Life.

xMSx · 05-12-2009, 09:58 PM

I have been going to this class for medical lectures for a couple weeks now, and in one class they brought in a patient that was presenting problems with his pancreas. I talked with the guy for a little bit, and he was a great guy, but he was so scared. Today, a couple weeks later, I just found out he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which, is for lack of a better word, terrible.
What determines who lives and who dies out there? Why is it that some people live to be 100 even though they abuse themselves and others, yet triathletes die of cancer at 20. I don't know, I guess i'm just a bit vulnerable about the subject, but i would like to hear your perspective on this one.

**SageTree** · 05-12-2009, 10:11 PM

Living isn't just what you do before you are dead, it's what you do with it, while you have it. It's a strange thing when you apply meaning to a life spans time, but what does that span of time mean to you? Is longer better? Where does the vaulnerability come from? What is at the core of this feeling?

In kind
SageTree

xMSx · 05-12-2009, 10:15 PM

The vulnerability comes from personal anecdotes like this one. I understand that longevity is not the only means to measure the quality of life, but when children are taken from cancer, without even a large chance at life, i dont think its fair. At the core lies turmoil from personal experience.

**Canuck Wisdom** · 05-12-2009, 10:44 PM

I could hop on my bike and get hit tomorrow. I dont usually wear a helmet.

Its a scary thought, tbh I expect to live pretty long, but what if I dont?

There is so much I want to do still and if I was to die, or become disabled it may make my regrets at not having done some things already unbearable.

I try to live in the moment and be happy, but it can be hard, especially if you don't have enough love day to day in your life.

R1bal · 05-13-2009, 08:04 AM

you dont feel regret after you die, you wouldnt even know what happend... it would be so fast and unimaginable, but where your cons. takes you is the true pop test for all this studying on our earthly journey

verklingen · 05-13-2009, 09:13 AM

we live for other people as much as we live for ourselves, and as dying is a part of life i can't shake the sense that the timing of our death is meant, at least in part, as a service to others. loved ones dying can help you realize a lot of things. . . about yourself, about the loved one, about other people to whom that person was connected, about the nature of their death (how they died), etc. it's a powerful impetus for growth, and it creates an avalanche of compassion whose importance in our lives cannot be overstated. these are just my thoughts, but i'm obsessed with finding lessons in everything.

**Canuck Wisdom** · 05-13-2009, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by R1bal

you dont feel regret after you die, you wouldnt even know what happend... it would be so fast and unimaginable, but where your cons. takes you is the true pop test for all this studying on our earthly journey

Yea thats why I say or perhaps disabled to make things more challenging. The thing with regrets is, they come and go depending on how things are currently going for you.

Waves · 05-13-2009, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by xMSx

I have been going to this class for medical lectures for a couple weeks now, and in one class they brought in a patient that was presenting problems with his pancreas. I talked with the guy for a little bit, and he was a great guy, but he was so scared. Today, a couple weeks later, I just found out he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which, is for lack of a better word, terrible.
What determines who lives and who dies out there? Why is it that some people live to be 100 even though they abuse themselves and others, yet triathletes die of cancer at 20. I don't know, I guess i'm just a bit vulnerable about the subject, but i would like to hear your perspective on this one.

theres one simple answer that people just dont ever like to give:

dont fuckin know, life is too complex for my human mind to wrap itself around. all we can do is live it to its fullest and do our best.

if someone tells you they know why some guy died at 20 from cancer while bob dylan has been chain smoking for 50 years and hes still touring, tell him to fuck off

stoneric · 05-13-2009, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by verklingen

we live for other people as much as we live for ourselves, and as dying is a part of life i can't shake the sense that the timing of our death is meant, at least in part, as a service to others. loved ones dying can help you realize a lot of things. . . about yourself, about the loved one, about other people to whom that person was connected, about the nature of their death (how they died), etc. it's a powerful impetus for growth, and it creates an avalanche of compassion whose importance in our lives cannot be overstated. these are just my thoughts, but i'm obsessed with finding lessons in everything.

You are so right. Too bad the feeling is fleeting.

reverie · 05-13-2009, 02:33 PM

Some people will tell you it's karma

I'd rather say, we simply think too high of ourselves.

Relativity.

xMSx · 05-13-2009, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by verklingen

we live for other people as much as we live for ourselves, and as dying is a part of life i can't shake the sense that the timing of our death is meant, at least in part, as a service to others. loved ones dying can help you realize a lot of things. . . about yourself, about the loved one, about other people to whom that person was connected, about the nature of their death (how they died), etc. it's a powerful impetus for growth, and it creates an avalanche of compassion whose importance in our lives cannot be overstated. these are just my thoughts, but i'm obsessed with finding lessons in everything.

Well finding a lesson in everything certainly creates a very optimistic viewpoint on just about every aspect on life, no matter how macabre. This is a very good point.

The Rev · 05-24-2009, 12:11 PM

The last time I took mushrooms, I was left with the undeniable impression that everything is inherently beautiful, even tragedy. Maybe ESPECIALLY tragedy. The quality of the experience of living life is almost entirely a matter of interpretation. It is a flash of color and sound that we make up a story to explain. But the story is not the reality, it is the flash of color and sound, and that is always the same. It is now, it is here, and it is experienced. There is genuine beauty in seeing this clearly.

Sorry of that wasn't clear. It's hard to put that mushroom wisdom into words that make sense alot of the time.

The Rev

Ego Tripping · 05-25-2009, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by The Rev

The last time I took mushrooms, I was left with the undeniable impression that everything is inherently beautiful, even tragedy. Maybe ESPECIALLY tragedy. The quality of the experience of living life is almost entirely a matter of interpretation. It is a flash of color and sound that we make up a story to explain. But the story is not the reality, it is the flash of color and sound, and that is always the same. It is now, it is here, and it is experienced. There is genuine beauty in seeing this clearly.

The Rev

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."

- John Keats.

The Rev · 05-25-2009, 02:30 PM

I wonder if Keats understood how true that statement really is...

The Rev

**SweetSativa** · 05-25-2009, 04:02 PM

We lost a good friend... I guess it's been 1 1/2 years ago. He was the best soul you could ever hope to meet. He had so much illness in his life and toward the end he got liver cancer after a blood transfusion. I remember one time we were sitting out in the pasture (had been digging snake root) and the sun was shining down... we were sitting on a rock taking a break even though we hadn't done much work, smoking from his guitar pipe. He was telling me this story about how one time when he was a kid a bunch of the other kids wanted him to come along with them to harass some poor underdog child. Our friend asked them why they were going to do that and they said, "Don't you ever just hate someone?" and he said, "No, I love everyone." and that's how he lived his 50 years of life. We were there the night he passed and sang to him one last time and assured him that he has touched so many people. It's true... he's touched more people in his life than most people who would live to be 100. I don't know why the 'good die young'. But there beauty is surely rare within this world.

xxoozero · 05-25-2009, 05:00 PM

It is not how long you live, but what you do to be remembered that counts.

Ego Tripping · 05-25-2009, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by SweetSativa

I don't know why the 'good die young'. But there beauty is surely rare within this world.

Beautiful story. I think they die young because they are so powerful...they have bigger purposes that are beyond this world. They get so much done in the short time they are here, they can cut out early and get on to the real fun stuff.