Sergio Ragaini

The Door of Time Sergio Ragaini

A day of Early Autumn of the year 2017. An Early Autumn looking Summer: it was still so hot, raising 30 degrees. Michael was there, in the Courtyards of the University of Pavia, where he studied many years ahead. He was there because, that Afternoon, hew was close to there, also if for a sad motive. And, coming back to Milan, where he was awaited in the Evening, he, being Pavia on his way, decided for a stop. A way of literally "drown" in Memories, transported by the echo of the past. He, arriving in Pavia, recognizes nothing about that City: everything looked new: in so many years, things around us change, especially in this World, where, now, evolution is much quicker than it was in the past. But, arriving close to his former University, and entering into it, he was suddenly overwhelmed by reminds: like a flash, like an everlasting emotion, the days of his University Studies were there, and he could perceive them. But it was just a projection, a sensation, a blink into himself. The reality was different: everything was changed. It was true that the Courtyards were still there, included the "Magnolias Courtyard," filling up, close to summer, the air with its scents: but these Courtyards were there long before he arrived into that University! They were there, with their charge of atmosphere, but all the rest was different. Included the fact that his old Mathematical Institute was no longer there, since long time. The past, however, can't be rewound. It has gone, faded away. And if it was untrue? And if that Past could be reversed, rewound, in a moment, giving Michael a second chance for his Life? And, if this would be possible, are we sure that it would be the right choice for Michael? Maybe, the choices we did in the past were the best for us. After all, when we take a crossroad into our Life, trough a Decision, we don't know what would have happened if we had chosen the other way. We can just be aware of the beginning of the other path: but just of the beginning of it; nothing else. So, this Book could also be a way of reflecting upon the fact that it's useless, and even harmful, regretting the Past. When we chose something, in the Past, we did it out of the tools and knowledges we had in that moment. So, according to them, our choice was correct. It really was the best choice to be performed. Now, maybe, we'd chosen otherwise: but now, with what we have in our hands. It's senseless to evaluate the past by the future's viewpoint. And it must be reminded. But, finally, the book is also a way to affirm that Life is wonderful, anyway. Also when everything looks lost, also when hope seems dissolved..... Life is always able to offer us something special, something that tells us that it deserves to be lived. And that, also when everything looks lost, there's always another chance. As it is said in the final of "Dancer in the Dark," by Lars Von Trier, "It's not the last song, if you let it be." And, maybe, this is the message of this book: fully living the Present Moment, aware that Life is in the Here and the Now, as the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh affirms. And, by fully living it, without clinging to the Past, regretting it, the best of Life can blossom, at any moment. And we can really be in touch with its best emotions, with its best colors, inside and outside us.