The A-Z has
playlist finally run its course. It’s in random mode. Today’s blog begins with
“Nikita” by Elton John playing in the background.
It’s been an
interesting week as far as medical issues go. A well-meaning case of too much
information kicked off a minor panic which brought with it all the usual
ponderings on the meaning of life, the existence, or not, of an afterlife and
all the other obvious ponderous ponderings that come when mortality seems more
imminent than usual.
Blogs should
be fun and interesting, and I’ll try, but this one might be doomed to a place
in the muck before it begins. Faith is serious business, especially to
believers. To non-believers it may even more serious as alternative
possibilities are limited.
To begin: it
seems strange that some doctor’s proclamation of pending mortality should have
any real meaning. If, as an example, a medical professional states that you have
two years to live, does that count as a guarantee of no less than 23 months?
That’s actually a better guarantee than you had before walking into the office.
Should you feel cheated if after only 8 months you’ve accidentally killed
yourself in a culinary accident? Concerned about that pain in your chest? Why?
You’ve got 15 months remaining.
At this point
the playlist selection: “Because You’re Young” by David Bowie. No we’re not,
read the blog.
Praise the
Lord. Really? But what is the Lord’s role in all of this? (I’m working this
section on the assumption that there is a Lord.) Is it right for one to pray
for a cure? To ask for a special blessing? To make a pilgrimage to Lourdes? If
there is a Lord isn’t the end desire to return to his or her presence? What is
the correct response that one should have for “bad” news: Thank you God? Maybe
something along the lines of: “Thank you God, I’m coming home. But to be clear,
I was coming home eventually anyway, and I was thinking would a delay of a
decade, or two, or three, or more really be so bad? There’s so much that I’ve
yet to do. And now, of course, understanding that time is limited – well, a
little more time to sort it all out would be grand.”
The current
playlist selection jumps ahead to “(Just Like)Starting Over” by John Lennon. I
sometimes wish, until I realize how lucky I am to be where I am.
Now what about
non-believers? Well, they’re dealing with what is called, for them, bad luck.
As in damn that’s some Bad Luck. (As in the previous section, where I assumed
there was a Lord, this section also makes an assumption: There ain’t nothing.
As to where I stand on this – I’m being cagey, at least for the moment). In the
Lordless-universe-view the big end is basically no more traumatic than a simple
lights-out moment. Still, until the lights are actually extinguished we sure as
hell like to hold on. Why, hold on to all the pain, and suffering, and sweat if
we’re so sure that it’s as painless as lights out. Our memory of the day after we’re
gone will be no more significant than our current recollection of the morning
of April 14th 1813 – nothing. The problem may be that while we meander
towards that lights-out moment we do have a consciousness that’s at work saying
things like, “Damn it, I really do like it here. I like warmth, the sunshine
and skin. I think I wanna stay on for a little while longer if you don’t mind.”
Arrgg ugly
coincidences “but what if there are no coincidences?”. The next song on the
random playlist: “In My Time of Dyin’” by Bob Dylan.
The tweeners
is probably what most of really are: We don’t really believe in a god but we
don’t want to say anything that might piss him off. So while the sun shines
bright we play, but when the darkness falls we’re suddenly, and sometimes
sheepishly, driven to pray. “Save our souls, save our lives, protect us from
evil – unless by evil you mean money, whiskey or women – but mostly just save
our lives.” The problem with this approach is that if there is a Lord it is just
possible that we’ve discovered the only way to really piss him off, luke-warm
hypocrisy. On the other hand if there is no Lord to piss off, it’s really just
pathetic.
The playlist
marches on: “The Nazz are Blue” by the Yardbirds. I have no idea what it means
but I think it’s an end to the coincidences. It’s the wrong song. The right
song for this moment is “The End” by The Beatles. “And in the end the love you
take is equal to the love you make”.
It’s silly to
obsess over what is ultimately inevitable. There was never a point where
immortality was an earthly option. (Maybe in the time of Hercules, but that’s
never really been confirmed.) As to the notion of an afterlife, I doubt there
is a person who doesn’t wish it was so. I’m not about to argue all the talking
points of various religions. Other websites do that, they’re usually well
researched with proper footnotes, but almost universally slightly nasty. Maybe
there is something in them that wishes they were wrong.
Final song in
the totally random playlist: “Give Me Love(Give Me Peace on Earth)” by George
Harrison. Does this mean that Steve Jobs is trying to provide a sign through
iTunes? I doubt it. More likely it is simply me trying to ascribe meaning to a
random series of songs where no meaning exists. In any event, in spite of what
has been suggested by some of the articles I’ve read in the last year, and with no
dis-respect, I don’t think it is Steve.
