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The Return to Impermanence
It’s not so scary or bad
Hanging around spiritual types, you hear a lot about impermanence. I confess, I never “got” why anyone finds impermanence to be such an earth-shattering revelation.
Is being traumatized by impermanence a guy thing? Just a thought.
I was standing in line at a local organic grocery store. Apropos of nothing, the woman behind me proclaimed: I feel sorry for bugs. Their lives are so short!
This was in Berkeley, California. Eighty-seven percent of the people are thinking stuff like this instead of looking in their rear view mirrors and using their turn signals.
I hate to break it to you, I answered helpfully, but humans don’t live much longer than bugs.
Acknowledging one’s own inevitable death does put things in perspective. We should all do this frequently.
One of the best answers to the question “Why do spiritual practice?” is “I could die at any moment.”
Putting off practice today might mean putting it off for a long time. Banana slugs have a hard time remembering their mantras.
But our fear of impermanence is a lot more insidious than worrying about the big D.
