Carpe Diem! - but this time truly

Imagine yourself sitting on a hill, overlooking a lush green valley. On both sides of the valley there are serrated mountain ranges which are dressed in evergreens right up to their silver-white crowns. The weather is pleasant, you can feel the warmth of the sunlight, and smell the coolness of the breeze. You can see clouds moving past the mountains and over the valley casting their shadows on the houses scattered in the valley. For many of us, this a place where we can spend hours together just enjoying the view and never feel tired or bored of sitting there and doing absolutely nothing. At such a place, 'doing something' or 'to achieve something' loses its charm and at the same time 'not doing anything' does not carry any guilt.

 

If you have experienced such a place in your life before, this description takes your mind to a place which is peaceful, fully of positivity, and generally happy. This location could be different for each person - the sunsets at the golden-sand beach or the blissful trek through the wilderness. The corollary of this is also true: whenever we are asked to describe a time when we were truly happy, many of us would describe the time when they were at such a place. Most of us also aspire to one day be able to move permanently to such a location to be at peace and be truly happy. The question we must ask ourselves is why don't we feel truly happy wherever we are today and doing whatever we are doing today? Even if sometimes we do feel a sense of happiness in our day-to-day lives, why does this feeling not last longer than a couple of days? Why do we wake up the next day feeling an emptiness and an intense desire to fill this void?

 

In an attempt to answer this, I would like to discuss a phrase we all have heard/read: Carpe Diem - originally from the Roman poet Horace’s Odes and later immortalized by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poet's Society. As per the contemporary translation it means Seize the day. This phrase is profoundly motivational which inspires us to see the world differently and evokes thoughts of being able to make the most of the day akin to "taking the bull by the horns". So, it might be argued that all we need to do to be happy would be to seize the day and derive the happiness we desire. But for all of us who have lived by this rule at some point in time, would know that this is not easy. Is it because we did not seize the day wholeheartedly or is it because we didn't understand the phrase correctly?

 

When the phrase is read in the context of the poem, linguists argue that it means to pluck as in “plucking” of fruit or flowers. This distinction between pluck and seize could very well have the answer why we feel the emptiness. It might appear to some that we are quibbling about two metaphors which essentially mean the same. But far from it, this nuance in fact tells us a lot about the society we live in today.  Even though the two translations might appear to suggest the same, there is a subtle but significant undercurrent. Plucking is a metaphor to harvesting something that is ready whereas Seizing evokes emotions to wrest something forcefully. Plucking is akin to a gentler gathering of flowers for timely and deep enjoyment of present moment as compared to Seizing which suggests strong and persuasive snatching at time before it is gone.

 

In today's world, ‘Seizing’ the day has become synonymous of people trying 'to get things done' — restless, self-sustaining, successful individuals. This is further reflected in today's indulgence-obsessed consumer culture that goads us to ‘Just Do It’. In a world where everything including life experiences are commoditized and expensive; everyone is encouraged to develop a 'work till you drop' mentality as this will help them afford the hazardous economic lifestyles. Here, to seize the day means eat coffee for lunch, don't waste time sleeping, and be an aggressive doer. As per this definition of someone who has successfully seized the day - they would rather hit the ground running to make most of every minute, instead of stopping to smell the roses or truly enjoy the moment. 

 

We are living in a fast-paced winner-takes-it-all world of aggressive action, where time is conceptualized as a valuable commodity. We have all been taught that we could run out of time, we might be wasting time, or we might be spending time - all of these phrases unconsciously suggesting that time is like money and the best utilization of our time is to make more money or time. This is why we keep pushing out using up our time to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures; and postpone these to a later date. This is truly an antithesis of what the phrase intends to convey to us. In all the brouhaha of seizing the day, we have forgotten to enjoy the feeling of being alive. So, each day as we engage ourselves in seizing the day, wrecking the competition, and crushing it, in our aggressive pursuit of success; it would make sense to sometimes let our minds meander aimlessly in thought, take a stroll in the garden, maybe even stop a while and smell the roses, and if you have the time gather your rosebuds while you may.