I've been struck, several times every day, by just how mortal we all are and the thought, "I'm going to one day cease to exist and everyone I know will one day do the same" crosses my mind. All the damn time. Sometimes it gets to where I'm thinking, "one day I'm going to die and it may be much sooner than I anticipate". Our lives are so fragile and when we're being truly honest with ourselves, we do NOT know what happens after that.
It could be that that's it. The mass that makes up our bodies will decompose and take on another form of life or matter. The chemical reactions in our minds, making up our personality and 'soul' will stop and 'we' will end.
It could be that we all are endowed with souls that answer for their actions in the physical world after the physical vessel shuts down. Some of us suffering for eternity, some of us lounging in a paradise all in accord with some divine, moral scale.
Truth is, we have no idea. We have absolutely NO proof of either one and, at least using science in it's strictest definition, we will never have scientific proof telling us one way or another. We can believe one or another based on testimony or logic, but never will we be 100% certain as we are today.

So essentially, there is a point in time in which everything we know ends for us and something else ENTIRELY foreign begins.

And yet, in spite of this completely inevitable mystery to our lives, we act as if we have an eternity to waste. We sit in front of televisions and stare at screens until our eyes dry up and shrivel out of our skulls. We satisfy our deep need for touch and companionship and clan with cheap, shallow experiences that leave us empty. We have replaced kinship with a screen thinking we need nothing else.

We drive cars.

Shallow husks, constantly drugged, entertained, and stimulated, we wonder at our rising depression and cancer.

But because that's the way it is for the majority of Western civilization, does not mean that's how it's going to be forever or that it has to be that way for me or you. We as individuals can break free from that system and lead real lives, fulfilling lives with the intent of truly enjoying that truly fleeting sentience we've been endowed with.

We can make our own movement, or own rebellion against this oppressive and sedating lifestyle. In doing so, we can hope to show everyone around us the benefits of stepping outside, adventuring, and truly meeting the people we encounter. We can show people what life is supposed to be, what love is supposed to feel like, and what real enjoyment we can get out of it.

I've been thinking about this a long time. It's been brewing inside, getting angry at times and screaming with elation at other times. Next post will be thoughts on steps to take to replace the processed entertainment we've been fed with genuine experience and fulfillment.