Death gets harder to beat. I’m pushing seventy. Those pushing eighty and ninety are laughing at my ass like I’m a wimp. I am a wimp. But still, everybody’s luck has a run. The older you get, the closer you are to giving up the ghost.

Used to be if you made it to seventy you beat the house. You had a respectable run and all the days going forward counted as bonus points. Back in my Old Man’s day all kinds of shit could bump you off. Like for instance Heart Attacks. A Heart Attack and you were pretty much toast. You might hang around for a while, sitting on the couch, a blanket warming your legs, watching Walter Cronkite on the tube, dying for a smoke…then dying. These days, they stint your beat-to-shit ticker and you’re good to go. You’re pounding weights at the gym. I mean, look at Dick Cheney. 19 heart attacks and the dude just keeps living. I don’t know what to tell you. Medical Science is kicking ass these days.

Still, Death don’t play chess and nobody get’s out of this alive.

Okay, so what’s your point?

I don’t have a point.

Do I have a point?

Yeah, actually, I have a point.

My point is, Death, as She’s leaving a tip at your little banquet of life and you’re insisting on a desert menu…as her impatience grows, you might be the kind that philosophizes.

Yeah! That’s my point.

Could be a looming Death brings you to consider The Meaning Of LIfe.

A big ass question

So let’s face it. What we’re talking about here is a big ass question.

The big one.

There’s none bigger.

If you’re like me, THE MEANING OF LIFE does not involve religion.

I don’t believe in religions. Especially the kind that scare the shit out of you to join. Then, once you sap out and join, they hit you up for money at every turn. Tithes, they call it. That means ten percent. I suspect the Mafia Chiefs get around the same amount from their guys.

They’re saying, “Give me the money.”

Okay, so maybe the Pope’s a good guy.

I don’t know if he is. Maybe he is.

I’m not giving up ten percent. I’m not buying in to all the hokum, either. You’re good, you go to Heaven; you’re bad, you go to Hell. Sounds like Bullshit to me…

Say you believe the Hokum. Say it’s true and you get to Heaven.

Are you still giving up ten percent?

The way I see it, Religion is what you fall back on when you can’t figure shit out for yourself.

Forget about Science

Science will tell you how shit works and how it is made.

Science will also tell you how all this shit started. The current explanation of how all this shit started is called THE BIG BANG THEORY. I’m not talking about the television series. I’m talking about the actual theory of creation that Science has cooked up thanks in part to the telescope observations of this dude Edwin Hubble. The theory was cooked up by Georges Lemaître.

This is the best they could do…The Big Bang?

Most astronomers believe the Universe began in a Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. At that time, the entire Universe was inside a bubble that was thousands of times smaller than a pinhead. It was hotter and denser than anything we can imagine. Then it suddenly exploded. The Universe that we know was born. Time, space and matter all began with the Big Bang. In a fraction of a second, the Universe grew from smaller than a single atom to bigger than a galaxy. And it kept on growing at a fantastic rate. It is still expanding today.

Space For Kids

Sounds like more Hokum to me.

But say it’s true. True because science backs up it’s hokum with observable evidence. Say all this happened just the way Georges Lemaître , a Catholic Priest, claimed it happened. Shit just started.

A big ass bang and here we are.

This explains how we got here. But not why.

So we’re back at square one.

Nobody Knows Shit

The world’s oldest religion has this to say:

According to Hinduism, the meaning (purpose) of life is four-fold: to achieve Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. The first, dharma, means to act virtuously and righteously. That is, it means to act morally and ethically throughout one’s life. However, dharma also has a secondary aspect; since Hindus believe that they are born in debt to the Gods and other human beings, dharma calls for Hindus to repay this debt. The five different debts are as follows: debt to the Gods for their blessings, debt to parents and teachers, debt to guests, debt to other human beings, and debt to all other living beings. The second meaning of life according to Hinduism is Artha, which refers to the pursuit of wealth and prosperity in one’s life. Importantly, one must stay within the bounds of dharma while pursuing this wealth and prosperity (i.e. one must not step outside moral and ethical grounds in order to do so). The third purpose of a Hindu’s life is to seek Kama. In simple terms, Kama can be defined as obtaining enjoyment from life. The fourth and final meaning of life according to Hinduism is Moksha, enlightenment. By far the most difficult meaning of life to achieve, Moksha may take an individual just one lifetime to accomplish (rarely) or it may take several. However, it is considered the most important meaning of life and offers such rewards as liberation from reincarnation, self-realization, enlightenment, or unity with God.

Akhilesh Sivakumar

Wow, man. This is some thought-out shit. These Hindu Mofos cover all the bases. And the final part, ENLIGHTENMENT…this gig is the icing on the cake. You get to be one with God.

You’re tight with God, whoever the fuck he or she is…

Okay, I can dig being tight with God. You’re on a endless groove with no need to be reborn as another Putz.

But what is the point of it all?

Maybe Philosophy knows.

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

A useful way to begin to get clear about what thinking about life’s meaning involves is to specify the bearer. Which life does the inquirer have in mind? A standard distinction to draw is between the meaning “in” life, where a human person is what can exhibit meaning, and the meaning “of” life in a narrow sense, where the human species as a whole is what can be meaningful or not. There has also been a bit of recent consideration of whether animals or human infants can have meaning in their lives, with most rejecting that possibility (e.g., Wong 2008, 131, 147; Fischer 2019, 1–24), but a handful of others beginning to make a case for it (Purves and Delon 2018; Thomas 2018). Also under-explored is the issue of whether groups, such as a people or an organization, can be bearers of meaning, and, if so, under what conditions.

Jesus, I got a headache already trying to read this shit. I caught the part about Animals.

I’d say a Spaniel taking a dump on your front lawn probably has the answer to the meaning of life.

Human Beings, forget about it.

Maybe There Is No Meaning Of Life

I don’t buy that.

I think there is a meaning.

But I’m just a little guy.

A peck on a broad beach.

An infinitesimal.

A baby boomer…

Who am I to speculate on the big questions?

I got nothing else to do at the moment. It’s raining out. My boat, Scruffy, leaks. I’m sitting in Starbucks. Everybody knows me here. I’m that old fart that laughs a lot. Fuck it. I can think about the meaning of life all I want. This is not the Kremlin. I live in a free country.

At least I think I do.

So what I’m gonna do is sit here is just be.

Just be what I am.

What am I?

I’m an old dude from planet earth

That’s right. I was born on planet earth. That’s my planet. It’s right there on the edge of the milky way galaxy.

What do I do here on earth? Nothing. I’m a baby boomer.

Earth is an incredible place. Just ask Wikipedia:

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth’s surface is made up of the ocean, dwarfing Earth’s polar ice, lakes, and rivers. The remaining 29% of Earth’s surface is land, consisting of continents and islands. Earth’s surface layer is formed of several slowly moving tectonic plates, interacting to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth’s liquid outer core generates the magnetic field that shapes the magnetosphere of the Earth, deflecting destructive solar winds.

The atmosphere of the Earth consists mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere like carbon dioxide (CO₂) trap a part of the energy from the Sun close to the surface. Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere and forms clouds that cover most of the planet. More solar energy is received by tropical regions than polar regions and is redistributed by atmospheric and ocean circulation. A region’s climate is governed by latitude, but also by elevation and proximity to moderating oceans. In most areas severe weather, such as tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, and heatwaves, occurs and greatly impacts life.

Earth is an ellipsoid with a circumference of about 40,000 km. It is the densest planet in the Solar System. Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive. Earth is about eight light minutes away from the Sun and orbits it, taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution. Earth rotates around its own axis in slightly less than a day (in about 23 hours and 56 minutes). Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted with respect to the perpendicular to its orbital plane around the Sun, producing seasons. Earth is orbited by one permanent natural satellite, the Moon, which orbits Earth at 380,000 km (1.3 light seconds) and is roughly a quarter as wide as Earth. The Moon always faces the Earth with the same side through tidal locking and causes tides, stabilizes Earth’s axis, and gradually slows its rotation.

Earth, like most other Solar System bodies formed 4.5 billion years ago from gas of the early Solar System. During the first billion years of Earth’s history the ocean formed and then life developed within it. Life spread globally and began to affect Earth’s atmosphere and surface, leading to the Great Oxidation Event two billion years ago. Humans emerged 300,000 years ago, and have reached a population of 8 billion today. Humans depend on Earth’s biosphere and natural resources for their survival, but have increasingly impacted Earth’s environment. Today, humanity’s impact on Earth’s climate, soils, waters, and ecosystems is unsustainable, threatening people’s lives and causing widespread extinction of other life.^[

Wikipedia

I’m one of those impactors. I’m contributing to the unsustainability of the planet. That’s right. While I obsess over the Meaning Of LIfe, all life on this planet is in danger of annihilation. I mean, this really sucks…

Meanwhile the Earth’s been grumbling lately.

Mauna Loa Eruption

That’s right. The lava is flowing on the big island.

Kona Dave. The man with the Alaskan IPA Hoody texted me the news. They say this guy’s got his shit together.

He took these photos with his phone.

Pretty cool…I mean, pretty hot.

I asked him to get real close. Close enough to touch the lava. Take some photos from right there at the edge of the flow. Don’t melt the camera but try and get some nice close up shots.

I haven’t heard back from him.

Meanwhile the Lava-Flow-Tourist-Viewing business is booming.

The Moral

The moral of this post. There is no moral.

I don’t know the meaning of life.

I’m gonna sit here and just exist in the present moment like Eckhart Tolle suggests I do.

That’s his meaning of life. I like it.

There’s not much work involved.

I’ll post more on the Lava Flows when I hear back from Kona Dave.

Unless he got too close…