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The living, kicking spirit...

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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