Settling In

Reflections on Changing One's Scene

Here I sit on our tiny terrace with a spectacular view of the beach, the cliffs, and the ocean in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Gentle Algarve breezes bring welcome relief from the summer sun, and for the last couple of days I've been marveling at how different it is here from New York City. I'm currently reading The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, which, as you may know, takes place in a sanatorium high in the Swiss alps. One passage I read this morning really caught my attention since it echoed my own reflections.

(The translation is by John E. Woods)

"Habit arises when our sense of time falls asleep, or at least, grows dull; and if the years of youth are experienced slowly, while the later years of life hurtle past at an ever-increasing speed, it must be habit that causes it. We know full well that the insertion of new habits or the changing of old ones is the only way to preserve life, to renew our sense of time, to rejuvenate, intensify, and retard our experience of a variety of refreshing episodes. The first few days in a new place have a youthful swing to them, a kind of sturdy, long stride--that lasts for about six to eight days. Then, to the extent that we "settle in," the gradual shortening becomes noticeable. Whoever clings to life, or better, wants to cling to life, may realize to his horror that the days have begun to grow light again and are scurrying past; and the last week--of, let us say, four--is uncanny in its fleeting transience. To be sure, this refreshment of our senses of time extends beyond the interlude; its effect is noticeable again when we return to our daily routine. The first few days at home after a change of scene are likewise experienced in a new, broad, more youthful fashion--but only a very few, for we are quicker to grow accustomed to the old rules than to their abrogation. And if our sense of time has become weary with age or was never all that strongly developed--a sign of an inborn lack of vitality--it very soon falls asleep again, and within twenty-four hours it is as if we were never gone and our journey were merely last night's dream."

Be well.