Imbolc Valentine Moon
Friend Tom Crane was talking about how the bucket list might be different. “Imagine if your bucket list was things like looking in the eye and telling everyone you cared about that you loved them deeply and had for a long time.”
In my view you better have your bucket list imprinted in the daily way of things or it means little. Why save up to the end things you can do today?
A bucket list is a close relative of the finish line model of retirement. Wait until you no longer have work dragging you down, then do all the fun stuff. Bucket list. Wait until you know you’re going to die, then do all the fun stuff you didn’t have the courage to do before.
Tom’s idea is better. Let’s consider those things that would make our life and the lives of those around us more rich, more peaceful, more fruitful. Then, do them.
This, by the way, is the guiding notion of eudaimonia. Here’s a repeat passage from a post last summer:
Composed of two Greek worlds, eu (good) and daimon (spirit) Aristotle and the Stoics after him promoted it as the end of human life. As such it has often been translated as happiness or welfare, but perhaps a better phrase is human flourishing. Or, without getting fancy, why not good spirit? Both have an active turn, taking us toward enrichment, fullness, striving within a humane ambit.
Now there you have an internal state worth cultivating. It’s the difference between a noun and a gerund.
