Chained by Clocks

When did wandering become a waste of time? Life’s a tight schedule, morning to night, and we do it over and over for an average of 25,550 days. That number hit you? Just 25k. How many templates can you sketch for those 25k days? Five, six, maybe more?

Preschool, school, college, job. The breaks in between. And then, retirement.

Even vacations come with planning. Taking days off was a plan to start with. What else is part of this little curse we carry all the time?

Routine. Habits. Planning. Clocks. Consistency. Efficiency. Repetition.

If all these make up 95% of our life, minus the preschool phase where planning and routine weren't so tight, what does that say about us? Little kids sleep and wake at odd hours. Everything’s permitted before school. That’s natural. One day it becomes unnatural. You can’t divide your attention anymore. You can’t wander.

Focus. Listen. Follow.

Follow it and you get good.

Then what?

Get very good at the next place because you were good at the previous one. It’ll be the best one day. As Heidegger said, the future is the most formidable force, always projecting into our existence. It preoccupies us in the present, in the very moment that's passing.

All these unsaid arrows aiming at a target. Keep the pace, keep the direction, journey toward the goal! There’s archery in the stadium. And there’s archery in the jungle. Targets are hit there too, when hunger strikes. But when the belly is full, archery without active targets becomes wandering.

The targets hit and miss in wandering too. But the arena is open. It’s no longer just the routine ground targets.

You have time to look at the sky, aim there.

You’ve never been to the seashore with your arrows. Wandering takes you to swim and aim at moving targets underwater.

Why would you do it? Why leave the grounds?

Why not go to that regular spot where the prey is still, drinking water? Perfect vantage point. Perfect hiding place. The range is perfect. Targeting herds means misses are hits too. You can never be wrong there. You can never leave empty-handed.

Why wander? Why leave heaven? What’s wrong with abundance, structures, routines?

Why extend into darkness? Why waste life, the 25k days? Leveraging others' 25k days, what our forefathers provided us, what our mothers taught us. Isn’t it Mother Nature who watches us all the time? She watches us while we wander. Creation is for occupants and wanderers.

When is the right time for occupants to leave the city for new lands? When is the right time to look at the sky above, to other homes, to the space of spaces?

Jail has zero wanderers, 100% discipline, routine, habits.

There’s escape into sleep. But with the same place, people, and routine, wandering stops in dreams too. Dreams either die or get worse. Dreams with routines and rituals. The essence of taking us off-guard, knocking at unexpected times, and wandering into unimaginable dimensions is gone.

There can never be a ban on dreams, but in high-security jails, they kill dreams by limiting them. The spirit is crushed. Illogical adventures are taboo.

Productivity is the law and dreams are just recommendations.

What to do with these recommendations if there’s a ban on wandering in the jungle, the sea, and space?

Where will dreams come from?

Or worse, dreams get manufactured with labels and expiry dates.