You get a lot of time to think rambling in the middle of nowhere with no TV, internet, blackberry or mobile phone. When not walking I have been reading Buddhism without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor. I think my friend Stephen recommended I read it 5 years ago and it has taken me this long to get to it =). Great book. In a recent chapter he gives this statement to think about (not a direct quote but from my head):
It’s certain we will die.
It’s uncertain as to when we will die.
So what do you want to do with your life?
Sounds morbid but a great catalyst for thinking/talking about what you want to do with your life. Well walking through the Annapurna ranges of Nepal with Bianca was a pretty good thing to be doing with my life at that moment. Would I be happy if I died today, tomorrow, next week, next year…? A Porsche would be good I think…
Anyway, there we were chatting away about life (and death) when my left foot slipped, I scrabbled for purchase for what seemed like a minute, but fell off the path, down a sheer drop of 4 meters and then started to roll down the hill through the forest. Funny how life gives you very real reminders of your own mortality just as you are thinking about it. Don’t worry the hero of the story lives and only hurts his pride.
That night I was listening to Simon & Garfunkel and came across song ‘Flowers Never bend with the rainfall’ which I feel beautifully describes the problems we unenlightened folk have; our greatest joys come from change but we think ourselves permanent. The chorus is:
So I’ll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And flowers never bend
With the rainfall.
If you are interested here are all the lyrics.
Well enough of my rambling… =)
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