You may have noticed that it takes a new born baby two or three years to become used to and accustomed to a body.
How do you adjust and operate the arms and legs in order to sit, crawl and stand?
How do you control motion and gravity so as to walk? And imitating the sounds of others in order to communicate with them; well that is a real challenge.
However, one quickly learns and masters these talents. And they are soon taken for granted as something everyone does. If one is faulty in any of these skills, it is often looked upon as a major disability.
Sometimes, sadly, there is a sudden change, an abrupt cessation of life.
Accidents and acute illness occur. Otherwise, bodies live long and productive lives.
Insurance companies even warranty their longevity. But like all other mechanisms and vehicles, they have their limits.
At about eighty years or so they gradually decline. There are all kinds of medical reasons as to why this is. My take is that something in the blueprint probably directs this.
Just as a toddler takes a while to get used to the body, so also, an older person takes a few years to let it go.
However, he or she may find it quite difficult. Especially so after all those years of looking in the mirror and identifying with the reflection, dressing, admiring and shaping it. Well, it's got the driver thinking he is the vehicle!
One has been all his life feeding it, building its mussels and taking good care of it. And female bodies, especially, require a great deal of care. There are beauty treatments, dieting, makeovers and God knows what!
Practically all of one's goals and desires revolve around the body. There is food, shelter, clothing, transport, sex and on and on.
So the prospect of losing one's body is quite a shock, to say the least. On top of that is the loss of one's family, house, car and possessions.
Being so heavily indoctrinated in materialism for so long, one can not blame someone for feeling that when it's all gone, then he is gone also.
I've been thinking about this of late, being that my old body is also getting long in the tooth. So recently I sat and spent some time with a bunch of seniors at a local nursing home.
What an experience! It's a bit like sitting at an airport lounge waiting for departure. You have your ticket and itinerary. It's just a matter of time till you're called to the boarding gate.
The seniors at the home were in different stages of the two, three years or so it generally takes to let go.
The further along they were, the more acceptable they were to the transition.
So as the seasons change, Spring brings buds bursting into flowers. From seemingly inanimate material, life springs with great abundance. Grass, plants and trees flourish with new life energy.
Winter; the trees are bare, the sky grey and the ground seems frozen and lifeless. But the cycle repeats over and over.
A cut flower or plant, in a short while, loses its beauty, form and vitality. No more life energy. It reverts to inert matter.
But the energy of life, or Chi, as the Chinese call it, is not physical matter and matter is not life.
There is life and there is matter. They really appear to be two entirely different universes.
When they come together and interact, one brings order and organized life form to the other. When they separate, one goes back to lifeless matter. The other seems to repeat the process over and over
When I look at someone, I see more than a form. I see more than a dynamo of life energy animating the world around him with creativity, communication and action. I see a source of that energy and animation.
Well, vehicles are just vehicles after all. Mine is a 1945, male, Irish model. I'm happy with it. Its held up nicely over the years. It does have a lot of miles and wear and tear on it.
But I think I'll keep it a couple of more years before I let it go.
So, when the form is no more, what do you suppose occurs with the individual who is it's operator?
Hey pal. Need a ride to the airport? I'm heading in that direction.
Dan O'Connor can be reached at danhughoconnor@gmail.com