Hello dear readers. I’m wondering whether you agree with Oliver Sacks’ dad that living into your 80s is the best that life has to offer (I realize that probably none of you are 80+ years old). So it’s kind of a thought experiment: “My father, who lived to ninety-four, often said that the eighties had been one of the most enjoyable decades of his life. He felt, as I begin to feel, not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective. One has had a long experience of life, not only one’s own life, but others’ too. One has seen triumphs and tragedies, booms and busts, revolutions and wars, great achievements and deep ambiguities. One has seen grand theories rise, only to be toppled by stubborn facts. One is more conscious of transience and, perhaps, of beauty. At eighty, one can take a long view and have a vivid, lived sense of history not possible at an earlier age. I can imagine, feel in my bones, what a century is like, which I could not do when I was forty or sixty. I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the best of, but as a time of leisure and freedom, freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, free to explore whatever I wish, and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together. I am looking forward to being eighty.”
Thanks, Neil. I have found much of what Oliver's father said to be true in retirement. I hope to begin living in Bali later this year (am finishing up living as an American ex-pat in Mexico right now). I so enjoy your postings and am eager to explore your projects there more fully. Cindy
Thanks, Neil. So kind and thoughtful of you. I'll be in touch. Expect to be there September or October. Keep doing what you're doing. You're an inspiration and lifeline for me and I'm sure for others. Cindy
Thanks, Neil. I have found much of what Oliver's father said to be true in retirement. I hope to begin living in Bali later this year (am finishing up living as an American ex-pat in Mexico right now). I so enjoy your postings and am eager to explore your projects there more fully. Cindy
Looking forward to your landing in Bali :)
Let me know if you need help
Thanks, Neil. So kind and thoughtful of you. I'll be in touch. Expect to be there September or October. Keep doing what you're doing. You're an inspiration and lifeline for me and I'm sure for others. Cindy