The question „Why is life finite“ is one that pretty much all of us ask ourselves. Often, even those who believe in life after death feel a bit of melancholy. Not least because no one can predict the day they or their loved ones will die.
„The fact that we can exist at all is a great, galactic stroke of luck.“ I once heard this in a Blinkist in connection with the creation of the universe. There is something positive in this statement, even if I can no longer assign it to an exact book title.
And because humans have an enormous potential for damage, I sometimes think that limiting our lifespan can also be understood as a kind of „life insurance“: That each generation has a chance to do better than the previous one.
What are the important basic insights for me?
If we are spared from strokes of fate („negative lottery wins“ such as serious accidents or similar), we can preserve and prolong our lives if we take care of our mental and physical health. But at some point, even with the best genetic conditions, a healthy diet, sport and a life filled with love, the biological limit is reached (according to health experts, the theoretical limit is currently between 120 and 130 years). The anti-ageing industry is working on overturning this limit in the medium term through cell rejuvenation.
At some point, we will all be „stardust“, but until then we humans are – as I described in my blog post „What is responsibility„, according to Nida-Rümelin – „free, rational and responsible“.
What does that mean for me?
At the #Wethefuture Summit 2023, I heard an inspiring sentence from mental coach Jim Kwik: „Life is C between B (Birth) and D (Death)“. The C stands for Choice. We have a lot of choices between birth and death: We can live passively and let others determine our lives or we can live it actively, develop ourselves and shape our lives.
I think there is something focusing about the limitation of life. When something is limited, you deal with it more mindfully. I regularly ask myself „What is important to me“ and my activities and attitude support this.
Of course, I also have „passive“ days, that’s part of it. However, the passive days remain in the minority if I focus and trust myself, true to the motto „the path is built under the feet of the walker“.
Food for thought for children
I once heard a beautiful story in which life was compared to a train journey. People get on and off at the various stations. The traveler can’t choose his passengers and he doesn’t know how long they will travel alongside him or how long he himself will be on the train.
I like this image of the journey of life because it conveys serenity and shows what I can and cannot influence.
Life is fleeting. No one knows when the „journey“ will end. For some people, the journey ends when they are children, which are particularly sad moments. For some people, the journey ends too late in their own opinion, when they are lonely, physically and mentally deteriorated and marked by serious illness.
Ideally, it is the right time for you and you can say like Sir Baden-Powell, the founder of the scout movement, „I have fulfilled my mission and gone home“.
I want to give my son this image of the journey and encourage him to live actively, that he is the „pilot“ and not the „passenger“ of his life.
To do this, I want to encourage my son’s creativity, because I believe it is at least as important as a positive attitude. Because creative people find solutions where others only see problems.