Life's Layers
March 25, 2009
The other day I started thinking of a different way to think of life, that life is not a series of steps that an individual takes in his or her life where each step leads one away from one’s previous steps. Instead, each series of steps is layered over those series of steps that came before it. Because, really, we do not walk away from our actions and our words, rather we build on them. We are not going forward, because that would make the past as if non-existent, rather each experience is added onto those that came before it to create a layered life—a deeper life with more dimensions (layers). You may not remember previous layers, but that does not mean that they are not there.
Our layers are what form us. Here's hoping that our future layers are positive.
Posted by: JC | March 25, 2009 at 06:27 PM
Some times I think of the houses in Venice, where they build a floor, and it sinks, and they build another floor on top, and it settles funny, then they build another floor on top again, angled the other way to balance...
my life feels like that.
Other days I think of Hansel and Gretel, scattering crumbs over the landscape, leaving bits of myself behind wherever I go.
Posted by: kazari | March 25, 2009 at 08:58 PM
hopefully our experiences do build on another and we learn and grow. You don't move forward, you evolve, if you're lucky.
Posted by: Jessica | March 25, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Beautifully said. But sometimes I feel that instead of building up I'm digging down...Sad, isn't? All the best. Ciao. A.
Posted by: Antonella | March 26, 2009 at 10:19 AM
JC, or that the negative layers get pushed to the bottom by the weight of the happiness on top.
Kazari, great image: self as Venetian house. Those crumbs get eaten, I guess that's better than being pebbles in people's ways.
Jessica, evolution of self. This makes me think of those pictures where you have one thing and within a few pictures superimposed on it it becomes something else. I like the idea of not being tied to what I was but having all of those experiences as being transformational.
Antonella, how far down can you realistically go? You can never go back to what you were because that would make the present as non-existent. The digger you are is not the same woman who walked that walk.
Posted by: Laura | March 26, 2009 at 04:28 PM
llike an onion
or an ogre
or just, yeah, like life. It's definitely layered.
Posted by: D'Arcy | March 26, 2009 at 05:07 PM
I like the onion, the layers, the tree bark...
Posted by: Pseudo | March 26, 2009 at 10:08 PM
D,'Arcy, like a cake! The sweetest is usually the one on top, with the frosting.
Pseuro, the Grand Canyon. Layers are a natural part of the landscape and our personal scapes.
Posted by: Laura | March 29, 2009 at 05:12 PM