Like most people I don’t want to die. I want to live as long as possible. I’d like to live to 130. I exercise, I eat healthy, and I undergo preventative medical protocols to maximize the probability of having a long life. I engage in the Wim Hof Breathing Bubble. I also live just 30 miles from Loma Linda, a bona fide Blue Zone, which is a place where people live for a really long time.
I need to live a long life, man. I’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out.
One of my concerns, though, is that a long life isn’t necessarily a high quality life.
I worry that if I get too caught up into living to 130 I’m treating myself more like a consumer appliance than a human being.
For example, if I buy a refrigerator and it lasts me 20 years, I enjoy bragging rights. “My loser neighbors bought a new fridge and it broke down after 3 years. Mine is still going strong. I’m Number One.”
It’s the same situation for me living to 130. I may have bragging rights that I had a long life, but maybe I missed the point of life.
Imagine me on my deathbed: “Look at me, guys, I’m a 130. I’m so proud of myself. My amazing lifestyle prolonged my life. No one else lived this long. I’m Number One. I won. Hahaha!”
I won? What did I win?
What does living to 130 have to do with the kind of life I lived?
Do you see my concern? I am concerned that by seeing my life as a refrigerator or some other consumer appliance I am focusing on my life in terms of quantity rather than what I should be focusing on: quality.
The mentality that living a long life is equivalent to winning is rooted in a deep sickness because this “make me live as long as possible” mentality has no foundation on a moral core.
How do I score on the Moral Core Grade Sheet?
Mediocre at best.
As far as morals go, I have a fair amount of decency. But my default setting is to be selfish and lazy.
For example, the other night I tried to educate myself on world suffering so I watched a documentary on hunger, and I got so bored watching this documentary, I had to stay awake by eating a peanut butter sandwich larded with honey. I mean, I’m watching a documentary on hunger and I’m feeding my face. Disgusting.
I don’t know how moral I am. And if my Moral Grade is low, then living to 130 doesn’t mean diddly squat.
So what I need to do is redirect my focus. What I need is a clear moral framework. Now as far as I can tell, there are three approaches to morality:
One is religious. Reconcile my selfish ways by connecting to my Maker and be my Higher Angel. Be the Light of the World.
This approach reminds me of the 1978 Christover Reeves version of Superman when his father Jor-El told him to be the Light of the World.
“They can be a great people, Kel-Al, they only need the Light to show them the way.” I got chills.
But then there are secular humanists and atheists who argue that religion is an impediment to morality. Religion is the source of tribalism, violence, and untenable dogmas that discourage one’s natural spirituality. These humanists argue that social evolution and the laws of reciprocity make us moral and rather than fight for some religious faith or other, we should fight to champion liberal democracy throughout the world.
The third approach is to say the hell with morals altogether. I call this the Deacon Blues approach. The narrator of the Steely Dan Deacon Blues discards all conventional morality, plays the saxophone, drinks whiskey all night long, and pursues a life of selfish hedonism.
When I was sixteen, I was drawn to the song’s self-centered nihilism and despair. But I was also drawn to Jor-El’s moral imperative to his son: Be the Light of the World.
Here’s where it gets messy: I see a piece of myself in all 3 moral approaches.
Wait a minute. You mean I’m not simple. You mean I have conflicting impulses inside me? This is terrible. I was looking for a simple storybook narrative with a happy ending wrapped up in a pretty package with a shiny bow.
I guess I’m not getting that.
Well, it’s time to workout and have a wheat-grass smoothie. I need to live for as long as I can so I can figure out this complicated morality stuff.
Tell me what you think, ladies and gentlemen. I’m out.
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