So, yesterday's question remains unanswered.
"Since death alone is certain and the time of death uncertain, what should I do?"
I suppose the obvious answer is: live as fully as possible...
I'm 55. I may have another 40 years ahead of me, or I might not see the sun come up tomorrow - so while I have this utterly weird thing called life, I guess I ought to make the most of it.
But how do I do that? How do I make the most of my life?
Chew on that for a while, Ravenscroft.
09:18 AM
"Since death alone is certain and the time of death uncertain, what should I do?"
I suppose the obvious answer is: live as fully as possible...
I'm 55. I may have another 40 years ahead of me, or I might not see the sun come up tomorrow - so while I have this utterly weird thing called life, I guess I ought to make the most of it.
But how do I do that? How do I make the most of my life?
Chew on that for a while, Ravenscroft.
09:18 AM
A few top-of-the-head things that obviously do NOT equate to 'making the most of it...'
- buying as many objects as possible, then buying some more
- becoming famous
- having as much sex as possible (and then, if not too sore, having some more)
- having (and enjoying) power over other people
- being over-concerned about weight, facial features, general physical appearance
- being over-concerned about the opinions other people may have of you
- being mentally crippled NOW by memories of past experiences
- being mentally crippled NOW by worries relating to possible future experiences
01:42 PM
Any of the above could be blog posts in their own right (and I expect some of them will be at some point in the future) - but the final two on that list are most vivid to me at the moment.
For the past few days I've been making a conscious effort to become fully aware of the present: not the present day, hour, minute or even second... but the present instant. Now. The moment just before I hit the key that will type a full stop at the end of this sentence.
There it was. Gone now. I'm in another present instant, and as I write those words, that instant too is in the past. Gone.
Spending as much time (whatever that is!) in the present moment is the key to something that I'm only now beginning to explore. As I think I said in a previous post, this blog is one of the tools I'm using to explore that something. Whatever it is, I can sense that it's very powerful and it's going to alter the way I see things and the way I relate to other people.
Quite exciting, really.
Posts
How about just being? Anyway, all the things you list only come up after the fact/deed, so you don't really know that you're there until after. Hence list is moot. Just trying to cheer you up.
ReplyDelete'Just Being' is, I'm sure, the answer, Merc.
ReplyDeleteBut it's how we can reach that state that I'm exploring here. I've had moments of 'just being' and they are wonderful - but until recently they've always been just moments. Five seconds at the most. Then the Thought Monkey starts to leap and gabble, and I'm no longer 'just being'.
What I'm edging towards is a state where 'just being' is the norm rather than the rare exception.
A dear deceased friend of mine left me with three nuggets: one was the "just being", another was that "you'll never know till after" and the third was "to attend to what's happening". I never could get the order right.
ReplyDeleteYour friend knew some stuff.
ReplyDelete'Attend to what's happening' is another way of saying 'live in the moment'. Susan Blackmore calls it 'paying attention'.
I never really understood it until recently: I thought it meant something like 'live for today' - but it doesn't. It means live for this precise moment. Now. A time period of less than a second.
And stay there.
Staying there is the REALLY tricky part.
Another suggestion, consider, and try to state as succinctly as possible, even in as little as one word, if possible, what your guiding life principle is. What is the ideal you pursue? Buddhist detachment? Compassion? Inner tranquility? Peace? Beauty? Harmony? Love? You've listed a number of things that it isn't, so focus on what it is.
ReplyDeleteYou can change it later, if you feel you don't have it quite right, but come as close as you can and write it down in one column of a chart with three columns labeled Ideal, Attitude, Manifestation.
Divide the second column into headers representing the different areas of your life -- family, friends, neighbors, community, writing, music, or whatever headings apply. Under each of those headings, write down what would be the ideal attitude to take toward each of those areas with regard to your guiding principle.
Finally, carry those same headings over to the third column and write under each two or three concrete ways that you can act out or manifest the attitude that represents your guiding principle. These should be concrete, verifiable behaviors. You can even say I will do this by a given date or at a given time, just as if you were setting goals.
Think of Jonathan Livingston Seagull choosing to manifest Perfect Flight as his ideal and then setting out to practice all the things that, to him, represented perfect flight -- high speed flight, pulling gracefully out of a high speed dive, and flying at night.
If, at some point, you come up with a more refined idea of your guiding ideal, the attitudes that represent it, or how to manifest it, just revise the chart accordingly.
Thanks, Elizabeth. Some useful ideas there, and I shall certainly play around with them.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the one-word statement, I know what my father's would have been. Contentment.
He never actually achieved it himself, but towards the end of his life he came closer than most.
Inner tranquillity will do for me, at least for the time being. I think that's what I want more than anything else.
I would have to think about what my father's would have been.
ReplyDeleteI should mention not to leave out things like personal finances and physical health when listing the areas of your life and figuring out the attudes and actions that express your guiding ideal.