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I think that attitude plays a big part in how you feel about living a very long life. My parents are in their mid 80's and I can see the difference in their attitudes today vs ten years ago. Neither really seems to be enjoying life much anymore, and I can see almost a waiting for the end. However my wife's mom is also in her mid 80's and still has a lot of fun, and would like to go on as long as possible.
Health plays a lot into how you feel, from what I've seen. Also, it seems like being adaptable is important, folks who are pretty rigid seem to have more difficulty constructively accepting the changes that come with being very old. If someone hates or resents change, it seems to make aging much more difficult.
So, in my family -- until this year, I had 3 living relatives -- an uncle, and two cousins who were 98, 99 and 103 respectively. The 98 year old male died a couple of months after being sick off and on for about a year and bedridden for a couple of months. The other 2 are older and slower (one male, one female) but neither is in a nursing home, they both have their good mind and faculties, and seem to find enjoyment in their lives. And, at or nearly at, 100 years old-- they actually have family that they have known "all their lives" and grew up with still living and able to talk about the good old days (which I think is pretty cool...). As a family, we get together to celebrate their birthdays every year. One in May and the other in September. Last year, my uncle wanted an "all white" party :-) and we filmed my cousin doing the "single ladies" dance when she was 101 and posted it on You Tube. So, this weekend I will be doing the macarena, various line dances, and listening to Beyonce with family from 0 to 103.
I would enjoy living to be really old if I wasn't sick with it. They seem to be having fun and doing fine. I joke my 12 year old son, because my mother (78) tackled him to get to the snacks one day -- yeah, you're real tough when you get the beat down by a senior citizen. :-) At any age, once sickness and pain dominate your life, its not worth it but as long as you can still have fun with friends and family -- its all good... life, and you, may have to slow down -- but it can still be good... Just my 2 cents...
I have always had difficulty accepting that I shall cease to exist.
No, not difficulty.
More like a shrieking denial that non-existence can be real.
I have often felt like a female Woody Allen - without the humor. Obsessed with death.
I have a vivid memory of being in 2nd grade in Sacred Heart School. Dressed in the oppressive heaviness of the navy blue jumper that was the school uniform. I was in the girls' bathroom, sitting on the toilet, when intimations of mortality swept over me. It was not the first time that this existential nausea attacked me, but it is memorable for its viciousness. Don't think about it don't think about it was my mantra. We know how well that works.
By the following year, I had constructed my personal theology and would later learn that mine was not original. Throughout school, college courses in religion and a degree in philosophy, that theology never changed. Man creates god. So simple and so obvious. Believing in any of the myths of creation will not save me from non-existence. Self-consciousness is a cruel side effect of human evolution, the bi-cameral brain talking to itself.
I want to live forever.
I miss my young body, but I still derive enormous pleasure from having a mind. When my body becomes unusable, will I stop shrieking no?
I think, therefore I am.
A famous saying for a reason.
It's hard for all of us to grasp the fact that one day we will stop thinking and being.
But just as there is an Ultraviolet spectrum on one side of visible light and a Infrared spectrum on the other which our human eyes can't see, we all want to hang on to the possibility that other realm of physics called the spiritual world.
Is it coincidental that the majority of the entire human race believes this or can it just be a mass delusion ?
There seems to be a "God gene" hardwired in all of us that wants us to believe.
There's got to be a reason for it as one day we will leave this world and this simple belief allows us to make the journey back to where we came from once upon a time.
We all know, therefore we will.
I definitely think in general we are talking about living that long in relatively good health and with mind intact.
Even if healthy, alert, and lucid, I hope to be gone before I'm 90. Don't want to bury all those friends and family members.
What would I have to live for?
Even if healthy, alert, and lucid, I hope to be gone before I'm 90. Don't want to bury all those friends and family members.
What would I have to live for?
You may not have a choice. I read recently that people over 80 (or is it 90) are the population growing at the fastest rate in the U.S. This has so many implications, not only for those who do, but for our healthcare system, economy, and all sorts of social issues.
If I were a physically active person, I would like to live past 90. What I realize, however, is the burden I would be in any case.
I think, therefore I am.
A famous saying for a reason.
It's hard for all of us to grasp the fact that one day we will stop thinking and being.
But just as there is an Ultraviolet spectrum on one side of visible light and a Infrared spectrum on the other which our human eyes can't see, we all want to hang on to the possibility that other realm of physics called the spiritual world.
Is it coincidental that the majority of the entire human race believes this or can it just be a mass delusion ?
There seems to be a "God gene" hardwired in all of us that wants us to believe.
There's got to be a reason for it as one day we will leave this world and this simple belief allows us to make the journey back to where we came from once upon a time.
We all know, therefore we will.
Descartes put the cart before the horse. Je suis, donc je pense.
But even that mis-states the special form of being humans live - the Cartesian duality of body/mind performs an abstract separation that does not exist in reality. Human being is corporeal consciousness - talking about the mind and the body as separate entities is a convention that is necessary in pedestrian contexts, but it is one that obscures the essential and unique structure of human being.
It does seem that the 'God gene' is hardwired. What explains those of us who are unable to see anything more than infantile delusion? To me, religious belief is darn close to pathology.
A dear person in my life died this past week at 82. A wealthy man and philanthropist, he took meticulous care of himself, eating small portions and regular meals, regular exercise, lots and lots of community involvement every day. I was unable to attend his services and so did not learn how he died (I'd seen him recently, so it wasn't cancer).
In contrast there is my mother who lived ten years longer than him, came from a much lower status and wouldn't recognize a health food other than commercial oatmeal or Skippy peanut butter (I have to laugh at so many of us boomers with our exotic supplements, expensive hemp hearts and chia seeds, etc). She didn't exercise and was a recluse. No hobbies whatsoever. Why did she live ten years longer than him? Not genes; her parents and grandparents died in their 60s and 70s. Was being a really crochety demanding personality what kept her alive all those years?
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