Impermanence

Is there a real point where you shouldn't become attached to things. I know that the Buddhists talk of impermanence, but what about family heirlooms or prized possessions? I can remember buying a really expensive pair of sunglasses and then misplacing them. These sunglasses were worth over two-hundred dollars and they were absolutely beautiful. I always felt this deep fear of losing them and, when I did, it was like this strange and awful prophecy came true. This is just materialism alone! Does the same prophecy hold true for people? Do we feel a selfish attachment with people when we mourn? I don't know whether I can subscribe to the whole reincarnation thing, because I am not religious at all. I can see how the idea, in itself, could be worthwhile for some people. Wouldn't you like to be able to come back? The only thing is, what if you come back as something like a spider or a dung beetle? That doesn't sound like a fruitful next life to me. It's one thing to learn, but it doesn't seem to amount to anything if you aren't going to back to an appropriate vessel in which to start over. That's where I find the religious stumbling block.

We all find ourselves fearing old age and the eventual settling into death. I even find myself being scared of when the other shoe will drop. I'm not so much afraid of what I will look like when I get old, because that doesn't really matter to me. It's the pain and suffering that I will have to endure during that path in my life. That is the part that really frightens me. I feel as if I will lose the very vitality that I held so dear. I may not be the healthiest person in the world, but I do value the youthfulness that I still possess. I can see the wrinkles that are starting to form around my eyes. I know that the one or two gray hairs that were found probably have a hundred more waiting in the shadows to follow in their stead. Those things still don't bother me as much as falling deathly ill with crippling arthritis or getting something like Alzheimer's disease or some form of heart disease. I guess that shows the impermanence of health. Maybe I shouldn't be so attached to my body or even my mind. Maybe I should think in terms of that my body is a shell. I can't really tell how my life will live on. Maybe it won't; maybe it will. I don't have any high expectations.

Another fear which comes from the thought of impermanence comes in the form of losing my spouse or my loved ones. I can't even imagine what it will be like when I lose my husband or my close family. It really frightens me to know that, like myself, they have an expiration date. It seems like we all have a date, like cartons of milk or parcels of vegetables. It seems that life is so fragile. Now with the way our government works, you can't tell if you can even live your life without the fear of losing everything when your spouse passes away or gets sick. So, not only do you have to worry about losing the person you love with all of your heart, you have to worry about losing everything you have worked for and collected throughout your entire lifetime together. The impermanence strikes both the fragility of life and the materialistic part that is also very important. This can also be something that goes away even if you get sick and you are alone. So how do you place a value on your life. You can't measure it by the things that you accrue in your lifetime, because those are just material items that aren't always going to exist. It's the measure of your spirit. That will live on forever and remain in everyone's thought.