Whittle Away, Whittle Away, Whittle Away

Daily Meditation 876–7/24/2024

A while ago I saw one of those paintings where once you see it, you cannot unsee it. I wish I would’ve saved it or recalled the artist!

It was a very Dalí-esque image (my favorite) of a flat, mauve colored plane stretching off into eternity. The sky was a sort of tangerine yellow with cream. There were no rocks, plants, nor clouds — just flat.

On this plane were a collection of myriad people in a nondescript style with no distinguishable features. Each person was pushing a massive cube along the ground. Many were bent down, shoving, yet others had their back against it, straining.

However, one person was to the far right of the image easily pushing along a semi-spherical object. Behind him — near everyone with their cubes of struggle — was a small knife and a pile of shavings the color of the cubes and sphere. He had cut away in order to make progress.

And that’s our lives.

So often we get so caught up in the day to day doldrums and rigmarole — tired, frustrated, weak — and we don’t even realize we are straining when there may be ways to improve that struggle.

We keep smoking.
We keep drinking.
We keep scrolling as it becomes 10, 11, 12 at night.
We keep hooking up on Tinder.
We keep avoiding…