I read newspapers every day, but I do not always read them thinking I will be inspired by something that I can, then, use in writing one of these inspirational reflections. But recently, I was inspired by a piece I read in an online newspaper. It was a piece entitled, “The Problem of ‘Living in the Present.’” The author is Keiran Setiya, whom I did not know, but learned is a Professor of Philosophy at MIT. MIT is perhaps the most elite American university for science and technology, so I figure anyone teaching philosophy there has to be good, too. I was not disappointed.
Fairly soon in my reading of the article, I began to figure out where Setiya was going. Setiya is certainly not again living in the present moment, as so many self-help folks enjoin us to do. But Setiya is more nuanced in what living in the present moment means. I find this detail a welcomed way to think about it and, therefore, share it with you. Setiya plays with the reader a bit by acknowledging many of us are really tempted to live in the past---served by nostalgia. The present is not always any fun and the future for too many of us is threatening and despairing. But we all know, we cannot really live in the past.
This is where Setiya is helpful. In this help he turns to a figure from the classical era, namely, Aristotle. It was at this point, I figured I knew where he was going. Setiya begins in a disarming fashion. He says, “The beginning of wisdom here is to think about what we are doing.” He lists a variety of thing we do: read a newspaper, reflect on life, and so on. Then he begins to nuance it by distinguishing two kinds of activity. The first kind he calls “telic activities.” The word comes “from ‘telos,’ the Greek word for purpose — aim at terminal states, by which they are completed. Think of “driving home from work. Once you arrive at the goal, you are finished.” I have many telic activities during my day, beginning with brushing my teeth!
The other kind of activity uses the opposite Greek word, which we get simply by putting an “a” in front of “telos.” Hence we have “atelic” activities. Here the issue is not the goal or purpose. The issue is the process. In effect, atelic activities are never finished. Setiya says, “They do not aim at terminal states. However much you reflect on life or spend time with your family, you cannot complete these activities. Though you will eventually stop doing them, they do not aim at a point at which there is no more of them to do.”
These atelic activities are the key to living in the present. Unlike brushing my teeth (a telic activity), atelic activities are never finished. However, I can do them fully in the moment. And typically, these are the sources of meaning. Setiya offers good examples. He notes, “There is nothing you need to do in order to perform an atelic activity except what you are doing right now. If what you care about is reflecting on your life or spending time with family or friends, and that is what you are doing, you are not on the way to achieving your end: You are already there.”
His example helps me see why I can do an atelic activity---like reflecting on life---and do that fully in the moment. But I don’t finish reflecting on life, never to do it again. I do it fully in the moment, but I never finish it. It can be fully satisfying to reflect on life in the moment and, yet, I am not disappointed or frustrated if I reflect on life again tomorrow. I know I have never finished or achieved what I was doing. Doing that again is not the same thing as reading a newspaper article (a telic activity).
Setiya comes to his main teaching, which I very much life. “To live in the present is to appreciate the value of atelic activities like going for a walk, listening to music, spending time with family or friends.” I understand this. The word I like in this quotation is “appreciate.” I think atelic goals are ones we can appreciate. This is what makes it spiritual for me. I read a newspaper or mow the grass. But they are telic---there is a goal and when I reach it, I’m done. Listening to music or spending time with my friends is not like mowing the grass. I cannot see the results, but the experience can be deeply satisfying. And it can be deeply spiritual.
Neither Setiya nor I want to discount telic activities. They are important. I would count studying for an advanced degree so I could learn and teach as a worthy telic goal. I worked long and hard for that, but I did graduate, got a diploma and was finished. But it is not the same as spending time with friends. I won’t get a degree nor a diploma. But I will get the sense that I am doing one of the most important things in my life.
Setiya’s article sets me up to think about the spiritual adventure in life. My spiritual adventure is not heading somewhere specific like a trip to New York takes me “there.” The spiritual adventure in a deep sense is an adventure of love. God is love and the spiritual adventure is developing a relationship with a Lover. I do it today and again tomorrow I want to do it. It is never “the same old thing.”
That’s what present time living is like---an adventure in love.
Fairly soon in my reading of the article, I began to figure out where Setiya was going. Setiya is certainly not again living in the present moment, as so many self-help folks enjoin us to do. But Setiya is more nuanced in what living in the present moment means. I find this detail a welcomed way to think about it and, therefore, share it with you. Setiya plays with the reader a bit by acknowledging many of us are really tempted to live in the past---served by nostalgia. The present is not always any fun and the future for too many of us is threatening and despairing. But we all know, we cannot really live in the past.
This is where Setiya is helpful. In this help he turns to a figure from the classical era, namely, Aristotle. It was at this point, I figured I knew where he was going. Setiya begins in a disarming fashion. He says, “The beginning of wisdom here is to think about what we are doing.” He lists a variety of thing we do: read a newspaper, reflect on life, and so on. Then he begins to nuance it by distinguishing two kinds of activity. The first kind he calls “telic activities.” The word comes “from ‘telos,’ the Greek word for purpose — aim at terminal states, by which they are completed. Think of “driving home from work. Once you arrive at the goal, you are finished.” I have many telic activities during my day, beginning with brushing my teeth!
The other kind of activity uses the opposite Greek word, which we get simply by putting an “a” in front of “telos.” Hence we have “atelic” activities. Here the issue is not the goal or purpose. The issue is the process. In effect, atelic activities are never finished. Setiya says, “They do not aim at terminal states. However much you reflect on life or spend time with your family, you cannot complete these activities. Though you will eventually stop doing them, they do not aim at a point at which there is no more of them to do.”
These atelic activities are the key to living in the present. Unlike brushing my teeth (a telic activity), atelic activities are never finished. However, I can do them fully in the moment. And typically, these are the sources of meaning. Setiya offers good examples. He notes, “There is nothing you need to do in order to perform an atelic activity except what you are doing right now. If what you care about is reflecting on your life or spending time with family or friends, and that is what you are doing, you are not on the way to achieving your end: You are already there.”
His example helps me see why I can do an atelic activity---like reflecting on life---and do that fully in the moment. But I don’t finish reflecting on life, never to do it again. I do it fully in the moment, but I never finish it. It can be fully satisfying to reflect on life in the moment and, yet, I am not disappointed or frustrated if I reflect on life again tomorrow. I know I have never finished or achieved what I was doing. Doing that again is not the same thing as reading a newspaper article (a telic activity).
Setiya comes to his main teaching, which I very much life. “To live in the present is to appreciate the value of atelic activities like going for a walk, listening to music, spending time with family or friends.” I understand this. The word I like in this quotation is “appreciate.” I think atelic goals are ones we can appreciate. This is what makes it spiritual for me. I read a newspaper or mow the grass. But they are telic---there is a goal and when I reach it, I’m done. Listening to music or spending time with my friends is not like mowing the grass. I cannot see the results, but the experience can be deeply satisfying. And it can be deeply spiritual.
Neither Setiya nor I want to discount telic activities. They are important. I would count studying for an advanced degree so I could learn and teach as a worthy telic goal. I worked long and hard for that, but I did graduate, got a diploma and was finished. But it is not the same as spending time with friends. I won’t get a degree nor a diploma. But I will get the sense that I am doing one of the most important things in my life.
Setiya’s article sets me up to think about the spiritual adventure in life. My spiritual adventure is not heading somewhere specific like a trip to New York takes me “there.” The spiritual adventure in a deep sense is an adventure of love. God is love and the spiritual adventure is developing a relationship with a Lover. I do it today and again tomorrow I want to do it. It is never “the same old thing.”
That’s what present time living is like---an adventure in love.
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