Living vs Existing

I was working on my blog post when I got a call from my dad. We talked about an array of subjects but we mainly focused in on the concept of Living Vs. Existing. What does it mean to live? Are we crippling ourselves today into merely existing?

He stated that many people nowadays numb themselves to the television, their phones, video games etc. and due to this, are merely existing. They live life through others in their TV shows, movies and more. Many people work their 40 hours and then numb themselves by means of entertainment.

He used Plato's Allegory of the Cave to visually describe what we are actually doing to ourselves. The basic interpretation of this allegory is that mankind must gain knowledge through reasoning rather than relying on mere belief/opinion. My dad interpreted it slightly differently for the purpose of demonstrating the importance of living.

In the Allegory, the prisoners whom were confined to the cave formed their opinions/beliefs of life through the shadows that the showmen would cast via carvings and statues. This is the only way the prisoners were able to experience some form of life. Therefore ignorant to the real world.

When one of the prisoners escaped, he was first blinded by the light. The sunshine was new to him. As his eyes adjusted, he was able to see the blue skies, the grass and trees. He had never seen such things before. The sights, the sounds, the smells were all new to him. There was a whole other world that the prisoners were missing out on.

The knowledge gained from that circumstance was great! When he went back into the cave, he told the other prisoners about what he had witnessed. It was hard for him to see in the cave because he had been in the sunlight and his eyes did not yet adjust. When he told them what he saw outside of the cave, they mocked him thinking he had gone blind.

Imagine your home as the cave and your television, phones and video games as the shadows. This is merely existing. You gain your knowledge and love for life through these means and it is meaningless. Being confined to your home and work is not enough to live.

Remember during the first year of Covid-19 when we were all itching to at least take a bike ride, go for a walk, eat at a restaurant; basically anything to just get outside? Deep down we need a taste of the outside world. We need exploration, adventure and fun! It is fulfilling and rewarding. Think about it. There is a whole other world out there for you to experience! Think about all the sights, sounds, and smells you have never yet met.

Now imagine yourself in a beautiful forest, surfing at the beach, in a different state, in a different country, at a Disney theme park, on a cruise, going camping, riding dirt bikes, ziplining in Guatemala, taking a tour of Paris, eating a real Asian cuisine in Taiwan, driving jeeps in the red rocks of Utah, walking down the bustling city of New York City, listening to dolce and rugged sounds of Jazz music in New Orleans. It's all out there for you! It's all there for you to experience, to learn and to love.

At the end of this conversation, my dad mentioned the movie Secondhand Lions. This is a movie my sisters and I grew up on. I remember it well! The message of the movie was about living.

A young man named Walter, moves in with his two great uncles and they tell him stories of their youth wrapped in adventures galore. At the beginning of the movie the two men were ornery due to their aging and lack of adventure.

As many elderly people have advised me "don't get old. It sucks." I always thought of this statement as referring to physical aging (which is what they meant) but now I understand it differently. I understand it as having a young spirit despite getting old.

My grandmother has a young spirit and she lives by the philosophy of "Today is a Gift." Every day she does something fun for herself. She often goes to the movies, goes for a shopping spree, takes a hike, goes camping, gets pampered etc. There has never been a single time I remember being bored at her house. She and I always look for the next adventure. And she is the inspiration for the blog name.

I Digress...

Through this boy, the two men became young in spirit. They lived life as if they were young again. Life had meaning again. Adventure was alive in their hearts again. And at the end of the movie, the boy was grown and he had heard that his Great Uncles died. He went to their home where they had crashed their plane upside down into the barn and died.

In the last scene, a wealthy man and his young son visit the home after hearing about the death on the radio. This man recognized the names of the two deceased men as the characters of his late Grandfather's stories. After the man briefly reminisced with Walter about the stories, his son asked Walter if the two men really lived. He replied with a smile, "yeah, they really lived."

Why am I telling this story? It's important to relax and rejuvenate. We all need it! However, we often take relaxing and staying in our bubble to a level that's far more crippling; like the prisoners, like the two men and like many of us. I am definitely guilty of this. Instead of enjoying the sunshine, I often binge watch the Vampire Diaries or Once Upon a Time or many other TV shows and movies. I am no stranger to the couch life.

I believe this is something we all could work on. We need to get out of our little bubble that we call home and explore this amazing world! Try something new. Do something new!

My friends, think about all the years you have left in this life. Look at what you are able to do. If you are still in your 20s, 30, 40s, 50s and maybe even 60s and 70s, think about all the physical activities you can still do. Think about the most beautiful hikes you could take. Think about the dirt bike riding, ATV riding, horseback riding you could do. Think about the energy you still have to explore, and for some of us, hours on end.

You have so much to live for. Don't take it for granted. Use it! When you come to end of the road in this life and you look back at everything you did, let it be adventure and fun; not being confined to the cave and merely existing. You only have today and today is a gift.