They keep saying life is “not linear.”
I keep hearing the Charlie Brown wah-wah-wah.
What does linearity have to do with way that I feel?
I hear “linear” and I picture the X and Y axis on graph paper projected onto the white board with one of those fancy “Elmo” cameras that replaced overhead projectors and transparencies.
I know it means something, to someone, but it doesn’t mean much to me.
“Time is not linear.” “Life is not linear.”
They say it like it’s supposed to soothe me, but all I see is y = mx+b, the formula for slope-intercept that still takes up space in my brain for reasons only known by God.
All this talk about linear and non-linear when I am angry. I am confused. I am wondering why them and not me? I am wondering when it will be my turn?
And they talk about linearity?
What kind of cowardly attempt to pacify my frustration is this?
The fact of involving a series of events or thoughts in which one follows another one directly: linearity.
Progressing from one stage to another in a single series of steps: linear.
I picture the X axis. I picture the Y.
I picture a line.
And I tell myself, ok, so life is *not* this. This is linear. And life is not linear. This is “something arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line.” This is “involving one dimension only.” And life is not… this.
This is linear. And life is not linear.
Life is not “something arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line.” Life is not “involving one dimension only.” Life is not “progressing from one stage to another in a single series of steps.” Life is not “a series of events or thoughts in which one follows another one directly.”
So what is it then?
We live in a linear vocabulary. Late and early, before and after, ahead and behind. Words that only measure one dimension, like a flat piece of paper. We assess points in our lives (and others’ lives) along the X and Y axes. We describe people as having done things “early” or feel a sense of impending doom about maybe doing things “too late.” We feel a sense of urgency to tick The Boxes, climb The Ladder, do The Things.
But if life is not linear, they say. No such thing, then, as early and late. before and after.
Maybe life is not a line, but a scatter plot. Not a piece of paper, but a sphere. Not a progression, but a random happening. Not an anticipated sequence of events, but a collection of events unique to each of us.
No order. No early. No late. Just happening (or not.)
Maybe life is a scatter plot on a sphere.
Words like first and second, next and last, mean nothing here. There is only existence of an event, or not. Over here, or over there. Not when, but where. No steps, no stages, no ladder, no rungs. No one is climbing anywhere. No one is moving towards or away from anything. Less trail, more outer space. Less anticipated-checkpoints, more brand new stories that write themselves as we go along.
Your brain is maybe like wtf right now. Maybe like, not following along. Maybe has started skimming and zoned out.
That’s because our brains have been born and bred into this linear world. And the entirety of our day, our society, our expectations, our Egos, our rituals and traditions and dreams and plans have been built around linearity.
If not an ever-advancing, forwardly-progressing series of events, then what is life?
A scatter plot on a sphere.