Object Permanence

Other than the fact that Object Permanence is the name of my next band (see album cover) as stated in Wikipedia,
Object permanence is the term used to describe the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.
Jean Piaget conducted experiments with infants which led him to conclude that this awareness was typically achieved at eight to nine months of age, during the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. Such experiments consisted of behavioral tests with infant subjects. The infant would be shown a desirable object or toy, for example, and the toy would then be covered by a blanket or otherwise obscured from view while the infant was watching. Some of the infant subjects would immediately exhibit signs of confusion or dismay. Piaget interpreted these behavioral signs as evidence of a belief that the object had somehow 'vanished' or simply ceased to exist.
Piaget concluded that some infants were too young to understand object permanence, which would tend to explain why they cry when their mothers were gone ("out of sight, out of mind").

Ah.... The wisdom of newborns who realize that impermanence is an undeniable and inescapable fact of human existence from which nothing that belongs to this earth is ever free. (urban dharma)

We cannot control the fact that we grow old, sometimes get sick, that we die, that things decay and are perishable. I lament over the hours, nay the years, that I have spent crying over spilt milk. Even now, I realize that I too often define myself by those things that I have lost; never being grateful for the moment. Crying over the inescapable truth of impermanence.

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course
lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow
a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

Kalidasa