The chat

– I’d like to know when I’m going to die.

– Why?

– It would free me up to know what to do with the rest of my life.

– Why can’t you just get on with it? You know you will die. The exact time isn’t relevant.

– I think it is. I need to know how long I’ve got left so I can fit in all those things I want to get done.

– Like what?

– All those things.

– Tell me.

– There’s a lot.

– I’m listening.

– I’d like to fly a plane, go up in an air balloon, skydive, hang glide, parasail, bungee jump, cliff dive…

– Interesting.

– What?

– They are all things that involve being high, in the air, with little support, the need to let go, and be — and trust.

– And your point is?

– There’s a theme there for you.

– Go on.

– All those things are risky but they’re calculated risks that need you to leave the ground, that very thing that yes, grounds you. You leave that foundation you’ve built everything on and you leave it to get up high in a plane or cliff just so you can jump off and float back down to the surface again.

– What do you call that — philosophically?

– Going against nature, against the grain, putting yourself in the hands of something else — the universe.

– Meaning?

– You just want to let go and not worry about anything — have no fear of those things that are ever so frightening.

– Well put. And?

– Then you have to just get on with life until you…

– Die?

– Yep.