Pascal Böhme

 

What happens when it's all over? When the lights go out. When the sun has set, the caravan has passed and its just you and the desert. When everything that can be done has been attempted. When every stone has been turned. When the voyage has met its destination. When a life's work is completed. When there is nothing else to do, to experience, to discover. When every possibility has been explored, every option exhausted. When you are at your wits' end. When your destiny is beyond your influence and control. When death is the final highlight of an unmemorable life. "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/And then is heard no more: it is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing." When all you have to look forward to is the end. What do you do?

 

Do you await your impending doom? Do you accept your destiny? Do you embrace it? Do you bow down before it? Do you allow this brewing fate to dictate your every thought, your every action? Do you assume a state of powerless inertia? Do you fight it? Do you refuse to accept it? Do you even realize it before it is too late? Do you regret what you did wrong? Do you feel anguish for what you did not do? Do you lean over the table to try to see what is in the cards; what might come? Do you start believing in a higher power? Do you begin praying for the aid of said higher power? Do you realize that "all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves" and start singing "che sera sera" on your porch? Do you worry, locked up in your cage of anxiety? Do you remain tranquil and live every day to its fullest, discovering an enlightened and unaffected state of being? How do you react?

 

In this image - as in life - there is the endless conflict between light and dark, between beginning and end, between birth and demise, between arrival and departure. Suspended amidst these two forces there is the radiant sun, which represents you, me, humanity as a whole. Constantly on the brink between rise and fall. How long can this state be upheld before the inevitable comes? The inertia, the waiting for the end strains your soul, not the end itself. The End just happens. The End is ... .

 

Humans are very adaptable beings. Come what may, they will find a way to assimilate. For good or for bad, somehow it will go on. But the chapter of darkness, of not knowing what lies ahead and therefore not being able to prepare for it mentally is the true hardship of life. Humanity is inherently pessimistic and intimidated by what the future might bring. If it were not, we would have no need for safety nets, airbags, health insurance or many of our other plentiful prophylactic measures. Accordingly, in this state of uncertainty one always has a dark cloud hovering over ones head, casting a shadow over our soul, infecting every aspect of ones being. But this constant fear is no way to live, no path to happiness or satisfaction. Dreading what may come deprives one of the chance to appreciate what was and what is; even of the strength to influence what could be. Surrender is not an option.

 

Walking into an uncertain future is very intimidating, but do not hesitate. Accept that no condition is permanent. Befriend the process of time, of alteration, of collapse and erection. Even if your path is accompanied by eerie forces, each step must be taken with confidence. One must lay ones anxiety aside, stride through the portal of life without fear and face ones destiny with courage and conviction. Come what may....