Days lengthen, nights shorten, the summer solstice is nigh. My natal anniversary precedes the solstice by several days. The American male's average lifespan is 75.6 years. Statistically speaking that puts me in the game of life's final quarter.
Shuffling off this mortal coil has never concerned me. Perhaps, it's my fascination with philosophy. Why worry about the end of existence when I'm not even sure what existence is? The ontological starting point for western philosophy is Descartes' phrase, "I think therefore I am." Popeye said, "I yam what I yam and that's all I yam." What about the existence of the sweet potato?
Many Eastern philosophies believe existence is an illusion. The Buddhist concept of anatta, non-self, negates worries over material and physical being. The Buddha did not deny self, but denied the phenomenality of self. An enlightened person transforms from insignificant self to bhavit-atto (one of significant self). Try working that into a birthday card.
Many say the final quarter of a professional basketball game is the most exciting. That is what I expect of my final quarter. Life proceeds whether the Primal Bingo Caller's next ball is 2B or not 2B. As ever - BB
"Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, brief as the lightning in the collied night." - William Shakespeare from A Midsummer's Night Dream
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