Michael's Corner

Experiences are Possessions We own Forever

I have, presently, and shall always acknowledge that within human potential there resides a spiritual domain. The bridge I cannot cross is the one that suggests that a universe of galactic event horizons, black holes, and quasars has an ideological component. Thus, I do not subscribe to the concept of an unknowable deity governing an impalpable utopia. That said, I do not condone a life ignorant of the virtues of sacrifice and responsibility; a life built on the rubric that the world is one’s personal playground, a domain one should exhaust until all hedonistic tendencies are experienced, damn the consequences and to hell with others, is not a life well lived.

My impetus for sticking around is to partake in what the world has to offer and has been handed down to us through all that our shared humanity has inspired. If you haven’t experienced the uplifting spirit of Sibelius’s 5th Symphony, listen to it. If you’ve yet to immerse yourself in the raw power of Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony – a cinematic depiction of Bloody Sunday – immerse yourself. If you haven’t traversed the majesty of language through great literature, take that journey. Being human is an endless exploration. Give as much as you take; live as long as you can; one sunrise at a time.

Daily writing prompt
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
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Michael DeStefano
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2 responses to “Experiences are Possessions We own Forever”

  1. abn4eternity Avatar
    abn4eternity

    Please forgive me for being wordy. I have a “slight” problem with keeping things short. But I hope something I comment resonates with others, even in a small way.

    Experiences are indeed possessions, the only possessions that are our own and no one nor nothing can take them away from us. Even when we lose part or all of our memory, our experiences stay with us, subconsciously if nothing else. I don’t like the term “life” since it has a stigma of being finite. I have faith in and believe that I and everyone that has come before, is in the present, and those that will come into this existence, are infinite. I can not resign myself to my existence ending with passing through the veil of the unknown, out of the presence of those in this reality. As long as someone, somewhere remembers me, I endure and my “life” continues in this existence.

    My existence did not begin with my conception into this life nor will it end with my departure from it. I also believe with ALL OF MY BEING (which is a concept foreign to many), that when I pass on my experiences to others, part of me remains within this existence as long as others remember me and have faith in my experiences and truly believe my experiences. When I pass from this existence to the next, it is not the end but part of the continual journey. I do not truly know what came before my conception into this existence nor do I know what I will experience when I move on from this existence, but isn’t discovery part of my existence and my experiences? Life is so much more than what we see, do or believe, it is our existence and how each of us interact and respond to our experiences, good, bad, or neutral.

    We make a choice even when we decide “not” to make a choice, therefore my choices become my experiences and remain as long as others remember and have faith that my experiences are truly real. With being remembered, I will live in this existence for as long as others remember me and my experiences. Even if there is a lull between the memory of me, someone at some point in the future could find “evidence” of my existence and come to believe and have faith in my experiences once more.

    To me, we all have a “religion”, everyone from those that are no longer with us to those, those that are at the present, and those that will come later. My definition of a religion is the belief, faith, or practice of a force/ deity greater than myself. Everything I believe comes from faith. Faith that what I have been taught AND what I truly believe. I truly believe it is not the end of my existence upon my worldly death of this existence. I am the culmination of my experiences and I will endure long after I shed the confines of this mortal shell.

    I cannot resign myself solely to the religion of “science” as I also cannot resign myself completely to a written “history”. What I see, hear, and do are mine, my experiences and my only true reality is the what I have and am experiencing at the present. I cannot resign myself to the notion or teachings of others that this reality that I live, my present, my past that I remember is all of my past, nor is my future punctuated by my death.

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    1. Michael DeStefano Avatar
      Michael DeStefano

      If I may be so bold, you sound like someone who would enjoy Jordan Peterson’s latest book: We Who Wrestle with God. The reality is, we in the West have given religion an unceremonious expulsion and replaced it with the social issues “race” and “gender.” This exercise has not served us well.

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