Human Mortality

Recently, I have witnessed the experience of friends dealing with the suffering of beloved aging parents. While the ailing parents suffer physical pain, their children must cope with the emotional debility and helplessness in the face of the oncoming and inevitable end. I have repeatedly encountered the unlikely sentiment that death is preferable to a diminished and painful life that no longer has meaning.

I am deeply moved by the (now well-known) experience of a neurosurgeon diagnosed with lung cancer in his thirties and his wife, as they bravely dealt with and documented the end. I am struck with their struggle to imbue his remaining life with meaning, their decision to have a baby and their belief that one always has a choice.

Few of us have answers and I certainly have only questions… So, I turned to the wisdom of the Hindu scriptures and the words of the ancient sages to find these comforting words: ‘The body has death, but not the soul. The body sleeps, the soul flies.’ and ‘He who lives the inner life knows that death is truly his resting-room. To him, death is anything but extinction. It is a meaningful departure.’ Yesterday, I wandered among the gravestones in the Christian cemetery across the street from my Alexandria home and read several words of comfort in the epitaphs: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’ and ‘He shall receive, in the world to come, eternal light.’

I’m sure we each seek to make our lives more meaningful each day. At the same time, we will each have to come to terms with our mortality. The New York Times so eloquently describes the 'symptoms of dying': https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/well/live/the-symptoms-of-dying.html

http://www.5oclockreflections.com/human-mortality/

 

The Little Boat

For a very long time now, the little boat has lived in her protected cove. Here she bobs on gentle waves, surrounded by the friendly familiar fish and safe from dangerous choppy seas. She carries only a distant memory of the open ocean and the peril lurking in its depths.

This little boat had once been new and shiny and her pretty painted colors distinguished her from all the rest. Foolishly, she braved the high seas: riding the great waves, glorying in the sunny skies and believing the waters would stay blue forever. She was unprepared for the unexpected storm that rolled forth from the seemingly calm heavens. She was battered by the deadly giant breakers. She almost buckled and capsized before the onslaught of these implacable elements. Still, her spirit remained unbroken and kept her going till the storm abated. Eventually, she found her little cove and righted herself to an even keel. The sun emerged to shine kindly upon her again.

While the colors of the little boat are somewhat worn, her spirit remains strong and her spine unbent. Today, her beauty has depth and is layered with a wisdom and humility that she did not have before. She loves her sheltered cove, but also sees the beckoning ocean just beyond its mouth. Now seasoned with years of knowledge and understanding, will her thoughtful experience allow her to venture to the sea again?

http://www.5oclockreflections.com/the-little-boat/

Back in Time

I could hardly process all the thoughts that came crowding to my mind. The day stretched longer than expected, but finally I was settled in the back seat of this little car. We sped along at dusk, on an oft-traveled and once familiar road, to the small town where I was born. Here was once the happy home I couldn’t wait to see each winter holiday, through my boarding school years. Here once lived my beloved parents and precious siblings, who together constituted my earliest and most carefree world. Here we have celebrated joyful weddings, rejoiced in new arrivals and grieved heartbreaking loss – experiencing together the defining moments and emotional milestones that mark all human life.

Familiar landmarks flew by in the summer darkness as the little car ate up each oncoming mile and its engine continued a noisy drone. I steadied my emotions and ordered my thoughts in these three hours, as I journeyed to the past and picked through all the memories. I found myself smiling a few times and, in other instances, my eyes filled up and brimmed over silently in the concealing darkness.

But then, we turned into a gate, I rang a doorbell and a door opened to spill a wash of welcoming light. It was time to leave the past and come out of the dark into the welcoming lit-up present. It was time to let go of my sentimental nostalgia for what used to be. It was time to enter this joyful present and look forward to a hopeful future…

http://www.5oclockreflections.com/back-in-time/

Traversing Distances

This past week has seen me travel thousands of miles – from DC to Chicago, then Chicago to Zurich to Mumbai. I have been encapsulated in gravity-defying, gargantuan metal tubes with gigantic magic wings. I have been nourished and cared for in this unreal shell, insulated from freezing temperatures and unfeeling elements, far above the earth’s surface. I never cease to wonder at the incredible human progress that allows us to be transported thus, over vast lands and high mountains and deep oceans, to arrive unerringly at a safe and specific destination.

And, I have traversed other distances. I met with friends not seen in over a decade, using technology to find them and bridge the interim years. I navigated emotional spaces, using words and images transmitted miraculously over telephone and satellite cables. I spanned intellectual divides, with the realization that deep connections extend beyond rational minds…

While modern innovation makes each crossing possible, I believe all journeys must still end in human contact. Ultimately, it narrows down to warm connections, shared experience and the age-old human touch. I am blessed to have so many loved ones, in so many distant corners of the world. But there is another side to this coin. No matter where in the world I might be, there is always a beloved person I am removed from - till it’s time to travel back.

http://www.5oclockreflections.com/traversing-distances/