Future Proofing my Life

"Anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing the effects of the shocks and stresses of future events". It's got a lot to do with sustainability.

People I know seem to be dying or incapacitated with increasing frequency, so I'm applying the concept to me. I'd like to be independently sustainable for as long as possible.

I've had some things in place for a while:- 

1. I've got a personal alarm wristband linked to the phone, which I wear all the time in the house. (Outside too when I forget, but obviously it doesn't work there!)
2. I keep my cordless phone next to my bed, set to press any key to call my designated number, in case no 1 doesn't work. (You can't be too careful!)
3. I've got an adjustable bed in case I'm really incapacitated - (It's nice anyway if I'm too uncomfortable at night).
4. I've got a wall hung washbasin & loo in my wet room ensuite, normal ones are too low. Mine are easier to use for creaky bodies. I've also got a walk in shower with nothing to climb over or into. (I might need to get a seat sometime, but not yet thank goodness).
5. I have ordered a stairlift, although I anticipate carrying on walking up & down stairs. It is increasingly difficult to go upstairs carrying anything. I might just send whatever needs to be upstairs or downstairs  on the lift. Stairs are good exercise - Use it or lose it. (PS - After months the supplier decided my stairs weren't wide enough - So no stair lift!)
6. I have wall mounted ovens in the kitchen - my body has lost it's bendiness. 
7. Picking things up from the floor might become impossible. I have this vision of a house full of things I've dropped, which have to stay there till someone comes to pick them up. I've got a grabber, but they are fairly useless.
8. I've just bought a new car with automatic transmission & parking sensors. (Boy do I need those!)
9. I've got enough books to read to last a lifetime if I'm housebound.
10. I'm good with the computer so can do virtually everything on line. 
11. I moved from rural Gloucestershire to Oxford, so I live very close to really good transport links & in walking distance of my doctor & dentist - Providing I can still walk!
12. I've also got a will & Power of Attorney sorted.

So - I think I'm future proof. Now I've done all that I'll probably just drop dead. (Like carrying an umberella guarantees it won't rain).

Journeys

"Travelling from one place to another"
"A long and often difficult process of personal change and development"

A journey has a beginning and an end with lots of peaks & troughs of emotion along the way. There may be mountains to climb or deep gorges to navigate. There are diversions & obstacles. The road may be straight or winding, wide with plenty of space for maneuver or narrow & confining.

You get the picture? You see where I'm going with this?

When you get to my age you do think a lot about life & death. About what is important & what isn't. About the point of it all. About what you really want to do with the rest of your life & how you wasted some of it. About how much of it there will be. About who you want to spend precious time with - Who radiates & makes life good, who drains & makes life negative.

We squander life when we are young - We can't conceive that it will end. As we grow we take on responsibilities & we change little by little. We learn through experience, some good, some bad, some really dreadful.

Life is the most exciting journey. We never know what will happen & how well we will deal with it. We also never know when & how it will end. It truly is the biggest lottery ever.

Buddhism teaches that "existance is suffering" / Suffering is caused by craving & attachment / Nirvana is the cessation of suffering  - The path to Nirvana is the Eightfold Path which is - right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

So it's really easy - follow the path & Nirvana is yours. How to navigate the journey of life itself. I have the intelligence to understand the teaching & the will to put it into practice. However it somehow isn't that simple. Life intervenes in all sorts of ways. 

The thing is, will I feel the journey has been worth it at the end? Will I feel I behaved reasonably well? Have I made a positive contribution to other people, to the planet & to my own journey? Will I see Nirvana, (I suspect not).

I haven't got a clue. How can you possibly evaluate yourself impartially?  

Preservation & Reconstruction - Notre Dame

Notre Dame in Paris was engulfed by fire in Paris this week. On the same night the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was ablaze. Both iconic & ancient religious buildings. Over the years there have been similar buildings catastrophically damaged by fire - Windsor Castle,Glasgow School of Art,York Minster & many churches in the UK,the National Trust's Clandon Park....It's a long list.

Already 800 million euros has been pledged by outrageously profitable French companies like Gucci & LVMH (Dior, Louis Vuitton, Moet / Hennessy). The money continues to come in - there is a website where you too can donate.

These buildings are old, unique, built by skilled craftsmen, architecturally & culturally significant. The question is "what is appropriate to do to restore them"? How much time, effort & money should be spent on the restoration? They have all been altered according to different styles & fashions over time, so what is original & worth preserving?

Such large sums of money can be used in many ways. How do we prioritise what it is appropriate to spend that money on? Is restoring a building top of the list? If so - why?

Should we seriously consider the alternatives? Everything has a lifespan. Everything is born, has a life, fades & dies. That is the natural order. Why should buildings be any different? When a building either reaches the end of it's life or is destroyed in some way, what is the best way forward?

Dresden is an example.
https://mashable.com/2017/01/28/rebuilding-dresden/?europe=true
Most was not restored. The Frauenkirche remained untouched as a symbol of the futility of war & a memorial to those who died in the bombing.

I seriously question spending vast sums of money on re-constructing / restoring any building which has been badly damaged by fire, storm, war or anything. Yes, make it safe & preserve what can be preserved. Coventry Cathedral was not rebuilt. Instead they left it as a memorial to war & built a new one next to it.

 

The symbolism of a new church, which is of it's time, rising from the ashes makes sense to me. Recreating a modern facsimile of an old building at great cost doesn't. However well done, it's fake.

I hope the French think very carefully about the way forward for Notre Dame. There is great unrest in France & all over the world about poverty, lack of opportunity, good education & healthcare, climate change. A great many people are disadvantaged & worse. They may feel that 800 million euros could be better spent.