without light, would you know
to where I would go?
If I dropped down a deep well
without a tell, could you find
me while blind?
As I disappear into the folds
releasing holds, should you wait
silent at the gate?
I spend a lot of time thinking about a lot of what people might find irrelevant, and at times I bring these things up with my wife and it makes her uncomfortable. Things like, what if I disappeared, died, was abducted, fell off a cliff? What would happen if I just wasn't around one day? What would they do, would my daughter be okay? Would my absence matter at all?
We like to think that what we offer to the world is unique, that our experience held is meaningful and worthy of some stored intrinsic value. it makes us feel secure, provides the ego with fuel to inflate itself enough to drive the body on but, how many would notice if my blog suddenly ran dry, what kind of vacuum would be left?
I would say that other than a small few, not many would notice at all and even that would not be for long as their attention is grabbed by other attractions. I am under no illusion here, there is very little legacy in life, the moment is more important than the future, the future more important than the person. But, does that matter, does it make it all not worthwhile?
As I see it, what we do is all a selfish act although it doesn't mean that others do not or could not benefit from our actions. There is always a give and take aspect to each transaction and it doesn't always work out zero sum. When it comes to information the value of a sentence distributed to many has more power than the most brilliant theory collecting dust open a shelf, hidden from those it might aid. Does the author of theory matter at all or is the matter in the movement of theory to reality?
We like to put weight onto people, attribute them with traits and lavish them with praise but they themselves are of little value to the conversation, it is their thoughts and words that carry the wealth, the data that can be parsed through the senses to shift us, move us, inspire us. These words do not have to be in the positive, they can be filled with hate and poison yet if delivered well, can turn a person, community, nation or a planet on its head.
For better or for worse we put ourselves into the world hoping that what we do matters, rarely slowing to contemplate if it does at all. And even rarer considering if what we do is the right way to satisfy our aims and more importantly our needs. We do not even know what we need let alone how we could best go about approaching their fulfillment.
We don not understand the needs of our body for if we did we would not have obesity epidemics. WE do not know the needs of our minds because if we did we would not fill them with so much irrelevance. We do not know what we as sentient beings need for if we did, we would be without the internal conflicts we possess. We do not know our needs yet make changes to satisfy our desires that effect the worlds of all.
I think about these things. I think about the life I lead and the importance I put on it, the importance others may place on it because they need me. Or at least, they think and feel that they need me here but to need me is a selfish act is it not? What right do they have to have claim over my very presence in their lives?
Will my daughter suffer my disappearance or would my absence and lack of direct influence empower her to be her fullest, to be her at the very best she could possibly be? As parents we like to put ourselves in a central role of importance but o not consider if we as individual parents are what is best for the child at all. It is our ego speaking, our inflated sense of self saying that we matter, even if the information we provide through our words and actions have no inherent constructive value at all.
Am I a good person or parent? How can one possibly answer such a question? It cannot even be observed objectively by others. If there is a measure of a good parent or a good person, it will not be sen in a lifetime, it will be seen with what gets done with what has been provided. The proof is in the pudding as they say and if actions don't lead to a better world, we as a global community have on average failed to be good, haven't we?
We can look at an individual level and say we tried but is trying really enough if what we try doesn't get us to where we need to be? WE talk about greed, suffering, oppression and a society that is crumbling while we continually borrow from the future to support satisfaction of our desires at the loss of their ability to fill their needs. Good people.
If I disappeared today, would the future and those who will live it be better or worse off due to my absence?
And if I stay?
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Posted with Steempress
We humans have the ability to adapt to any situation.. Though we are scared of change, especially the change that comes with loosing a loved one, we eventually move on.
Some times I have those thought too, will my mum miss me if I'm gone? How long will she cry? etc The truth is what our loved ones will miss is how we made them feel, what we did for them and they will move on once we are replaced because no one is indispensable..
So I think that we should spend everyday by making positive impacts and leaving our prints in the sands of time. the kind of prints that won't be erased by our absence..
Resteemed, I love this!!
The question will eternally be whether what is positive today will carry on being positive into the future. How long does the tenant of 'do no harm' hold if what we do causes future harms? We all do the best we can but we can also improve to continually do better.
Yea.. We can only keep trying and hope for the best..
We do not know the answer. God may use the disappearance in a beautiful way to glorify Him. Then again we have suffered great losses when one disappears. I think of my late girlfriend who died unexpected two years ago. A very great loss as I miss her daily - but it made me grow and changed me. I suppose it boils down to where the heart is for both the disappeared and the one left behind. As I see much value in your writing and feel your heart...I would miss you and feel my life would not be as enriched. Blessings. @tarazkp
Of course everything is hypothetical your approach.
I recommend that you stay better, do not even think about it, just thinking is anguish for your loved ones. You will miss your wife and your daughter, I know what it is not to have a father by your side so I try my best to be a father 24 X 24 x 360 days and hours.
So by the way you see life I know you're an excellent father.
But I'm also honest, I literally think that many of us have these questions.
Everyone should think about their place in this world in my opinion and a large part of the problems we face is because we don't. Instead we act on our desires for things we might not even want.
I think we all aspire to leave a mark in the world so that when we leave it behind we are remembered. I admit to that but only to those who opinion really matter to me: is my mom proud of the man and father I have become, does my daughter look up to me as being a good person? I think that is my focus which still could be selfish depending on the means done to get there.
I think it is interesting to consider how others might view us as we can never truly know. It is also a question of whether their view is valuable or whether even the views of those close to us shouldn't matter due to their various biases. What I think though is that we should all spend some time thinking about whether what we do is getting to what we need.
It is all selfish if you consider the feedback or the feeling of doing a good job a return.
Lately I am tired and half dead anyway. Of course we have to be prepared for anything and the future for our families may be a little uncertain if we had to disappear but life goes on.
lol. yeah me too. The only thing that really will change is there will be a spare seat at the kitchen table where I work :)
the stages of life begin at necer and end at death or physically disappear, no one knows when it is their turn, to think of that is to be predisposed to it to happen, life must be lived, do good, think of loved ones, love them , leave teachings and when I play or mode, I play and there is no way to go back. Leaving a legacy of teachings and good deeds is the best gift to your loved ones and to society itself.
I wonder if it makes the world a better place in 100 or 200 years from now if everyone did this considering what is a good deed for one might be harmful to another. I find it interesting to look at immediate decisions as they ripple over time but none can really know where the movement will lead once in play.
Kidding, right? People start worrying if you didn't post in the past three hours.
As for the real question, sometimes we don't realize what a person meant in your life until they're gone... but life goes on.
lol. only for the first week until Steemmonsters introduce a new update :D
Life does indeed go on and those that might have meant something to us can become strangers in even the memory of them.
This is an interesting topic one of many in my opinion. It's been a long time since I thought of life the way you described it. In my opinion when we pass on there will be a void left by our absence. It is how our loved ones, relatives, and friends react to it that really matters. We can not know the unknown and the wonder about it is part of our existence at least mine anyway.
As for life after death I believe the only thing terminating after death is this existence. In my opinion every living thing in the universe has a paired existence between an eternal spirit that lives many lives before entering heaven and a soul which has only one life before entering heaven.
In my view the spirit is the primary guiding force to how the soul lives on this plane of existence. I also believe the spirit ages with each new life.
Each time the spirit enters the gates of heaven it is judged on how well it guided the soul in its' brief experience as a living being at least life the way we understand it. The soul however will be judged on how well they treated their life, the lives of the living beings around them, and their understanding of their creator.
I don't believe in an eternal hell, nor do I believe this plane to be hell, I do however believe that when the body of a living being seises to function sufficient enough to sustain life, as we know it to be, the body becomes an empty shell. The soul and spirit that were the life force within the body move on to a higher plane, one for which the spirit will be familiar but may be completely foreign to the soul. How long the soul exists in hell will be up to them.
The soul isn't judged on it's life on this plane until it meets its maker. That said we have no idea what our lives will be like after death. Our only hope of seeing heaven or at the very least our expectation of it is to to treat ourselves and every living thing around us the way we would have them treat us to the best of our ability.
For me it doesn't matter if there is a life after, a god or none as my actions remain the same. Do my best in life and if there is a god that punishes that, so be it, if there is no god and it is fade to black, I lived a life of my best. People tend to dwell on what comes after life without thinking if there is life before death. They live for an unknowable future on rules they may never have truly considered. It is interesting to think about all of it of course though.
There is a saying at our place :
If you disappear for ever, then your well wishers will cry for a day, your immediate family members ( excluding wife) will cry for 7 days, and your wife will cry for 6 months. And then they will adjust and thing will move on. This is LIFE :) so enjoy every moment till we disappear.
Life always goes on and I would never want someone to dwell over my absence.