Orbit

If we compare persons and objects in motion with persons and objects at rest, we may show some curiosity about how the person or object at rest came to be at a particular place and even some mild concern for how they got there, but the persons and objects in motion trigger our senses of drama, apprehension, and often evoke outright envy.

Motion and stasis are ways by which we may consider ourselves, story, and Reality. With the possible exception of the beckoning fascination of a campfire, there is little than can impress us as much as movement.  

"There is a man or woman going places," we say of an individual who seems in motion on a path toward a distinguished destination. "There goes the neighborhood," we've said, at times in recognition of decay, urbanization or, I'm more recent terms, gentrification.

These are some of the many terms we use in relationship to individuals who appear to be living enactments of the kind of force in motion we call a vector. Many of these terms produce the kinds of emotions in real life that we see dramatized in story. And when we hear the warning to "Look out for that rock," we know we've been alerted to a force of nature we may not be able to control.We also understand how Nature, if such we call it, has the capacity to amaze and enrich our lives as well as the ability to take it.

To some degree, you are a contemplative individual, often considering the terrain about you from behind a mug of coffee or a tall glass of chilled ale or Pilsner, but as well, you've put in your time in motion in both literal and figurative senses, moving toward elected goals, moving away from behavior or tendencies you may no longer find agreeable.

To the extent that you studied basic astronomy at the university and have inspiration, causes for awe, and causes for wonder by observing the day and night skies from numerous perspectives, you are aware of being resident on a large, circular sphere of remarkable composition, being drawn by unseen tugs of gravity and momentum in an orbit, through a universe that seems, even with your limited perspective of such matters, to be in a near constant state of expansion.

As much as factors such as direction and momentum have effects on story and on life, here you are to venture that orbit, which is the curved or elliptical path of a body through some medium, relates even more in metaphor and actuality. From the moment of conception, we are on an orbit to birth, at which point we are launched into yet another, sometimes of our making, other times not, being propelled by the gravitational forces coming from Life which, if not a celestial entity, is certainly an energy field. 

In your speculations about the nature of things, you have grown over your years to equate life with story, since each has beginning, middle, and end, as well as orbiting qualities that include our tendencies and quirks. 

For reasons you do not completely understand or perhaps do not understand at all, being in an orbit seems more of a comfort to you than being on a more linear path. Revolving about Life, about other individuals and falling rocks, seems more of a condition where you have a small amount of control, rather than the more linear and direct straight line.

One of your favored examples of a story became favored when you recognized it was a perfect example of an orbit rather than a straight line. At one time, the story of Sisyphus and his rock was merely a cautionary tale left over from the older days of human endeavor and the interactions of humans with gods. Seeing it as orbital allows you to see the unexpected magic of how a true story is not linear but orbital, can begin in several different places, each potential beginning a potentially different point of view.

This vision allows you the luxury of differing visions for differing needs; it is an unexpected reward for following story in its orbit about Reality while you are following your personal orbit about Life.