La Voz de Galicia – May 15, 2020 →
This week I read statements by the great cinematographer Oliver Laxe that made me think a lot: «We have to realize that this is directly related to our way of being in the world, based on doing and having, and not exactly in being.» His interview made me ask myself how many of us will learn to be at this time; how many of us will be able to find the energy to, at least, correct the habits we know led to nowhere…
I must confess that I am more tired than ever. Some of my impressions during these two months have been similar to those I felt seven years ago when I began to say “no” to almost everything. I remember that process as a combination of weariness and liberation: I began to say «no» to things I had to do to spend time on those things I wanted to do. It was not an easy decision. And even now, not a day goes by that I don’t find myself at a crossroads. But if I learned something in that process I undertook (directly linked to my mother’s illness and her perception of time) was that «being» takes more time and energy than «having and doing.» One must be very clear about one’s purpose to avoid being swept away by temptations coming from somewhere else.
This is why when I read Oliver Laxe’s statements, in one of those moments where I simply have no time, I suddenly felt profoundly grateful because someone took the time to remind us that «stopping and looking at the world with a little distance» is a practice as important as it is indispensable in order to survive the reality about to come…
