Notions on the Edge of Immortality
The Happy Days:
The problem is, we only get one chance at this, with no do-overs. Life is, in effect, a non-repeatable experiment with no control. In his novel about marriage, “Light Years,” James Salter writes: “For whatever we do, even whatever we do not do prevents us from doing its opposite. Acts demolish their alternatives, that is the paradox.” Watching our peers’ lives is the closest we can come to a glimpse of the parallel universes in which we didn’t ruin that relationship years ago, or got that job we applied for, or got on that plane after all. It’s tempting to read other people’s lives as cautionary fables or repudiations of our own.
found via Siege
This story resonated with me this morning. I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if we truly lived it as if there were no tomorrow. If we got rid of all of our concepts of immortality, or reincarnation, and fully embraced that, for all the evidence we have, this is the only life we will ever get, what would our world look like? For myself, would it compel me to achieve more, do more, see more, or would I continue to do what I'm doing the way I've always done it. Would it be more fulfilling at that point to actively engage the world with my life, or to quietly contemplate and enjoy the moments given, or taken, guarding them with cautious and measured effort.