The
cold has returned, it was 4 below zero F when I got up. It is 5.1 now
and it should warm up to the teens. Despite the chill it is a
beautiful day! The Sun is shining and there is hardly a breath of
air. I went out and did the chores in my shirtsleeves, it was bracing
but tolerable.
I
had to renew my driver's license this year. I won't have to do it
again until 2022. I am at the age where one can't help wonder whether
I will need to. I will be 87 then. We had a friend die suddenly and
unexpectedly last week. Just a few days before, the conversation came
up, about how most of our friends are our age, and may be slipping off
this mortal coil. I would not have picked this person to be the next,
if we had the the temerity to speculate. It was quite a surprise.
I
think people our age should get together and talk about death. I have
thought so for some time. I don't know anybody that does. I would
think that we would all come to some conclusion about it; although,
when I asked my father, “Do you think there is life after death?”
He replied, “I will find out.” That was the end of the
conversation.
I
can't imagine not coming to some conclusion. By the time I reached
forty I had too much concern about the subject not to think about it.
I had the thought that life was like jumping off a high building, the
ground [death] was coming at you with certainty. Time was the only
variable. At the time it was scary. Being an agnostic I had no
religion to comfort me.
By
that time, I had read all the religious texts and was familiar with
ancient beliefs. I learned a lot, but could never make a leap of
faith. Beliefs were beliefs. I wanted science.
I
had the great advantage of being a psychotherapist. I heard many
stories of near death experiences. I sometimes used hypnotherapy and
I migrated into using past life regression. Over the years I
developed a knowingness, that I was not a body, and what I was, could
not die.
I
don't think it matters if one thinks they live forever or that death
of the body is the end. Both can be comforting or not. What matters
is that people come to peace with the idea of the bodies mortality.
How can one be at peace to live life, if they are afraid of death? We
are not free until we eliminate fear, and fear of death, is a big
one.
On
a different note, but related to age; Naomi and Elijah came for
supper Friday and spent the night. They brought me a birthday
present, an Echo. I don't know how to describe it for those who don't
know. It is like Star Trek. It is small, the size of a large glass
and it is connected to the internet. Like the Star Trek computer one
can ask it questions and if the answer is available on the internet
one may get an answer. You can ask it to play a song and it will play
it. Good speaker too! We spent the Evening asking it to play old
songs. I got to hear folks songs by people like Josh White and Burl
Ives, besides the more recent classics of Simon and Garfunkel and the
Beatles, with some Willie Nelson thrown in. It was a great Evening.
But
the magic! The idea that all this energy is floating around us! We
just need to plug in a small device and tap into an amazing array of
music and information. [Of course we could do that with a radio- we just got accustomed to that miracle] [But we couldn't talk to radios or they wouldn't answer us back.] I was once a electronic technician and I am
still trying to understand electricity. We are so used to it we don't
realize how miraculous it is. It is like photosynthesis, sure I can
understand the scientific explanation, but a plant is still a miracle
to me.
When
I was a child none of this was a possibility, except in the most far
out science fiction. What will our future be like? Hey, maybe we
could look into the future on Wednesday.
We
need to take our usual Monday trip to the Amish for milk and maybe do little
shopping in town.
Happy
Monday!
Love
and Peace, Gregg
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