We come from an old family.
A family where the values are passed on, generation over generation. A family, where responsibility is born by the father and the son, the mother and the daughter. This loop, this tradition - it is a hard thing to break out from.
Yesterday an old and wise friend of mine, a man who is a Guru of his own kind, came to visit for a coffee. As we sat around the heavy table, commenting on the passing of the days, the conversation abruptly turned from the common and mundane to the deep and profound.
My old and wise friend began to contemplate the passing of life, sharing with me his experience of time.
"To live without regret," he said to me, "is the tricky thing."
"But if the values are passed on generation over generation, if responsibility is held by all in the family, if the responsibility held limits you from who you are and who you want to be - how then, is one to live without regret?” I asked him.
"By grounding oneself in the present and knowing that the trick isn't to live without regret. The trick is to understand that there is no life without regrets. Of the many paths to chose in life, there will always be those that will remain unexplored. To be at peace with this knowledge - that is the trick."
We finished our coffee and he left.
It was a powerful conversation. We did not discuss The Secret to Cheating Death Himself.
THE END
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