Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Brain Triggers

I've been finding it funny, in a sense, how my brain gets triggered by the content of some of the posts I read. Sometimes I read them quickly or, if I find a topic that intrigues me, will read it once or twice more. Then I will try and leave a comment with the first things that come to my mind when I read the post. Later on, as my brain begins its wind down process, it amazingly stops as it makes a connection with something it stored earlier. Today I read a post titled, 'Eavesdropping At Your Funeral' at, http://lifeinthesecondhalf.blogspot.com/.

At first I wasn't sure what the connection was but as I was putting some of my books away, my eyes froze on the title of a book I had read a few years ago. It was a book written by Richard Holloway called 'Looking In The Distance - The Human Search for Meaning'. The book has four sections; I: Looking; II: Speaking; III: Listening; and IV: Leaving. It was the 'Leaving' part that had been triggered. The essence of this section was basically, about dying.

Lover of Life, the author of the above blog, summarized with this, "We only get one shot at living. There isn't a second act. So be the person you want to be remembered for being. A life well lived."

Richard Holloway wrote, "...it is difficult not to be depressed by the prospect of leaving this earth. We feel that just as we are getting the hang of the game and have wised up sufficiently to understand how to play it well, the whistle goes and the game ends." He goes on, "But the universe is not interested in our complaint. The mournful fact is that life is indifferent to our fate; it is programmed to care for the species, never for the individual; and, without death, life as we know it would be insupportable."

All I can say is what a connection. It's amazing how much information our brain harbours just waiting for that little trigger to bring it to the forefront. The brain is a fascinating part of our being. In a million years I probably would never have put the two pieces of information together. But, because of a momentary glance at the cover of a book, the connection was made.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Wow! That is so interesting! He is so right about life not being supportable without death.

I do believe death is just a part of the process - it is in the living that we make our "mark" so to speak.

Thanks for this post.

Rosaria Williams said...

Wise words.

Anonymous said...

Life is a precious gift; making the most of it is so very important. The distance is a much longer journey.

CJ xx

P.S. Hope you enjoyed your soup!