Life.
I only recently discovered, following the unprecedented demise of my beloved grandmother, the stark difference between verbs and nouns i.e. the former are time-bound while the latter timeless. While verbs such as running, runs, ran etc. are in some tense or another, nouns such as table and chair are simply timeless…with the exception of one noun: life.
Unlike table and chair, life isn’t eternal. Unlike table and chair, life has a finite (more finite than we allow ourselves to imagine) period and an imminent end.
And, if our expensive tables and chairs, the “timeless” nouns, fail to live as long as the furniture store’s salesman projected, it amazes me how lightly we take “life”; constantly deepening our belief in the illusion of an everlasting life while infact it is but a sojourn.
Experiencing the death of a loved one for the first time in my life, I thought my perception on life, but first on the unadulterated reality of death will drastically change. I thought that from that day onwards, I’d live life driven by the consciousness of it being transient and ephemeral and be wary of the impending death.
Yet here I am 6 months later exactly the same as I was, or maybe even worse, before the incident. How fleeting the fear of our forthcoming death is even when it does strike us.
I guess we should start taking our tables and chairs, and their limited life span, more seriously. Perhaps then we might develop a conscious for life and death.
Nice analogy, my chair (me) could do with a new upholstery. Every morning I meditate briefly on The Five Remembrances. Its an attempt to remember my own mortality
LikeLike
Thanks! 😊 That’s awesome, meditation and mindfulness are truly crucial!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good one
LikeLiked by 1 person
i lost my Grandpa this year. and he was closer to me than my own parents. only way i survived was i kept looking at what an amazing life he lived…and what a treasure of memories and wisdom he left behind. i am a much stronger person today!
wrote this when he left https://stoneronarollercoaster.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/wound-that-gave-way-to-the-light/
your post reminded me of him.
LikeLike
So sorry for your loss. It’s a very hard moment to move on but glad to know you’re stronger now! Will definitely check out your post 😊
LikeLike
Its ridiculous how creative our minds can be. Verbs and Nouns, the analogy, the writing. This simply amazing and thought provoking.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thankyou for such a beautiful comment!
LikeLike
Wow, this is heavy but profound.
Have you heard of the concept of a memento mori? Your comments about your furniture reminded me of this. Some people hate talking about this kind of topic but I find it helpful, and I agree with the idea of facing the (daily) possibility of death head-on. It’s a cliche, but it helps you to be motivated to do more with your life in my opinion. (Often something becomes a cliche because it contains a fundamental truth.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thankyou! I actually hadn’t heard of memento mori until now, just looked it up though and I can see why my post reminded you of it! Thanks for introducing it to me! I definitely feel like “facing the daily possibility of death head-on” is integral even though I (and presumably the larger community) overlooks this “daily possibility” more often than we should.
LikeLiked by 1 person