Today is Yesterday and Tomorrow

We live in the continuous present, even when planning for the future or ruminating on the past. This moment, this now, though evanescent, lingers in the air like a fragrance stimulating memory: the proverbial Proustian madeleine. Most moments do not allow for reflection as they occur because we are hurrying from pillar to post in the diurnal pursuit of the delay of death. Photos capture moments; words freeze time; art allows us to remain in the present even as we flee to the future.

I took the picture above on March 18, 2009, from the beach of the El Presidente Hotel, as the sun was setting off the coast of Cozumel. This photo captures the earth in flight and the illusion of the sun's dropping off the face of the earth. As we hurtle through the cosmos on our blue planet, we are not aware of the rotation of the earth or its movement around the sun. The only ways to perceive these phenomena with the naked eye are the movements of the sun, moon and stars. Urban inhabitants, we are far removed from this visible evidence of of our planet's velocity. The stars, our most profound connections to the past, are masked by ambient light and pollution. Stellar light brings us the origins of the universe; it reminds us we are all interconnected in the continuous present.