I always wonder about the relationship of
ageing with the human spirit. Earlier, when I was much younger, I used to look upon ageing as a damaging and destructive phenomena. But I assumed
that to be the human condition - universal and inevitable. But, I wonder now!
Maybe because I am ageing myself and I do not see that inevitable, holistic,
destructive phenomena happening to me. The social conditioning in me of how
ageing is 'supposed' to happen as opposed to how it 'is' happening is quite
dissimilar. Now, this is not to say that I do not believe that the gait slows
down, the joints start creaking, the skin starts sagging and the sight grows
dimmer.
But is that all there is to us? The physical
self? There is the intellect, the spirit, the emotions and at some level all of
these are interconnected and, yes, interconnected even with the physical self but they
are also, at the same time, separate. This separation becomes quite apparent at the time
of death when the body remains here and the self, with all of our egos,
aspirations, becomes just that, a 'body', and we lose all references. At this point, something
in us escapes and takes with it our very identity. And yet, it is the
body that we are programmed to see and care for while we live in this world, or shall we say, it is the
body that blinds us to the spirit. Spirit, then, is
the reality and not the body. So, the question I always ask myself is, does the spirit age? It
seems to be in best of shape, as, no matter at what age the body dies, it is
light enough to make a quick and speedy escape. One minute it is there, keeping
the body warm and centre of all our earth bound references and then, the very
next moment, it leaves us dead cold, snatching our very identity! That point
forward we become just 'a body'!
So, why so much focus on ageing? Why this fear?
The most
we may complete in this world is a century, in that century, the body, which is
to remain here and decay, deteriorates, but what will escape and be freed is the
spirit and I guess, it does not deteriorate but 'develop'.
Or rather, it is up to us to develop this spirit. But the first step would be to see it as separate from the body. Second, that
it needs nourishment. And finally, we should not see the deterioration
of the body in ourselves or others and assume that the spirit has also
diminished. A balding head, slurred or muted speech, doubled posture and
toothless smile does not mean the spirit looks like that. At least, not until YOU want it to look like that!
The longer we remain in this world, the more
opportunity we have to nourish the spirit. Or maybe we get an opportunity to remain
longer because we need more time. I think, we should remain in touch
with the inner self, the spirit, and endeavour to keep it alive and make it thrive. We should not be
fooled by failing limbs and let our wits be numbed. We should enjoy nature, laugh more, be kinder
and above all, we should keep that child-like curiosity alive and kicking! In the end that might just be the thing that saves us!
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