The end is your beginning

Apparently, the world was to end on 21 December 2012 (according to some fringe interpretations of the Mayan calendar). Of course, in actual fact, at each moment, there is always the possibility — however small — that the world could end. A meteor could come out of the sky this very second and obliterate everything. We also live with the possibility — far more probable than the end of the world — that our mortal existence could cease at any moment. So whether it is the end of our life, or of the world, the end is our constant companion.

But, of course, we don’t dwell on these things. We repress our anxieties about our mortality, allowing ourselves to experience it in little parcels, in the gasps at a horror movie, in some adventure sport, or on roller coaster rides.

We distract ourselves from the knowledge of our mortality. Some do it through discipline and the pursuit of a series of escalating goals — a larger house, a bigger paycheck, more money, or a larger business empire. Others distract themselves either with the drama of everyday life, or the creation of drama through difficult relationships and emotional crises, and sometimes with drugs and alcohol. A few retreat into a spiritual quest from where they sometimes never return.

Now, as a reader of this column, I am going to assume that you are one of those fortunate people who have enough to meet the basic needs of food and shelter, and physical security. Your evolution then depends not on the acquisition of more but on the pursuit of your real, authentic, liberated self — material success is not incompatible with this.

And I know of no better method than to accept the transience of everything. Instead of hiding from the fact of one’s mortality, it is far more liberating to embrace it. In the full awareness of your transience, you will be filled with an energy that is at once relaxed yet active, and you will find your neuroses and worries melting away.