Passages

I walked down the street being intimately and painfully aware of what was going on around me. Tree leaves were dying, pavement wearing out, stop signs rusting. It was all about impermanence.

As quickly as I noticed something changing, it was changed. As soon as I was aware of being in the moment, the moment was passed and I was living in the next moment.

No the next moment, the next moment, oops, there it goes again, a new moment.

Who was I in relation to the tree, the street, the sign? Also impermanent. I am here, I will be gone. But what will I be in-between? I have been marking the decades that seem to fly faster, 40 - 50 - 60 - and now 70.

Each decade I seem to have a realization that I am able to neatly package into a sound bite. 40 - 50 - 60 - and now 70.

At 40 I realized that intersections passed could no longer be taken. Forward, yes. New decisions, yes. But once the many intersections along the path are passed, they cannot be taken because ...

Life is linear.

At 50 the realization was that in life; there is a beginning, a middle, and an end much like a well written story. Hopefully mine will be a well lived life with a beginning, a middle, an end. And now ...

Life is linear with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

At 60 it struck me that there is a "here" and a "here-after." When young one does not think about let alone believe in mortality. When in middle age one still thinks he will live forever. Now I can see that I am here now but ...

Life is linear with a beginning, a middle, and an end and while I am still here, I am closer to the here-after!

Recently impermanence has begun to seep in as a reality, not just a Buddhist concept. At 70, perhaps that is my message for the decade. Nothing lasts, let alone forever. Nothing stays the same. Everything is always moving. Everything is always changing including ...

Life is linear with a beginning, a middle, and an end and while I am still here, I am closer to the here-after and sooner rather than later, I will have been.