Much pondering has been done on when life starts and I have my own questions about when it ends. Does life start at birth, conception or even before (is the possibility of life a start?) and does life end when we stop breathing, responding or interacting. 48 hours before my partner died he stopped responding, it was like the driver had left the vehicle with the motor running. His heart was beating (just), he breathing was laboured, he failed to respond to any stimuli. Then, suddenly, it all stopped, like the vehicle had suddenly run out of petrol. Does petrol make the vehicle go or does the driver (and what or who is the driver)?
In the pre-dawn moments of last Thursday (23rd September) new life appeared in my paddock. The gorgeous Clydesdale mare Mischief gave birth a magnificent filly. One minute there was just Mischief and then suddenly there was two bundles lying looking at us. Did our new girl’s life begin at 4.35 am on 23rd September or some eleven and half months ago, or maybe even before that when plans were being made for mare and stallion to meet (for at that point the potential for life was there).
I’m not sure the answers to such complex questions are freely available to us, however, the answer to a far less complex question is absolutely available. On this day, in this moment am I alive? My answer is a resounding yes, therefore, our most helpful response can only be to make it the best moment, the most valuable day possible. Note I didn’t say happiest, I didn’t say most successful, whatever is happening how can we make it the best it can be? I suspect our new girl has some answers to that but right now she seems content to gallop with gay abandon and sleep in blissful delight, and I think I might try to follow her example.