LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST, EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE GOOGOLPLEX DAYS TO GO!

 

LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST (St. Edmund of Abingdon, a 13^th Century-philosopher.)

Should we live each day as if it were our last?  Should we make everyday count for something? Should we even care? Knowing full well that it takes a lot of moxie to break with orthodoxies of the conventional religious and spurious notions of the afterlife, I’ll direct your attention to the philosophies of EXISTENTIALISM, ABSURDISM, and (OPTIMISTIC) NIHILISM. Perhaps reading about such other thinking will count for something.

EXISTENTIALISM. Life lacks any objective meaning, so we are free to subjectively create our own life meaning.

ABSURDISM. Instead of our relentless desire for meaning in his cold and silent universe, we should embrace the absurdity of life and live defiantly with passion (and freedom)!

(OPTIMISTIC) NIHILISM. Since nothing objectively matters, we should feel liberated from our imaginary cosmic expectations!

But subjectively everything matters. Everything matters because as long as we can take a breath, we want to live with as much ease and accomplishment as possible. These matters include our work, our play, our health. To me, to implore people to live each day as if it were their last, seems brusque. As an English literature major at university, I quite fell in love with the phrase, “CARPE DIEM,” coined by Roman poet, Horace, in 23 BCE. The carpe diem theme, which is prominent in 17^th Century literature, translates to “pluck the day” or “grasp the day” or “seize the day.” Whichever your interpretive pick or translation, none are as blunt as the live each day as if it were your last.

In this post, I am going to write about the evolutionary purpose of children and our endless opportunities for redemption. I’ll begin with a thumbnail sketch on EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY.

EVOLUTION is the process by which all populations of organisms change over successive generations through the modifications of heritable traits such as natural selection, mutation, and genetic drift. EVOLUTION accounts for the incredible diversity and shared ancestry of all life on Earth. Saying this, longevity of any Earthly organism is not the goal of evolution. The only goal of evolution, and shared by all organisms, is to procreate and continue the species. Longevity is NOT a goal of evolution; producing offspring is the only goal of evolution. Watching practically any animal with their progeny is living proof of this.

The parent-child relationship is the foundational and emotional bond that shapes most species (especially the animal species) for survival, which includes all psychological and social developments. Among all primates, emotional regulation, cognitive success, and sense of belonging are among the parent responsibilities for their offspring. Generally, human parents, especially, coddle their children in practically every one of these regards. We are hardwired to protect our helpless infants. And with regard to other animal infants such as puppies and kittens and ducklings and goslings and other animals whose babies share similar traits to human babies (large heads, round faces, big eyes, small noses), we are triggered the “cute” response which melts our defenses, reduces our aggression, and motivates us to protect practically any beings or species that cannot fend for themselves. This cuddly, huggable cuteness perception and adoration even for other members of the animal kingdom is the evolutionary response known as the “baby schema” (kindchenschema).

Back to human parenting. WE ALL KNOW every parent’s kid is the smartest; every parent’s kid is the best player on the team; every parent’s kid has intangible skills that are beyond description. (‘Tis a pity such positive qualities are often recognized only by the parents!) But enough sarcasm. Up to and including pre-adolescence are sweetly innocent. This is when kids say the cutest things, and kids do the cutest things. The positivity of kids represents the very best of us. Ah. To have perfect kids and be perfect parents all the time!

We know this isn’t true. And those of us who have fulfilled our evolutionary duty to continue the species, even when our kids are grown and gone, oftentimes the fondest of memories of raising our children hazed through romantic nostalgia. We tend to mostly remember the good times. However, when recalling the bad times, we can take some comfort with the Hollywood GROUNDHOG DAY theme, that there will come a time when we can redeem ourselves (GROUNDHOG DAY, 1993 comedy-romance movie). Yes. Mulligans are possible. We need never be in abeyance for the betterment of our children, in this life and in others!

Okay, PAST LIVES REGRESSION believers, we know we’ve lived many, many previous ephemeral lives on this planet, and with an eternity of many more lives to go. And no matter how hapless our fate sometimes seems in our current life, revisiting any of our past lives offers an opportunity for monitoring any of our necessary redemptions.

YES. LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST …

AND TAKE CARE OF THOSE KIDS!

I know we’ve come a long way

We’re changing day to day

But tell me, where do the children play? (Cat Stevens, 1970)

And speaking of past lives, dear readers, I would love for you to join me in my PAST LIVES REGRESSION RETREAT scheduled this AUGUST 28^TH & 29^th at WAKAMOW VALLEY, MOOSE JAW, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA. The picturesque WAKAMOW VALLEY is the perfect setting for some fellow time-travelers to unlock the past in order to explore present conditions. For this end-of-summer retreat, I have reserved six rooms at the elegant WAKAMOW HEIGHTS BED & BREAKFAST.

WAKAMOW HEIGHTS

DISCOVER WHO YOU WERE TO DISCOVER WHO YOU ARE!