Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
I would be more interested in living out a natural lifespan--in a 25 year old body. The earth can't support human beings who live for a thousand years but I just don't look forward to my body slowly breaking down until I can't even go to the bathroom unassisted.
If science got to that point and required me to die at 100 even though I could still live longer in a body in good condition--I'd take that deal.
I believe in reincarnation. Our body dies, our soul goes to a place it can rest and be ready to live again and we are reborn. It carries the wisdom its learned to the next life. And some of the baggage. If you leave life with unanswered issues, and you can't make peace with them, they are born into the next life until you can let them go. There are those who get called 'old souls' because they seem to have more wisdom and peace about life than they should, but then it has been learned in many others.
If you consider the term 'life' an organic one, no, I wouldn't want to live forever, even if my body did not break down. The rest of non life gives time to be away from the stress of living and find the gains and the losses so the next life may be better.
If you consider the soul, then we do 'live' forever, or until we've come to ultimate peace and do not need to 'live' anymore.
Imagine a life after all your friends, closest relatives, and everyone who was important to you in ways good or bad, and all of your life's triumphs and defeats are all gone and forgotten. Imagine outliving your children and most of your grandchildren, including all your brothers and sisters and their progeny.
What does a very old person have in common with everyone else around them except for the very few who are as old as they? The answer is nothing much at all. There always comes a time in a person's life when the past fills up more of them than the present, because there's so much of the past in them. That's where their minds are the most comfortable because there is so much there to take comfort in.
There are very few people who have the innate ability to continue to rejoice in what's coming up in the future, and what the future holds for them.
For the young, the future is where they will spend most of their lives, so the young are very concerned with looking forward, hoping to avoid the worst that life brings while hoping to enjoy the best that the future may hold.
There's always a point in a person's life when the realization that they are closer to the end than the beginning happens. It seldom happens all at once, but year by year, as the evidence grows and lands on them, the realization that they are now old, not young, sets in.
Only a very few of us are content with that. They all seem to have the ability to accept that they are no longer young, but don't let the powers of the past overcome them.
Those lucky few still continue to engage and participate in the day they are given, with the same enthusiasm they always had ever since they were young, but the are, and have always been, a very rare bunch of us. They will readily admit they don't have very much longer to go, but that doesn't matter to them because they can still enjoy what will happen today and tomorrow, for as many tomorrows as they get.
I've met a a few; several years ago, a guy who loved to fiddle drove over 800 miles to attend a small fiddler's festival, and I had the pleasure of backing him up on the guitar when he competed. His best days on the fiddle were far behind him, but he still relished getting up and doing his best, knowing full well there would be no reward in it for him other than the joy of competition.
I asked him if he would come back next year, and he said "At 90, that trip is a lot harder than it was when I was 30. I'm still up for it, but it wears my wife out now." And left it at that.
That's the kind of attitude that leads to a long life. He never did come back, but I'm sure he found another little contest closer to home, and I hope he's still sawing away these days.
I believe in reincarnation. Our body dies, our soul goes to a place it can rest and be ready to live again and we are reborn. It carries the wisdom its learned to the next life. And some of the baggage. If you leave life with unanswered issues, and you can't make peace with them, they are born into the next life until you can let them go. There are those who get called 'old souls' because they seem to have more wisdom and peace about life than they should, but then it has been learned in many others.
If you consider the term 'life' an organic one, no, I wouldn't want to live forever, even if my body did not break down. The rest of non life gives time to be away from the stress of living and find the gains and the losses so the next life may be better.
If you consider the soul, then we do 'live' forever, or until we've come to ultimate peace and do not need to 'live' anymore.
Christ no way. I hope I check out before November.
I've already over stayed my time here.
Getting old sucks. The world sucks.
The human race totally sucks.
What the hell is the point of sticking around especially because things are just getting worse and worse. I'd stick around if we had a zombie apocalypse though.
If I could remain strong and in good health then yes, of course I would prefer not to die.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
