Life – a short holiday from oblivion.

Someone asked me earlier today why I was concerned with death. They wanted to know why, if I didn’t believe in any afterlife, I was making it such a big thing.

Death preoccupies people because it is such a big thing. We have such a fleeting existence in this eternity, in such a beautiful universe and fabulous life. Shame it is so short. I shall be very sad to say goodbye to it. But it fills me with wonder and ecstasy to think that evolution has given me the senses and brain to develop the consciousness to appreciate it.

I aim to make the most of every minute.

I’m glad that many of you feel that one day you will die and wake up with a perfect body – just like Jesus. Personally I’d prefer a perfect body just like Halle Berry. But I don’t think either of those things is ever likely to happen. It sounds a bit too much like human wishful thinking and inability to cope with the idea of death. We find it hard to believe the universe will go on for ever and that we won’t be here.

I’m OK with that.

I’m not looking forward to it but the idea of spending infinity doing anything, even the most wonderful things, is my idea of hell. Everything, even bliss, gets boring after a while, so to imagine it going on for trillions of years is bad enough, for ever is really dismaying.

It’s kind of nice to have such a short time and make the most of it – like a short holiday from oblivion.

Open Your Eyes – A Poem about all Possibility!!

Open Your Eyes

 

We open our eyes into a wondrous place;

Close them and it is gone.

 

What gives it meaning?

 

‘Curing the sick,’

Says the physician,

Operating on the tiny child.

‘Giving life to the dying,

Hope to the parents,

Relief to those in pain.

That provides the meaning.’

 

Understanding the universe,’

Says the scientist,

Solving the problems of the world.

‘Finding what makes the atoms tick,

Where we came from

And the secrets in the depths of space.

That provides the meaning.’

 

‘Making something beautiful,’

Says the artist,

Creating something unique.

‘Crafting a scene so wondrous

That it moves the soul

And opens the heart to love.

That provides the meaning.’

 

‘Caring for those in need,’

Says the nurse,

Smoothing the hair from the troubled brow.

‘Providing comfort

From the stress and strain,

From pain and fear.

That provides the meaning.’

 

‘Worshipping God,’

Says the Bishop

On her knees in prayer.

‘Giving thanks for our lives,

The wonders of the universe

And hope for all eternity.

That is what gives life meaning.’

 

‘Living in the wonder of the moment,’

Says the atheist.

‘Taking pleasure in the awe

Of each and every moment

And wanting nothing more.

That is what gives life meaning.

 

We open our eyes into a wondrous place;

Close them and it is gone.

 

What gives it meaning?

 

Opher 25.7.2018

 

 

Sometimes it is important to reflect that life is short and means different things to different people.

Perhaps there is no meaning other than what we give it?

All I know is that we are born; open our eyes into a place of wonder; live our lives, and then close our eyes and it is gone.

What takes place in between is a product of our desires, our cultural perspective, our indoctrination, our free will and our experiences. Perhaps nothing more.

We live in a moment. We can choose what we make of that.

Poetry – Wining to the End – a poem about experiencing life to the full and evaluating the worth.

It is good to reach an age when you can look back over a life and feel the wonder. There are many things that you might have done differently but then you would not have been where you are.

Experience gives you perspective and appreciation.

I have been fortunate to have lived through such times, times of peace, freedom and plenty, and to have found so much love and fulfilment.

There are not many times in history or places in the world that have offered such sanctuary, liberty and lack of mind control. It has enabled me to blossom.

There are many mountains I have not climbed and many more I hope to scale. I expect the views to be magnificent.

I hope my grandchildren will experience a world full of challenge but with opportunity and without the fetters that can narrow a young mind.

An imprisoned mind cannot savour the taste of such heady liquor as life brings.

Wining to the End

Last night I sat alone with my bottle of wine

And sipped the tiniest sip of the very last drops.

I swirled the red liquid around the bottom

And saw my reflection in the bottle.

I have loved the most beautiful women

Loved until nothing else mattered;

Wondered at the moon,

Fallen through the stars

Travelled to the worlds of new ideas,

And seen the best that men can do.

I have tried to make sense of galaxies and cathedrals,

Listened to men whose eyes glinted with passion

And experienced the greatest lusts.

I have read the most considered words

And wrestled with majestic ideas,

Found causes and ideals I would die for,

And seen the worst results

From men whose eyes were hard and selfish

Yet glowed with excitement.

I have considered heaven

And imagined hell,

The greatest minds

And the most depraved,

Drunk myself unconscious,

Opened my mind to wonder

Art, poems and stories,

Written, daubed and waffled.

I have despaired at fun

And empty lives

And sought meaning and fulfilment.

I discovered it in family, friends and sharing

And a thousand kind words.

I have travelled and marvelled

And taken so many sips and gulps

And now I am at peace savouring these

Last few,

For only in them is the flavour fully distilled.

 

Opher 24.3.01

Philosophy of life.

Everything starts with philosophy. That is the essence to inform everything you do.

Every human needs a philosophy. This is mine:

  • To try doing the things that take me out of my comfort zone
  • To conquer my fears
  • To try to do the greatest good
  • To cherish the moment
  • To live life to the full
  • To love
  • To value others
  • To be myself
  • To be free
  • To be in control of myself
  • To avoid indoctrination
  • To oppose racism, misogyny and bullying
  • To be a free thinker
  • To delve into everything
  • To respect others
  • To fight for human rights
  • To seek pleasure
  • To respect nature and fight to protect the environment
  • To respect and protect animals, promote animal rights
  • To think
  • To appreciate beauty
  • To enjoy reading, music and film
  • To create in whatever way I can
  • To communicate
  • To travel and see
  • To look and listen
  • To grow – to always grow
  • To promote equality
  • To be kind and compassionate
  • To oppose hatred, intolerance, bigotry, cruelty, bullying, brutality and narrow-mindedness and speak out when I feel something is wrong
  • To write
  • To keep healthy
  • To oppose war and violence
  • To protect the ones I love
  • To cherish my family
  • To be a citizen of the world
  • To promote harmony but not shirk controversy
  • To read and understand
  • To promote democracy
  • To oppose exploitation and oppression
  • To be happy and fulfilled
  • To oppose blind superstition
  • To be rational and logical
  • To learn
  • To make my voice heard
  • To protest about what is wrong and fight to put it right
  • To find solutions and not just problems
  • To promote a positive zeitgeist

There’s more but I think you get the gist. It pervades everything I do. If you follow my blog you will see it in everything I have place there.

You might say that it is not a philosophy; it’s a list. But I say it is. It is the basic premise I apply to all I do in my life.

Philosophies of life

philosophy philosophy2

Every life is based upon a simple philosophy.

Mine is no exception.

I seek fairness, freedom, wisdom, equality, justice, love and happiness. I seek to communicate and create.

It seems strange to think that your whole reason for being can be summed up in a few words but it can. This is what some would call – my mission statement. Everything I do stems from this core of aspirations.

I am driven.

There are many philosophies that abound in the people around us. Most people are not even aware that they have a simple philosophy, but they do.

Some feel their philosophy is foisted upon them by circumstances – but it isn’t. We all choose the philosophy we select to live by. We all have the ability to change it if we wish.

Here are a selection of philosophies people choose to live by:

To set out to gain wealth. To work hard for profit. To save and accrue wealth. To live for money, invest in money, amass a fortune, purchase the status symbols and trappings and bask in the midst of the fortune we have gained.

To seek power and do whatever it takes to become powerful. To threaten, connive, lie, cheat and bribe your way to the top. To have others bow and scrape. To order others about and do whatever takes your whim. To be the biggest most feared and powerful around.

To seek sex. To make oneself attractive and learn the art of seduction. To spend your life enticing, chasing and seducing and have a tally-stick of conquests.

To give reign to hatred and seek revenge. To connive, conspire and destroy those who you would blame.

To be cool.

To dedicate your life to religion – to worship, purify, perform ritual and prayer in the hope of attaining heaven and communing with a deity.

To create music, art, dance……………..

To seek someone to love, to fall helplessly in love, have children, provide a safe home with security and live happily ever-after.

Notoriety.

To adore nature, plants and living creatures. To want to surround yourself with the natural world and marvel at the beauty and majesty of living plants and creatures. To want to conserve, protect and support them.

To be noticed, live in the public eye, be admired and gain celebrity.

To live a life of greed and gluttony in which every sense and desire is sated. To eat, drink, purchase, indulge and do everything to excess, until you can consume no more and are replete.

To enjoy a past-time – cycling, skate-boarding, guitar……….

To be the best in a sport, a game or a profession and drive oneself relentlessly to achieve more for its own sake. To be admired by other professionals, Achieve the pinnacle and achieve the accolades.

To immerse yourself in culture and appreciate all the finer nuance of sophistication.

To follow another, a cause or a person and subordinate all that you do to them.

To develop the perfect body and seek to perfect each contour, muscle and feature with cosmetic surgery, drug regimes, exercise and make-up.

To have the easy life where you have everything you want without effort. It is one lottery card away, one perfect crime.

To altruistically dedicate your life to helping others less fortunate and save lives and make their hell more bearable.

To wish to escape from reality and explore the possibilities of all sensations.

To live the easy life, lie back and let it all go by.

To pit yourself against challenges and overcome them.

These are merely a sample. We all have our personal combinations that are our goals and drivers. Some of these philosophies are empty, some pipe-dreams and some positively destructive. Some we delude ourselves with.

If you stand back and analyse your motivation you can see that the philosophy you chose leads you through life by the nose.