I had some close calls as well. I do believe that God has a plan for each of us and that He saves us for His own purposes. We do have free will, but that doesn't mean we can control everything in our lives; in fact, we CAN'T control most things in our lives. What we CAN control is our reaction to whatever happens—we can overcome and grow in virtue and get closer to God... or we can let those challenges break us and get resentful and blame God for our misery. Some people who lose a leg will give up all hope and become drug addicts; others will find extraordinary strength and win the Special Olympics. It's really up to us.
I believe God has kept me alive so far because He wants me to serve Him in a way only I can serve Him. This might be something seemingly insignificant. For example, when I ran for VT State Representative in 2020, on Election Day I stood out in the freezing cold with two 13-year-olds who helped me with the sign waving. After a bit of chit-chat, one of them confided in me that he was dyslexic and felt really bad about himself. He said he had trouble learning and was afraid he wouldn't amount to anything in life.
"Coincidentally," I had read about a certain famous statesman (I forget who it was) just a few weeks prior who'd been dyslexic and went on to do enormous things. I told the kid about him and saw his eyes light up in amazement and gratitude.
I lost the election, but that night, when I got home, I wrote in my journal, "What if this whole year, the whole labor-intensive campaign I ran, was just for this one moment... so that tonight, I'd have just enough clout and "celebrity status" for a 13-year-old boy to believe me when I told him he could aspire to greatness?"
This may be hard to hear, but maybe your only purpose in life is to be the mother, father, benevolent uncle, or mentor of a young person who will go on to do great things. Maybe you're just a tiny but indispensable cog in the overall plan that only God can see. Humbling thought, but also very cool when you think about it.
Heh, I’ve had more close calls than I care to count. And I have (had) 2 acquaintances who died within a week of each other, about 5 years ago, falling down the stairs.
I do believe though, based on both studying quantum physics, some precognitive dreams, some deep meditation sessions and some intense psychedelic experiences, that time is an illusion - it’s just how we as humans perceive things - and that everything that has ever happened or will happen is simultaneously happening. Once in a while, one can pierce the veil and catch a glimpse of the future (or the past). Best to just accept that everything is perfect just the way it is - even though it hurts like hell sometimes.
A nervous person was fidgeting on an airplane and his seat mate asked what was wrong. "I am afraid of flying." The good Samaritan replied, "Oh don't worry. If your number is up, your number is up and there is nothing you can do about it."
"I am not worried about my number. I am worried about the pilot's number!"
Jared, after reading lots of your writing over several years, I am aware of your belief in the afterlife and spiritual realm. Have you considered that our souls existed before we were in the flesh? I mean, do we, as a soul, make choices about the physical life we will live and literally have the free will of who we will be, when we will live, where we will live, who we choose as our parents and family, etcetera? I'm 57 years old, a financial advisor, and living in western South Carolina. I recall a moment when I was a child, when my brother and I (ages 11 and 13) were talking about what we were going to "be" when we grew up. And today, we are both what we said we would be. I cannot help but think that what we become are the choices that we made as souls before our conception, gestation and birth. I'll even posit that we (as souls) made choices with others to live out our physical lives together. My wife and I have been married over 31 years. I knew on our first date 35 years ago that she was my soul mate. I truly believe that together we made the choice as souls, pre-birth,to live our lives together.
Getting back to your post, I feel that everyone has made the choice to live the life they are currently living - even the people who are just dickheads or losers. I believe that we choose the important parts of our lives, and the rest is the randomness of life. When someone says something like it's GOD's will or everything happens for a reason, that those are true statements.
Consider this: we ask why do bad things happen to good people, but have we considered that these bad things are the way we wanted them? Murders occur daily, but what if those victims chose for their lives to end in that manner? Christians believe in redemption and forgiveness of sin. So perhaps it's part of the larger plan that someone's purpose on earth is to do the bad things to good people. That person who does bad may just be very faithful and knows what they're here to do.
"Died peacefully” is another phrase thrown around carelessly, probably as a defensive mechanism. (Having witnessed both parents passing). Death can be shocking even at 100. It is all perspective.
RE: The Fourth Turning. I don't want to believe that either, but when combined with some of Ray Dalio's observations of history, it sometimes feels like we are destined as societies to repeat patterns. I was a Republican most of my life, but just don't understand the recent/current self-destructive patterns of anti-rules, anti-law, anti-freedom stances. ......
And there are cases like my younger brother. I have had a close call or two, but he has had at least 20 very close calls with death. The first three of those were before he was six years old, when as a toddler he was kicked by a horse in the side of his face. Two inches higher in the temple or two inches lower in the throat and it would almost certainly have been fatal. Then we found him floating face-down in a tank of water, turning blue, and he was attacked by a dog when my dad was standing just feet away and was able to save him.
As an adolescent he had several close calls, and as an adult he has had several accidents that came within a fraction of killing him, as a consequence of which he spent 1-3 weeks in the hospital. Not to mention the spider bite, probably a brown recluse, that nearly cost him his right leg. He is now 63, and even in the last ten years he has had two accidents that I know of that could easily have been fatal. There may have been others. He doesn't necessarily tell me everything that happens to him.
But when others die from seemingly random events, we have wondered why he has been spared so many times when the odds were so much against him, perhaps not in every occasion, but the sum total is astonishing.
Seriously I had a very similar incident. I had to pee in the middle of the night. I woke up and went to the bathroom. Then I suddenly felt dizzy and the next thing I knew I was laying on the floor. I had hit my head just over my eye on the floor. I had a big, black and blue mark. I also had no idea why I suddenly just passed out.
I had some close calls as well. I do believe that God has a plan for each of us and that He saves us for His own purposes. We do have free will, but that doesn't mean we can control everything in our lives; in fact, we CAN'T control most things in our lives. What we CAN control is our reaction to whatever happens—we can overcome and grow in virtue and get closer to God... or we can let those challenges break us and get resentful and blame God for our misery. Some people who lose a leg will give up all hope and become drug addicts; others will find extraordinary strength and win the Special Olympics. It's really up to us.
I believe God has kept me alive so far because He wants me to serve Him in a way only I can serve Him. This might be something seemingly insignificant. For example, when I ran for VT State Representative in 2020, on Election Day I stood out in the freezing cold with two 13-year-olds who helped me with the sign waving. After a bit of chit-chat, one of them confided in me that he was dyslexic and felt really bad about himself. He said he had trouble learning and was afraid he wouldn't amount to anything in life.
"Coincidentally," I had read about a certain famous statesman (I forget who it was) just a few weeks prior who'd been dyslexic and went on to do enormous things. I told the kid about him and saw his eyes light up in amazement and gratitude.
I lost the election, but that night, when I got home, I wrote in my journal, "What if this whole year, the whole labor-intensive campaign I ran, was just for this one moment... so that tonight, I'd have just enough clout and "celebrity status" for a 13-year-old boy to believe me when I told him he could aspire to greatness?"
This may be hard to hear, but maybe your only purpose in life is to be the mother, father, benevolent uncle, or mentor of a young person who will go on to do great things. Maybe you're just a tiny but indispensable cog in the overall plan that only God can see. Humbling thought, but also very cool when you think about it.
Heh, I’ve had more close calls than I care to count. And I have (had) 2 acquaintances who died within a week of each other, about 5 years ago, falling down the stairs.
I do believe though, based on both studying quantum physics, some precognitive dreams, some deep meditation sessions and some intense psychedelic experiences, that time is an illusion - it’s just how we as humans perceive things - and that everything that has ever happened or will happen is simultaneously happening. Once in a while, one can pierce the veil and catch a glimpse of the future (or the past). Best to just accept that everything is perfect just the way it is - even though it hurts like hell sometimes.
A nervous person was fidgeting on an airplane and his seat mate asked what was wrong. "I am afraid of flying." The good Samaritan replied, "Oh don't worry. If your number is up, your number is up and there is nothing you can do about it."
"I am not worried about my number. I am worried about the pilot's number!"
and so it goes.....
Jared, after reading lots of your writing over several years, I am aware of your belief in the afterlife and spiritual realm. Have you considered that our souls existed before we were in the flesh? I mean, do we, as a soul, make choices about the physical life we will live and literally have the free will of who we will be, when we will live, where we will live, who we choose as our parents and family, etcetera? I'm 57 years old, a financial advisor, and living in western South Carolina. I recall a moment when I was a child, when my brother and I (ages 11 and 13) were talking about what we were going to "be" when we grew up. And today, we are both what we said we would be. I cannot help but think that what we become are the choices that we made as souls before our conception, gestation and birth. I'll even posit that we (as souls) made choices with others to live out our physical lives together. My wife and I have been married over 31 years. I knew on our first date 35 years ago that she was my soul mate. I truly believe that together we made the choice as souls, pre-birth,to live our lives together.
Getting back to your post, I feel that everyone has made the choice to live the life they are currently living - even the people who are just dickheads or losers. I believe that we choose the important parts of our lives, and the rest is the randomness of life. When someone says something like it's GOD's will or everything happens for a reason, that those are true statements.
Consider this: we ask why do bad things happen to good people, but have we considered that these bad things are the way we wanted them? Murders occur daily, but what if those victims chose for their lives to end in that manner? Christians believe in redemption and forgiveness of sin. So perhaps it's part of the larger plan that someone's purpose on earth is to do the bad things to good people. That person who does bad may just be very faithful and knows what they're here to do.
Another fantastic introspective piece.
"Died peacefully” is another phrase thrown around carelessly, probably as a defensive mechanism. (Having witnessed both parents passing). Death can be shocking even at 100. It is all perspective.
RE: The Fourth Turning. I don't want to believe that either, but when combined with some of Ray Dalio's observations of history, it sometimes feels like we are destined as societies to repeat patterns. I was a Republican most of my life, but just don't understand the recent/current self-destructive patterns of anti-rules, anti-law, anti-freedom stances. ......
And there are cases like my younger brother. I have had a close call or two, but he has had at least 20 very close calls with death. The first three of those were before he was six years old, when as a toddler he was kicked by a horse in the side of his face. Two inches higher in the temple or two inches lower in the throat and it would almost certainly have been fatal. Then we found him floating face-down in a tank of water, turning blue, and he was attacked by a dog when my dad was standing just feet away and was able to save him.
As an adolescent he had several close calls, and as an adult he has had several accidents that came within a fraction of killing him, as a consequence of which he spent 1-3 weeks in the hospital. Not to mention the spider bite, probably a brown recluse, that nearly cost him his right leg. He is now 63, and even in the last ten years he has had two accidents that I know of that could easily have been fatal. There may have been others. He doesn't necessarily tell me everything that happens to him.
But when others die from seemingly random events, we have wondered why he has been spared so many times when the odds were so much against him, perhaps not in every occasion, but the sum total is astonishing.
Seriously I had a very similar incident. I had to pee in the middle of the night. I woke up and went to the bathroom. Then I suddenly felt dizzy and the next thing I knew I was laying on the floor. I had hit my head just over my eye on the floor. I had a big, black and blue mark. I also had no idea why I suddenly just passed out.