselves. I think one of the faults of young people today is that they try to come together around events that are noisy, almost aggressive at times. This desire to be together in order to not feel alone is an unfortunate symptom, in my opinion. Every person needs to learn from childhood how to spend time with oneself. That doesn’t mean he should be lonely, but that he shouldn’t grow bored with himself because people who grow bored in their own company seem to me in danger, from a self-esteem point of view.
When spending time with oneself, one can learn how to be a better friend when come intact again with other people. In The Emotional Education from The School of life, Alain De Botton wrote:
Extensive stretches of being alone may in reality be a precondition for knowing how to be a better friend and a properly attentive companion.
When we are alone, we know more about what the other brings to us, makes us feel like. Thus, be more sensitive about what we ourselves can bring to other people.
It’s to said that, let’s go out and enjoy the Autumn when it’s still there. Or else, you will have to wait another year to see this marvellous changing of the season. Go out, be alone, enjoy the nature, maybe go to a graveyard as Philosopher Heidegger said. Or if you like, just stay at home and pick up the book you have always wanted to read, it’s a changing season for the changing self. Or, well, watch a movie, who cares then.
Tuyệt vời khi ở một mình, phải mất 50 năm mới nhận ra điều tuyệt vời, và đang trên hành trình về với thiên nhiên, để được ở một mình