Live!
I participated with a group of friends in a discussion about the future. What possible paths appear to be before us as a society, given the political, economic, an social trends that we are aware of? I am satisfied the future is opaque, not subject to prediction. Still, who can resist such an exchange of thought, speculative though it may be? Near to the conclusion of the discussion, one of our group succinctly said that she expected our country would follow the course of every living thing, of every human institution. That is all living things in due time, die. There’s a time of birth, a season of growth, the organism supplied with nourishment then achieves apex of what it can be, which is followed by decline, at first perhaps undetectable. Still there’s always the final act, every organism and every society passes. My friend voiced this interpretation of the future, as matter of fact, with more economy and beauty than I have presented it here.
This song my Paul and Linda McCartney states the matter directly, the confluence of the triumph of life and the tragedy of the inevitable is mediated by the unforgettable melody. I understand the tune and lyric was written for the eighth James Bond movie the first that that starred Roger Moore. Wings co-founder and original drummer Denny Seiwell said the song was written after about ten minutes of “screwing around on the piano.”
The lyric expresses the dialectic, a collusion of opposites which is a hallmark of life. Life and death are not unrelated. Both are present in appropriate proportion in every stage of life. When in the prime years, nothing less than “full throttle” is normal, expressed so elegantly by the McCartney’s lyric lines: When
When you got a job to do
You gotta do it well
You got to give the other fellow hell
It seems to me that every single chapter is to be celebrated and given its due. I have made reference to Heraclitus of Ephesus before. The 6th century BCE philosopher expressed so well the principle: “the path up and down are one and the same.”
Now, enjoy the tune by the McCartneys, Live And Let Die.
5 thoughts on “Live!”
My usual cynical nature is placed on hold for a moment while I compose this response. Yes, I agree that cultures, civilizations, societies, and individual people all have distinct life times. But we have entered an age where this does not have to be a given. We should be able to “figure it out” based on the historical record and our current better understanding of human nature. We have the capacity, but do we have the will?
Your “should” is aspirational, a confession of faith. I also share the notion, the possibility that we may rise to the occasion, that the-best-in-us will be called forth, that we will save ourselves along with other species…
I’m afraid we’re both delusional today. I can maintain a modicum of optimism as long as I don’t read the news. Once I click on the NYTimes app, I’m sunk.
Is self-destruction inscribed into the zeitgeist of our times? With the media that we currently have, all of the shocking, foreboding events that happened anywhere today, can be perused off of the internet as easily as picking up canapes from a hor d’oeuvre platter.
Sorry, guys: Cindy is right. How does one evade entropy?