Many people believe that in order to receive happiness in the next life we have to serve an ultimate being in this life. While we are serving an ultimate being are you happy, sad, angry, subtle, subdued, or just nonchalant? Why, when we are on earth do we worry so much about what will happen when we die? Why is our time orientation so fired up to include the future of the unknown?
I want to live in the now while preparing for tomorrow. Not next week, or next month but just tomorrow. I strive to live one day at a time, but in this ever fast paced world, tomorrow seems like it will never come and next week is sooo long way off.
But you do have to experience life to enjoy it. I guess that is why some people say 'experience is the best teacher'. Perhaps it can eventually teach us the purpose of life.
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Sunday Smiles
19 hours ago
2 comments:
Why do we focus on the future and dying? Easy. It is the same reason we teach our children to be good people: We want them to be good adults. It's why we work and go to school: Because we believe in deferred gratification and a rewarding life. It's why we prepare for tests: Because we want a decent shot at passing them. Everyone should have something to live for, and hopefully one of the reasons will be to feel ready for death (i.e. that we have done many commendable things in our lives and that when our time is due dying isn't so bad). Let's be smart about this. Just because we prepare for the end of our lives doesn't mean we're obsessed with death. A person who doesn't think about how the NOW will affect their lives later must be fond of the term "surprise me!" Don't get me wrong, I like surprises. I just want a certain amount of predictability if I work hard to live a happy, healthy life--like no cardio problems if I exercise, and no type II diabetes if I keep my weight down. You get the picture. On my deathbed I want to be able to feel peace in knowing that I gave my all to have a decent and rewarding life, no matter what happens after death, or whatever I believe will happen after death. And ultimately I want my children to say, "Damn, that was a wonderful woman!" I work in the hospital day in and day out and I see death nearly every week. If I don't learn from each of them I am wasting half my time in the hospital. I think about advanced directives, STD prevention, eating right, sleeping right, exercise, and most of all, what my children would do without me.
It's okay to think about death; it's the common denominator of all human beings. There is only one thing worse than remembering that your life will one day end.
It is NOT to remember.
Thanks for being so honest!
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