#147 | Living many lives

“To a dull mind all of nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wander a whole summer if you can…time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening, it will definitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.” – John Muir

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What’s the weather going to be tomorrow? asked a traveller.

“It will be weather I like,” the farmer said with a smile.

How do you know you’ll like it? said the traveller.

The farmer responded, “When I was young, I learned I cannot always get what I like, so I have decided to always like what I get. I’m certain tomorrow we will have the weather I like.” 

Novels grab me when the protagonist lives, loses, and recovers to live again. And then repeats the cycle. There is an essentially optimistic message: Whatever happens, if you’re optimising for the number of lives lived, then calamity, disaster, and the unexpected are beneficial. They shake the snow globe and allow us to lay new tracks. They open doors and illuminate paths.

Re-invention is routine in forestry — the regular thinning-out to maintain coppice cycles—the burning-off of lowland scrub to allow fresh shoots. Why don’t we apply the same principles of creative destruction to our own life?

A friend, we’ll call him E, is a seeker. At 70, he took his first dose of psychedelics. Seventy! — and it was a high dose. These are the most intimidating and potent substances known to our psychology. And E wanted more during the ceremony.

By seeking, he dared to chart a new path. Live a new life. In fact, it only takes a day. 

How many lives is it possible to live? Postmen in the Outer Hebrides can become Amazonian shamans. Librarians in Weston-super-Mare can become woodworkers in northern Kenya. A City insurance broker can become an NGO advisor in Uganda in a month. The decision takes a moment.

Each transformation describes growth, destruction, and growth again. At the drop of a hat, we can re-work our lives and live many. There’s no need for Buddhist reincarnation; I’m describing pragmatic re-invention. Too easily, and tragically, we don’t see all the *other* lives we could live. It seems childlike to dream of a different future. We should pay attention to our un-adult-erated self.

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There is change afoot in my life. Not least, a new name for this blog. Explanation next week. 

Live well, 

H