Free to Die — Free to Live
“Do not love the world or the things of the world…” — words from the aging Apostle John that have echoed in my mind for most of my life. I remember reading them in junior high school. Every so often, I have stopped to ponder them. I enjoy nice things; I just do not get attached to them. I have also learned to apply this to the rest of what John called “the world.” Things do not have to go like I think they ought to go. This is especially true of history or politics. I read and am aware of contemporary life, but stay pretty detached from it. I cannot do anything about them, and my life is not defined by any of them.
The human spirit must be free. Once it gets tied to a specific process or outcome, it becomes shackled. It becomes a slave to forces it cannot control. The miseries that follow are many, for the spirit can sense more pain than body and mind combined.
Look back at things that were once considered “state of the art” and you will see what I mean. Watch a twenty year old movie and look at the size of their cell phones — or even a fifteen year old movie. You might even have one of those old bag phones somewhere in storage. The symbol that once defined you as “on the cutting edge” now collects dust on a shelf in the garage. You cannot even get a dollar for it at a yard sale. That power symbol is now totally worthless.
The real test comes in your ability to detach from your own self-image. You are not defined by the aging process or what is in your 401K (if there are still any of those left). All things pass away. State of the art becomes state of the landfill ever more quickly. Nothing is ultimately grasped. Either these things slip through our fingers or we slip through the fingers of the world.
I am working on my will today. As I do so, I cannot help but smile. Our possessions, like the very molecules of our bodies, will one day be scattered to the four winds. So, why have I let them become so important to me? You are not free to live until you are free to die. Whatever goes with me must be very real but very intangible. I think I will turn loose of the stuff and see what counts on an eternal journey.
