RE: John Lennon, Zen, and the Plans We Never Make
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Wow! Ok, so this hits so many notes familiar to me. I've pondered the difference between being old and being young. There is the imminence of death when one is old...but death is always imminent. We just pretend it's not. Age just has more constant reminders. There is infirmity, that's true. But infirmity is not exclusively a condition of the old. The real difference is in a vision of the future. People spend their lives planning for a future. Until they are old. Then what? I think this accounts for the peaceful countenance one may encounter in the aged. They have arrived. They understand. The moment. It's now.
I've often heard it said, "If only I knew what I know now when I was younger..." Maybe this is one of the insights that would have served well in youth. Don't live for the future. Live in the moment.
Anyway, you can see you hit a note, a familiar note.
Great blog. Love the quote from Bashō .
I think you are right. When we get older, we just can't ignore it anymore. Having death stare us in the face has a way of making things more clear.