Waiting
takes us to the edge of ourselves.
Not
from the centre, outward, coming to our end, beyond which we are not; but travelling in the other
direction, arriving at the border beyond which we are.
That
is why a decision made in haste so very often turns out badly, in the long-term:
because one does not adequately know who it is that is making the decision (me)
and on what basis they (that is, I) do so.* But to have to wait, whether as a
result of our own limitations or the limitations of someone else, opens up a
space that wasn’t there before – a four-dimensional space (that is, composed of
both physical space, and time) – in which we can be found, and known.
However,
this only happens when we understand waiting not as the opposite of action, but
as a key action for living well.
If
I truly believed this, what difference would it make to how I live? Who would I
seek out as a conversation partner, in order to get to know myself better, and
in order to get to know someone else – not (in either case) as a problem to
fix, but as a person to delight in?
*Of
course, repeatedly making decisions in haste results in recurring bad outcomes;
which in turn feed the pressure to make decisions in haste.
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