Duct-Tape

Did you ever stop for an moment and consider what age, exactly, is a good age to die? My first response would be, "Live as long as possible!" - but I am beginning to change my mind.
Look around you. You can see it. Probably feel it. Most likely you've talked about it today, or complained about it, or ignored it. pain.
We are on our way down.
Bodies + motion = wear out.
Unfortunately most of us don't want to accept that fact.

We have a disorder.
Not a physical problem, not a over-the-counter treatable diagnosis, or a virus that can be cured with pills. We have something worse - an unbalanced obsession with existence. Existence at all costs.
We pull, and tug, and cling to life in every way, clawing and tearing in a desperate attempt to stay awhile longer - to keep our head above water a few more seconds. Why? What else do we hope to get?
From anti-age serum, to life-supporting respirators, all we are really doing is duct-taping ourselves up. A little bit here. A little there. We patch up the holes, and cover up the scars - expecting the "fixes" to last.

What experience would it take to make us OK with passing on? What is missing inside of us, that creates the longing to remain - no matter what. Why do we fight the effects of motion with such hostility and brutality? Curious.
There is only one thing certain in this life: our inevitable end. That knowledge should change our lives completely. I know that I am dying, but my only response is to ignore the reality. We live under the dillusion that we somehow deserve more time.. always a little more time.

TRUTH: We are meant to live a short while and then calmly, peacefully exit this world.
This fact becomes plainly evident, when we start noticing the abundance of duct-tape in our lives. As we age, and as the flow of motion wears us down, we slowly become one huge piece of tape - everything is delicately held together, so that we can live a while longer. We tape up our exterior, our face our skin. Then put some on our heart to keep it beating, duct-tape our knees and joints; life isn't about quality anymore, it is simply about quantity. We aren't designed to last.

Perhaps we were never meant to die at all. Maybe our aversion to death is natural. Possibly, a long time ago, we were so close to the source that death wasn't part of the equation.

It is beautiful to imagine a life existing in harmony with motion - a life that is so self-aware that it enjoys the moment completely. A life that knows the truth, doesn't need 100 years to be satisfied, it doesn't want to be held together by rolls of duct-tape and "fixes", and it isn't afraid to let go.






(Andrew Tipton)