The Key To Eternal Life

       I went to a viewing of an Independent film the other night about an aging actress who is concerned with… Aging. At the end of the questions and answers, she said, “If anyone knows how to live forever, let me know. I’d like to hang out with you.” She is – forty-five? – and she’s worried about dying already? Not a good sign.

As I was thinking about age and its ramifications, it came to me how to, as she put it, “live forever.” Well, not live forever, but how to stave off “old age.” (Last night I watched a movie where one of the two leads was debuting in her first acting job at 86 – so there’s still home Jane.)

The answer is this. If you worry about ‘growing old,’ guess what, you’ll grow old all the faster. If you pay age no mind, you’re more likely to grow less old (er), as quickly. Once you start worrying more about dying instead of living, you’re a gonner. Done deal. It’s all down hill from here, baby!

Of course, I’ve never had children. Besides the old adage that children will age you quicker, just seeing your children grow (much less the taxing of your energy in the process of their growing) will serve as a near-by constant reminder that YOU’RE GROWING OLDER. Or not.

It’s harder to see yourself as being in your youthful years when all of a sudden your child is graduating from high school and leaving home. It’s even harder still when those ‘children’ of yours have children of their own. But it isn’t a required part of the equation.

You see; attitude is everything. I’ve known women (yes, in the ‘biblical sense’ and otherwise) who have had children, grown up with them, and still managed to not let ‘old age’ catch up with them. Yes, some of them were in their forties and fifties chrono-logically but still in their teens emotionally. But there have been some for whom the idea that just because their children grow up, they don’t have to ‘grow old.’

Jesus said that to see the Heaven you needed to be “as a little child.” A child will continue to see the world with wonder; whereas an adult “grows up” and looses that sense of wonder. The women who have retained that sense (and hence retained their sense of youth), didn’t let the fact of their children becoming adults deter them from how they saw themselves.

You ‘grow old’ because you see yourself as growing old. (Well, eating a good diet and exercise also help tremendously). If you see yourself as being young and carefree, you’ll tend to remain as carefree as you can. Perhaps this is why Grandparents love hanging out with their grand children so much?

But there is also another factor that most people don’t put into the equation: if you believe that a Soul last forever, then you can stay younger longer. Age ceases to be such a factor if you think in terms of your being Eternal. This Life ceases to be something that must be ‘used’ to the fullest, if there are other lifetimes, and ‘death’ is not really the end all of our existence.

Think about it…

Excerpt from "The Raceway"

From the new collection "Dreams, Desires, And Dead Ends" All Rights Reserved. 
©2012 Robert Alan Chappell -- Reproduction in part or in whole of this work constitutes property theft and will be prosecuted. 


It was a time of great change, and the Mid-West does not like change.  First there was us, the progeny of the changing nation which would later be called the Baby Boomer generation.  We been born into the seeming prosperity of the aftermath of World War II, and for the time being were one of the welcomed changes occurring in their lives.  That of course would change in just a few short years, centered around the years of '67, '68 and '69. 

John F. Kennedy and Camelot were still in full swing, and he had just announced his intention to Go to the Moon.  Viet Nam and The War At Home were only fragile nightmares for now.  The deaths of the American Ideal that were the assassinations not even in the realm of nightmares as of yet.

And last but certainly not least, were the new motorways (as they were called then), the remaining legacy of Dwight Eisenhower, as far reaching in their consequences for the coming years as the Moon Adventure would be.  The new Interstate Highway System.  Long strips of continuos blacktop spreading and linking all of the major cities in ways that the old highways — often twisty-turny in nature following the whims of the landscape — would not be.  These were supposed to be clean straight lines advancing to and expanding the horizon.  The Age of the Motorcar.

And here I was, growing up in the epitome of speed and advancing metal, Indianapolis; home to The Speedway and The 500.  Sleek shiny pods of metal screaming round and round the circular Pathway of Fate.  

It was also the time of the advent of the (also seeming) Raceway inspired interchange systems designed to re-route long distance traffic around those cities, that would come to be known shortly as Beltways.  These big loops had often ground through neighborhoods, leaving behind (for now) large gashes in the vegetation and housing.  They were at this time, in the process of being born, and like many another change at this time, the birth was not without it muddy consequences. 

that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We of course, the Progeny living within the growing radius of Sub-Urbia, would not find this gouging of the landscape (for now) objectionable.  No, just the opposite.  It allowed for us, living in the shadow of The Raceway, to carve the Raceway of our dreams in this man-made lunar landscape, not for screaming pods of metal, but for screaming bi-pedaled testosterone in the building.  The just placed circular (tubular) concrete conduits that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We didn't have a sports team of note (at that time) to root for, but we did have The Speedway.  It was, at that time, one of the few of its kind in the country, a hint of things to come.  And we used that newly graded but not yet concreted path of the future to our own advantage, speeding around on our bikes, leaping over conduit and change for a time, remaking the larger landscape to our own pathways of dreams.  I spent many an hour where my mother knew I was, going round and round.

And it was also the recent advent of The Mall.  No longer would there be an old-fashioned town center where shops would be, but the clean, gleaming concrete tower of The Mall.  The particular Mall that was close by me at that time, was a siren call to going 'further away from home' than I was 'supposed to be.'  It was the lure of my coming gypsy life, taking me far afield from anything considered home.  
My parents were not amused.  And they also did not see the traveling from city to town far afield influence of my fathers constant need to be On The Road in my further and further wanderings.  All they saw was that I was going where no child of theirs was supposed to go.  Too Far.

I was an awkward, gangly, bespectacled twelve, entering into the throes of what in my later life would be called geek love.  I was the eldest of three boys, so I didn't have an older brother to ask advice from, and I had an absent father who, when he did come home from being on the road, didn't have a lot of time for me and fatherly advice.  In other words, I was on my own.

So I spent every waking hour that I could at Our Raceway, after school and on weekends.  Racing round and round the circuit of dust and dirt, pretending that we were those Racers that were our heroes.

The only other siren call that was close by with nearly as much pull was the small one runway airport that was also within my bikes pedaling distance.  What time I didn't spend at The Raceway, was spent there amidst the Pipers and smells of spilt airplane fuel.  I stood glued to the chain link fence that separated me (for safety purposes) from the dream of speed aloft.  This one would later replace The Raceway, and it's ground based transit mundi. 

Why 'Non-Christians' are persecuting (so-called) 'Christians'

[This was written on my facebook page in response to a video of some 'Christian' Preacher indoctrinating four- and five-year olds in how to 'refute evolution.' (I can no longer find the Post I reacted to.)]

First point: if you ask a Jew (who most of these so-called "Christians" say they believe are their direct religious 'ancestors') about the stories in the "Old Testament," they will tell you that they're mishnah -- allegories -- just like "Jesus" (Third Point) used to teach. They are not meant to be history, but lessons. These "Christians" teach however contrary to that point, that "every word in the Bible is true." Nonsense.

Second Point: Christianity (Roman Catholicism) is a mishmash of the original Judaic Tradition 'paganized' first by "Saint Paul" (a 'converted' Jew proselytizing to the early Greek followers), then The Romans (Jesus is a mishmash of Messianic Judaism and the patron god of soldiers we now know as Mars), and then all of the other religions that it sought to convert the followers of ("Mother Mary" being the Goddess transverted into a Virgin). Even the name "Jehovah" comes from the Babylonian Exile and the Babylonian god "Jah" (or "Yod") whose consort ironically was the goddess Astarte [the fertility goddess], or Oestre [from whence the name Easter came]-- or Esther, the goddess mother of Judaism).

Third Point: if you walked the streets of Yerushalem (The City of Peace) and you saw this wandering Jew we now know as "Jesus" and you called him that, he wouldn't even turn around. His name was Yeshua bar Yosef. The name of Jesus is a conversion from the Geek name Yesu (or "Ieose") Christos, and eventually into Jesus the Christ, "Jesus The Anointed One". Not Jesus Christ. Christ was not his last name (only a modern  invention, last names).

Forth Point: it does you no good to argue 'logic' with these people. It does no good to argue that science (even theory) relies on 'proof.' It does no good even to point to physical evidence ('Satan planted those bones there to turn you away from Jesus!'). Never mind that they get into cars. trains and planes that ride on those 'lies of Satan' (scientific principles) every day.  Science is still 'lying' to us.

This is indoctrination on the worst level, and terming it 'child abuse' barely covers it. These children can barely read, and yet they're already being molded to proselytize and spout 'rote' instead of right. You can't argue with a sick mind.

A Child Must Be A Choice

I'm single. I have never really wanted to have children except for one of the women I have been with.

Below is a response I wrote in a personals ad regarding the idea of  'men not wanting children,' describing why I haven't wanted children. I know that some of it will seem crass and uncaring to some (mainly women), but there are a number of reasons for this in my life (most of which I won't go into in a public forum).

Not everybody should have children. A current look around this country shows that many shouldn't have had; they weren't prepared to raise children. If you haven't at least tried to heal whatever childhood emotional injuriesthat were done to you, perhaps you should wait on transferring those same issues to children.

I've also known a number of women who decided (one of them at quite an early age) that they themselves did not want children. The reasons? I can't tell you or (perhaps) they'd kill me. [Sort of a joke.]

And in a similar vein, not everybody should go to college. In this country you're treated as pariah if you don't have a degree (or two), but many people should perhaps attend vocational training. We have way too many lawyers and not enough nurses. And I know a number of  people with superfluous degrees that they arenever going to use.

I have personally fathered two children in my time. But in both cases, however much the woman wanted (or in both cases never knew they wanted) children, neither was prepared to do it. With one of them she was too old and her body rejected the fetus. In the other one, when I didn't respond favorably, she had an abortion.

In the end, unless both of the procreators are wanting wholeheartedly to devote the next 18 years of their life to the child, the child should not be created. I know this probably  sounds really harsh, but have you ever known anyone who found out that they were an 'unwanted' child? It wasn't a feel good revelation, I"ll tell you that.

We all need to find in ourselves what our true reason for coming into this life is, before we take on the task of forming someone elses reason for coming in. I truly believe in a saying by a comedian some time ago, "I don't believe in having children until I"m through being one."

Aside from this, I have way too many other things in my life that if I don't give them attention for any length of time, will not suffer for the rest of their lives for that lack of attention paid. And besides, I don't have enough time for all of my creative 'children' (works of art/writing/design) as it is.

In my opinion, a child is either a choice, or a potential (as a former friend once was fond of sayinhg) flaming disaster if they are not.