writing across time
i've been thinking about the major tenant of my approach to life which is legacy.
legacy. contributing, leaving something behind in your making that will impact the world beyond yourself. my north star, leaving a tangible impact beyond my life. im not religious, i don't find comfort in an afterlife or 'everything happens for a reason' type of belief (not necessarily less valid btw). but creating and impacting beyond my life, to me, has great meaning.
i've been thinking about thinkers or creators that have left legacies. film, being a relatively new medium comparatively to writing, is also a way for someone to leave a legacy these days. when someone creates, or amplifies a perspective, they leave a legacy. they leave tangible evidence of their existence and their contribution to the world whether that be through discussion of existentialism or the worlds best chocolate chip recipe.
i've been thinking that those who have lived and passed, live on through transactive memory. when a friend dies, you carry intimate moments with you for the rest of your life, perhaps passing those memories onto others, so in a way they live on to. on the inverse of this, a part of you passes when someone dies too. those memories and experiences stored within that other person, their unique perspective of those events or you, also passes. we store parts of ourselves in others.
on this note of transactive memory however, is the process of preservation through writing. through documenting your perspectives or the positions of those close to you. on the topic of legacy, it seems to me a beautiful way of preserving your unique chapter in this world is through writing. that is to be said, of course, that it doesn't have to be an academic work (although i am working on one currently for uni), but even something personal just for you at this moment. even the most introspective of pieces, years down the line, have provided value to readers (such as meditations by aurelius).
it's something i don't think AI will be able to recreate or impersonate because i think to do so takes cumulative human experience to express. the taste of air on a bitter morning, the way some hues of colour disgust some and intrigue others... all quite irrational, but relatable qualities we see when people shape their inputs in life. the feeling of watching a friend go through their first heartbreak, and not knowing what to say because your 17 and very inexperienced, and those bilateral memories which shape our interpretations of the world, i don't think can be fabricated.
so as i embark on the next section of my life, i remind myself it is important to write. to get my thoughts onto paper, and limit my overconsumption of media in the name of growth. the best way, i am starting to think, to build ones legacy is through the documentation of the self and the self within the world. it is the least unique experience through time, people have been documenting their experiences from day dot (cave paintings etc.); which is what makes it all the more special. it a the thing that connects us, just as the experience of grief or love, throughout time.