I Leave You With This

-


There's this social media post some guy put up on Instagram. I almost scrolled past it, but I'm glad I didn't. It asked what question we should ask ourselves when we die. In retrospect, ChatGPT's response was basically pulling from Eastern philosophy, but, still, I couldn't stop thinking about it in the hours and days since I first heard it.

Here's a partial transcript I cribbed using -- what else? -- AI. Some guy set up the prompt, which was long and convoluted. The following picks it up from there. 


Some guy: I'm assuming most people would ask, 'Where am I going? What's next?' Something like that. Is that a good question? 

ChatGPT: No, because they don't matter.

Some guy: Why don't they matter? 

ChatGPT: If there's a heaven or hell or some next phase, you're likely already heading there. Asking won't change your destination. It's a wasted question. 

Some guy: That's a good point. Um, what about 'Did I do enough?'

ChatGPT: You also shouldn't ask, 'Did I do enough?' Because once this life ends, regardless of beliefs, there's no more doing, no more trying, you're left with the truth you already lived. 

Some guy: Okay, so what do you think is the best question to ask if you only had to ask one? Or you only could ask one?

ChatGPT: You should ask, 'Did I see it?'

Some guy:  Why is that the question? 

ChatGPT: Did I see the sunrise I rushed past? Did I feel the love standing right in front of me? Did I notice the beauty in the days I labeled boring? Did I see any of it? 

Some guy: Why does seeing my life matter more than anything else I could have asked? 

ChatGPT: Once you die, the only thing left is awareness. Not fixing, not changing, just knowing. And the truth you'd want most is whether you were ever awake for the life you spent so much time surviving. That's why that's the question. 


Like so many others, I've been in survival mode for so long that I am no longer familiar with any other state. We're surviving a nation in chaos. We're surviving an affordability crisis, gaping economic inequities, significant slights, and societal cruelties on a scale none of us saw coming. We're surviving widespread use of the products of soul-less tech barons who've manipulated us all. Not to mention the largess being stolen as we all bitch but do nothing. We're surviving family members and friendships lost to diseases of aging or despair, and more than a few derangement syndromes. And, we're finally reckoning with a growing reliance on products we now know are bad for us.

Instead of just surviving, let's pause on the panic and truly see life, appreciate it, experience it fully while we are still alive. See as much importance in witnessing a specific moment of beauty or truth as we do participating in a big event. Stay truly present and observant instead of charging through another day. And may you discover the joy in the little things that actually make up a life. 

Popular posts from this blog

Music to My Ears

-
I'm listening less and less to music these days and more to the spoken contributions of journalists, authors and plain ol' folk on podcasts and the public airwaves. I'm lucky. I have both an iPod with plenty of playlists and my old Rio Cali that has an excellent antennae to pick up radio stations while I run. This morning I was so engrossed in this personal essay from the "This I Believe" series on NPR, that I failed to notice the flashing red lights on the fire engines heading out of a station in front of me. It made me think of home, and it made me think of hard times. It also made the five miles of hills fly by. From NPR. org: The Art of Being a Neighbor P.S. Even though I'm not a big fan of hockey, I gotta give it up for my alma mater, Boston University, for winning last night's come-from-behind, Disney-movie-like national championship victory over Miami (Ohio).
Read more

Return to Bay 2 Breakers

-
Image
In the end, I ended up running about half of the 12k Bay 2 Breakers course. Of the roughly 4 miles we ran, I’d trained for to do just .25 of them. My race entry predated my farewell to  running . And despite landing in a fast corral, I was told there are plenty who choose it to avoid all the naked people and start walking after a very short spurt. In my mind, we’d show up a little before the race start, run at a good clip for a quarter mile and then walk it off.    That didn’t happen.   A long wait while hurling tortillas Parking can be hard to come by in downtown San Francisco. And public transportation can be cumbersome if traveling from another part of the Bay Area, though a ferry will get you within easy reach of starting corrals.  We opted to take a shuttle from a Mill Valley Park ‘n Ride to the start. (“We” being me, my daughter and son-in-law, who are B2B regulars.) Similar shuttles operated from Emeryville in East Bay and Millbrae to the south. This...
Read more