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A few familiar sentiments for today:
- The skeletons or age-crippled crones who speak to youths in the forest: "That which you are, we once were. That which we are, you will one day be."
- The years rot the body and blacken the heart, such that in the end we are all only too glad to surrender to death.
- Look upon my works ye mighty and despair...
These and a hundred other similar phrases are easy to conjure. You don't have to be widely read to recognize their burden of meaning. They are shards of what has been the human condition for as long as there have been humans - the story of the fall and the golden age beforehand enacted in a single lifetime, over and over again. We were young, and then we were not, and then we suffered until we died.
This human condition is so ingrained in our myths, our histories, and our culture that we live and breathe it every moment that we fail to think differently. We are all caged by our formative years in more ways than we'd like, and our formative years were those in which we learned to accept aging, suffering, and death as the way of things. It's only later that some few learn how to rebel against what the majority consider set in stone, never to be challenged.
Which is a pity, given the many ridiculous and outlandish things we are brought up with. We dispose of certainties involving crocodiles in the backyard pond, fairies, and Father Christmas through diligent experiment and what passes for research in early years. But we keep a great many pieces of equally nonsensical baggage for much longer in life. I'm sure you could rattle off a list based on what makes you roll your eyes when observed in others. Better to look at your own closet, however. Housecleaning there is the only way you're going to become more sane than you are right now.
In any case, it's a pity as I said. We live in a world in which people pretty much want to be alive until they stop wanting to be alive. But it's not boredom that's chasing them from the garden; it's suffering and decay. The pain on the one side of the scale, and how much you want to stay in the game on the other. As illustrated:
Having a higher purpose in life reduces risk of death among older adults
The finding that purpose in life is related to longevity in older persons suggests that aspects of human flourishing - particularly the tendency to derive meaning from life's experiences and possess a sense of intentionality and goal-directedness - contribute to successful aging,
Less Frequent Social Activity Linked To More Rapid Loss Of Motor Function In Older Adults
Loss of muscle strength, speed and dexterity is a common consequence of aging, and a well-established risk factor for death, disability and dementia. Yet little is known about how and why motor decline occurs when it is not a symptom of disease. Now, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found that, among the elderly, less frequent participation in social activities is associated with a more rapid decline in motor function.
If you want to live a while longer, then you do the housekeeping that needs to be done. If you don't, then you let things moulder and the neglect adds up. I'd wager you could justify most of the longevity and health differences above in terms of levels of exercise, physiological effects on the immune system, and similar line items. But regardless I think it basically comes down to people who want to live versus people who have weighed the suffering and decided not. Don't judge them until you're there too.
The real tragedy here is the bucolic acceptance of it all. Brought up as a cow, thinking cow thoughts, destined for a cow's fate. It could all be changed, if only X, or but Y. There are plenty of paths ahead upon which the suffering of aging could be turned back with a few decades of massed human effort and ingenuity. How long until the herd decides to take one of these paths in earnest?
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Posted by Reason
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