A kind of an opening.

It seems to me that there might be another way of naming what we call fortune and attribute to the will or the whim of the gods. Which offers a kind of opening. The opportunity to act for ourselves. To try something that might force events into a different course.

These lines are taken from Australian novelist David Malouf‘s latest book Ransom in which he “re-works” the story from Homer’s Illiad of the meeting between King Priam of Troy and Achilles. Previously Priam’s son, Prince Hector, had killed Achilles son Patroclus. In revenge, Achilles had in turn slaughtered Hector. Now Priam has come to beg for the return of Hector’s body.

Yet, when they meet, each is changed by seeing the meeting and each other through different eyes. Achilles sees in Priam an image of his own father. Priam sees, in Achilles, a vision of his dead son. They see, in the other, a reflection of their own past and perhaps a glimpse of their own future. And, of course, this changes what they do.

As I read these lines I began to reflect on just what it takes to grasp these moments of differing perception before they slip away. Several things strike me:

1. Start exactly where you are. While every new story will have a beginning, middle and end when we look back with hindsight, it is rare for these to be obvious at the moment of insight. It’s a bit like writing now we have word processors. Perhaps the beginning, middle and end won’t actually happen in that order. But that doesn’t matter because we can “re-order” them.
2. Go with you instinct. Just start doing what seems to be called for. In fact don’t just “trust” your intuition, however quietly it speaks to you. Obey it!
3. Act first, then analyse. At this point too much thinking allows space for the voices of commonsense and conventional rationality to get in. The voice of doubt and rational advice can be very convincing if you give it time and space. At this point let action and your emotions guide you.
4. Improvise first, craft second and systematise last. Once again it is a bit like writing. Just get something down/done first. Then go back and do the crafting, tweaking, correcting of the spelling etc. In the case of action don’t try to make sense of it too soon. It will be easier to make sense of what has happened when more has happened.
5. Notice the incorporation or integration. It is astonishing how quickly, if you are truly on a new path that makes sense,  a new way of seeing things and acting accordingly seems to fit with the ideas and practices that didn’t need to change.
6. Watch out too for the consequential insights. Once you have seen one thing in a fresh way other things will also take on a different aspect. Heighten your awareness to these shifts as well.

I can’t resist finishing this piece with two of my favourite quotes, both from the French writer Marcel Proust.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

The world was not created once and for all time for each of us individually. There are added to it in the course of our life things of which we have never had any suspicion.