tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post218510532319212962..comments2024-03-27T06:56:10.255+00:00Comments on Broad Oak Magazine: Old Age and Beyond, by JDUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-55769837842924427272019-06-10T19:16:46.454+01:002019-06-10T19:16:46.454+01:00As I understand, you had a direct conviction of su...As I understand, you had a direct conviction of survival of the soul after biological death, and this led to a major and positive change in attitude to ageing. <br /><br />Your story seems to confirm my impression that the mainstream modern view that death is an annihilation prevents any coherent way of dealing with death (and ageing) culturally. <br /><br />I think most people have lost sight of how bizarre our 'normal' beliefs have become - and the way that so many people simply assume asif a fact that death is annihilation, is almost unique in world history, and still rare in the world as a whole. So the modern belief is very unnatural, and may verge on insane - or may tend to make people behave in an insane fashion. <br /><br />This would be understandable, since if death is annihilation it does render mortal life meaningless - and leads towards an ethic of extreme selfish short-termist hedonism. The fact that (surprisingly!) more people aren't *completely* like that, suggests that there is a deep and denied assumption in many hearts that 'death is not the end'. <br /><br />If death is a transition (opinion differs widely about the nature of this transition) then old age (for the minority who experience it) is likely to be very much to do with this transition, and some aspects of ageing will be understood as having to do with the transition. <br /><br />But when old people cannot or will not even think about death as a transition transition, then they cannot really be old - and will experience ageing purely negatively, as a terminal illness. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-44669887825604870042019-06-09T22:04:04.130+01:002019-06-09T22:04:04.130+01:00An excellent piece. I am now at the stage of being...An excellent piece. I am now at the stage of being comfortable with the idea of death. As motor functions start to become something of a challenge, manageable so far, and the old noggin not what it was it seems a natural progression of things.<br />My father always said he didn’t want to end up in a rest home or whatever they call them, but that is where he did. He wasn’t there mentally, so there was that.<br />Timbotoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01324505303328643396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-53833819510660872082019-06-09T18:49:11.396+01:002019-06-09T18:49:11.396+01:00Good reading and great insights, JD - thanks! Wa...Good reading and great insights, JD - thanks! Wandering into old age proper is scarily interesting....kind of. Gotta keep putting one foot in front of t'other. :-) Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-9246191736438938592019-06-09T08:11:59.723+01:002019-06-09T08:11:59.723+01:00“Old age ain’t no place for sissies.”
Very much.“Old age ain’t no place for sissies.”<br /><br />Very much.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.com