Quality vs. Quantity of Life: That is the Question!

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Coming Next..."Why Can't We Just Get Along?" TRUTH about Democrats, Republicans and  Independents]

   "Sometimes we behave as though there was something more important than life. But what?"

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

To Antoine de Saint-Exupery, I answer: the quality!

"To live or Not To Live" that is the question today that seems to be rivaling Shakespeare's famous "To Be or Not To Be!"


Medical technology has advanced to such a stage that folks who would have long departed the Earth are now living way beyond their years. Often, they are doing so in states of unconsciousness (=unawareness) that we would not wish on our worst enemy.

The question of quality vs. quantity of life arose, when I recently read this very sad piece about a son struggling with the diminished state of his elderly mother after surgery:
  http://nymag.com/news/features/parent-health-care-2012-5/

What is especially poignant about this piece is that there was a choice that could have been made, much earlier... when the mother was fully conscious (=aware)  and could have played a more active role in her life and death decision.

The choice to live by having surgery to extend life, or possibly dying without it, is a tough one.
Ultimately, though, the question really boils down to this: Can we fully reconcile that ONE day we will have to die?


Most of us want to delay facing up to the fact that we're not here for all time and for all times.

Our time on Earth is limited.

[This piece inserted on May 30, 2012, in memory of 22-year-old Marina Keegan who died in a car crash, days after her graduation from Yale. I didn't know her but was touched by this piece...and her SPIRIT, so full of potential! R.I.P Marina Keegan: the world was a better place with you in it!  Marina Keegan's "Opposite of Loneliness"]
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Whether or not we want to face death, we know its presence is looming, whether tomorrow or  two, three or four decades from now.

But...we all want to live forever.

We don't know where death is going to take us, so we don't want to go!
We don't know what's going to happen, so we don't want to go!

Those are the simple truths.

The harder truth we must face is whether we want to delay our inevitable demise by
using medical technology to do so.

All of us want to have the joy of seeing another sunrise or sunset. All of us want to feel the warmth of the sun on our faces...feel the embrace of our loved ones on a secluded beach...participate and contribute fully in the lives of those we love... feel disparate emotions towards those we believe may bring us harm.

The thing is...we want to feel something!

We want to be conscious of things!

We want to know that we KNOW!

So, when does life end?

Does life end when we no longer know what we know?

Or, is it  when the sun or moon no longer makes an impression on us, because we're
in such a fog that we can no longer differentiate between night and day?

What truly IS life?

If we believe that life is only about being physically agile, then we need only look around *at all the disabled people in our midst and know that this is NOT TRUTH!

If we believe that life is only about being mentally astute, then we need only look around *at all the mentally "slower" individuals in our midst and know that this is NOT TRUTH!

Is life then not all about the quality we put into it ourselves?


Are we finished with the journey of LIVING when we're born into the world in a seemingly perfect mental and physical state? Of course not!





Babies, fully equipped with all mental and physical capabilities, join us in LIFE to participate in the business of LIVING every day, without knowing anything about where they are going or why they are here.

Through the process of growth and evolution, they make some discoveries of why they are here and what they are supposed to do during that time.

Anything can happen during the opening and closing chapters. Lots of things do, but we're able to fully hang on, with all mental and physical tools intact.

Then, we get to where we think is near the end and that's when things may start happening and changing and diminishing really fast.

That's what seems to be troubling many people approaching that time.

Do we live it out, or do we end it before it ends US?


The answer to this all depends on whether we're talking about a terminal illness or diseases and impairments associated with old-age! Or even about those in a vegetative state i.e. when all cognitive functions seem to have ceased from within.

If the decision is about the latter two, then we have real choices to make... and that's where the going gets tough for most of us!


Few seem to want to face up to getting old and/or dying. Fewer still seem to want to decide whether we would want medical technology to keep us going until we run out of technology or oxygen, or whether we take a hard look at what life truly means to us and make a decision!

We've got to DECIDE what life means to us! 


I see the base dwindling if we were to face hard facts:



Many folks without kids--as much as they've been called selfish--should not have a major struggle with a decision about prolonging life: They want to GO! 

They are realistic to know that they are on their own and there isn't much point in lingering around: Scrap the technology!

Many folks with kids may have a huge struggle about staying alive: they have kids who will (for some: "should") take care of them. Indeed, I know of folks who made decisions to have kids so that "they can take care of me in my old age!"

That last part is what causes a lot of trouble: "they can take care of me in my old age."

Though resting, both camel and man seem vitally ALIVE!

Who, or what, are they caring for in old age: the shell representing the image they once knew?


Difficult as the decision may be, folks need to start facing TRUTH  while they are still conscious enough to know what they know. They need to be very clear in their instructions, too!


The critical questions that need to be addressed: If we can't tap into our Soul, the guide for all that we do here on Earth, what are we still doing here? If we can't feel the impulse of our Soul for all we're doing here on Earth, then what are we still doing here?


The answer to the question:  "To live or Not to Live"  then becomes a Soul thing!

In the end, when the machines stop, IT will decide whether we live...or die!


Namaste',
Che'
*NOTE: This post is strictly about decisions that afflict those advancing in years and/or who have entered into a vegetative state..
EDITOR'S Note:  This weekend as we celebrate those Americans who lost their lives on behalf of our country,  keep close your memories of what you consider "your life." Scroll through your old pictures, as I did once I'd completed this post, and enjoy you! I was delighted that even those times I considered not  the best periods of my life, I still saw many happy memories! Happy Memorial Day!  
[With this post, I am CELEBRATING what I believe to be the completion of my "Journey of 1,000 Miles" back into my Soul! I began this quest in 1988.  I hope you  enjoy the photos of me below. These images represent ALL of "WHO" I think I am!] 

Taken about 5 years ago...(2007)

Taken about 2 years ago...(9/2010)

Sept. 10, 2010 (Pescadero, CA)

Taken on June 4, 2012  @ Rose Garden, San Jose, CA

I like these recent picture of me; they show me in MY ESSENCE:At Half Moon Bay in California... AND... at the BEACH! (Taken 5/27/12)  

 My Epitaph HAS TO READ: "Always Smiling"...this is TRUTH!

Connecting To Cosmic Consciousness: See the "ONE" in ALL!

Steve Jobs needed to stay alive, as he fought pancreatic cancer.

In order for him to do so, though, someone else first had to die!
No... as much as you may have read or heard about Steve Jobs... he was not an evil man. 

In early 2009, Steve was on the waiting list, running out of time, for a liver transplant. He was registered in both California and Tennessee to increase his chances. His doctors waited anxiously for a donor liver...so that they could rush Steve into surgery and preserve his life.

"Every day became more excruciating," writes Walter Isaacson in his recently released biography on Steve Jobs. "He moved up to the third on the list by mid-March, then second, and finally first. But then days went by."

Then, it happened.

"Indeed, on the weekend of March 21, 2009, a young man in his mid-twenties was killed in a car crash, and his organs were made available." Isaacson writes.

Jobs' life was saved because the unnamed young man had died, and Jobs was able to get his liver.

Jobs lived for more than two years after that liver was transplanted into him.  As perfectionist as Steve Jobs was in all things, I doubt that when the liver became available he cared about anything else but its ability to help him stay alive!

Oneness.

[Added on May 29, 2012, this piece has more information on donor transplants:Who Decides Whether This 26-year-old Woman Gets a Lung Transplant?]

Whether we obtain a vital organ from another or simply eat a meal of potatoes, steak or liver or only of vegetables, all that we do is a direct result of connectivity with other living things.

*There are more than seven billion people alive in the world today. In the United States, there are more than 313 million.

With this great a population, we could not rely on "hunting" for our food.  Large countries such as the United States would have had massive amounts of food shortages, were it not for the specific nurturing and, yes, killing of cows and other animals, for our "daily bread."

Before the development of electricity, man would have died from cold, were it not for the trees that were toppled over to create wood. Today, we still would go cold and without shelter, were it not for wood from trees and the other materials to make houses for our comfort.

*The average life expectancy in the United States is about 74 years old,  with women outliving men. Around the world, the average life expectancy is a decade lower.

Man survives and thrives, because through the generations we have used our intelligence to supply us with all the means necessary to live... and also to have an excess.

It is the "excess," that we have to watch with care.

The evolutionary process of man's development has kept us growing and creating more throughout the ages, as we experience life on Earth. Without a doubt, man will continue to survive.

When it gets to our "thriving," though, we must begin to ask ourselves how much is "enough."

Researchers say the calico could be a 1 in 30 million specimen. 

The social media recently were  buzzing with news of a calico lobster, known as Calvin, which had been living in obscurity off the coast of Maine until he was discovered.. Thanks to its rare coloring: a calico mix of orange and yellow spots, Calvin's life was spared. He eventually will take up residence at the Biomes Marine Biology Center in Rhode Island.

Calvin is one of the few lucky ones.  We all need to give more consideration to preserving the lives of all the creatures we find here on planet earth. By taking only what we need and leaving the rest to live in their peace, we ensure the survival of many species from age to age.
But this is where we, as humans, often fall short. The tendency is to respect those species less than ourselves, giving little thought to their preservation.

If  trees are a hindrance to our view of the perfect mountaintop experience,  we simply cut them down.

We tire of watching basketball, football, baseball and the myriad of other sports, so we turn to dog fighting and killing for our entertainment.

We carelessly dispose of our waste materials, polluting the waterways and killing fish and other marine mammals.

Indeed, we kill more than fish and marine animals. We kill ourselves with the careless disposal of waste materials. When the waterways become polluted, we eat of fish and other sea foods, thus absorbing the residue of pollutants we have carelessly discarded.

Scientists measure pollutants in terms of parts per million and parts per billion of pollution of certain waste materials in water and the air. Despite the sophisticated measurements, we still cannot tell with complete accuracy how much we truly are destroying our water and air by sloppy waste disposal practices.

So our excessive lifestyles, where we give little care to the environment, eventually comes back to destroy us. It is a cycle.

I'm heartened by the activities of environmentalists to preserve the lives of other species found on planet Earth. I'm a member of the Sierra Club,  yet I am not a purist on all things environmental. Having started out my career at a chemical company and also been involved in environmental communications for many years thereafter, I have a very practical position on environmental concerns.

I do believe that we must strike a solid balance between the risks vs. the benefits we receive from using  products. If we create them,  then we must find the most effective means of disposal. Where sustainable alternatives exist,  we should use those first vs. the ingredients found to be deleterious to our environment.

Getting that balance is where the trouble begins.

Most people are going about their daily lives focused on their singular concerns, not even aware that they need to look up and around to see how everything all fits together.

The main building blocks for life on earth: air, water, fire and the earth.

Destroy any one of those elements, and we destroy ourselves.

Even the things we think are "not living" are alive in the purpose they serve our lives.
Every object has energy. We are pure energy, covered by skin and bones and muscles.

All living things have one major cell at their center: protoplasm.  So in our essence, all living things already are ONE.

Beyond this one similarity, however, we need to think about what happens to our skin, bones and muscles, when we die, i.e. when the "ball of energy" that we are finally leaves our bodies.

Some of us will be cremated; others will be buried with their skin and bones intact. Whether the degradation is to that of ashes or a skeleton, eventually both substances go "somewhere."

"Dust Thou Art, and Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return." - Genesis 2:7

Many of us don't want to think about this, but we know that matter is never completely destroyed, just as energy becomes transformed: +We become "recycled" in some way.

At the beginning of this series on "Connecting To Cosmic Consciousness," I invited you to go outside and look around at the flowers...the trees...and listen to the birds and also see how they fly.

Many things seemingly were created for the sheer pleasure of "creation," or so it seems to me.

Think about: the purpose of birds in our lives, the joy they bring to us to see their freedom in flight. Think about: the purpose of flowers, other than for their beauty and for some who use them for therapeutic purposes, as flower essences.

Take another look around again.

+Do you see where we all may be inter and intra-connected? Do we see the LIFE (Energy) flowing through all things "great and small." 

Whether we sign up with a life registry to donate our organs or not, the essence of who we are and were while on Earth continues through the ages in one form or another.

Let this all sink in.

Once it does, then  maybe you'll get the full understanding of what it takes to connect to the universal (cosmic) consciousness that makes all things possible.

Man's development and current  "beingness" took centuries to unfold, complete with two arms and two legs, 10 fingers and toes.  This form is a result of the unrelenting process of life evolving and revolving through the planet and throughout the ages.



*More than 300,000 babies are born every day and about 150,000 people die every day around the world.

Nothing we can ever do will change that.

What we can change is to make each moment we're here count for something!

When Steve Jobs' Presence was here among us, he did make it count for something!
Those extra two years that Steve got meant the introduction of the iPhone and iPad, enabling us to communicate with more ease... one to another...throughout the world.

Obviously, we all were not put here to make a mark as big as Jobs',  referred to by Isaacson at the end of his book, as "genius."  But we can be sure we have a purpose and reason for being here...now.

As we seek the reasons for our existence here on earth, we are led through many pathways and  theories. Marianne Williamson in her book, "A Return to Love," suggests that behind all of the activities of this earthly existence is the need to "return to love."


Using this need as a premise for our existence, we can understand why we become separated from the source of our being. We cannot live with hatred, fear, envy, strife, hostility, anger and all those negative emotions and hope to stay connected to our Soul, much less to Cosmic Consciousness.

I have a strong feeling that in the grand scheme of  evolution, the experiment of putting humans here on earth was to see if, when we are placed in different forms, we can continue to recognize ourselves in each other.  Suppose this is the only purpose for us being here?


If so, we have failed and are failing miserably at this experiment!


Do we recognize the ONE within us all in the myriad of disguises he/she shows up? As we look around and see the various energy fields that manifest on earth as living creatures: can we find ourselves in each? Do we recognize the "ONE"?


Trees are living things. Dogs are living things. So are the many other creatures on earth: 

Do we recognize their essence, i.e. the energy fields they bring to the earth? Do we recognize that they are contributing to our well being here, just as much as our mother, father, brother or sister?


We need to begin to see the activity of God in all his worldly manifestations and in the activity of all things...good and bad.   

Whether we leave our imprint on one or many, the way we start is to become conscious: Recognize the One! Wake up to the Consciousness of the ONE PRESENCE!

"There is only One Presence and One Power in the Universe: God the Good, the Omnipotent."

--Unity, Lee's Summit, Missouri.

 Get into the flow of that consciousness! Begin to recognize and see "the ONE!"

"To direct the mind towards the basic unity of all things and to divert it from the seizing of differences---therein lies bliss."

--Tejo-Bindu Upanishad 

Namaste',
Che'
*Source: This information was culled from a variety of sources.
+ In "No Death, No Fear," Thich Nhat Hanh, a prominent Buddhist monk, suggests that there is no death as we are transformed into another state of being.  IF by that he means that our "consciousness" (Soul)  lives on in an inanimate form or in lower animals, I do not in any way subscribe to this thinking!