is dying a life skill?

the discussion topic of the week

Greetings loves, I’m Tori and I like thinking, talking and engaging in conversations about death, dying, philosophy, spirituality, and aging. I mean… we’re all going to die… we all age… we all grieve… and so much of our lives is riddled with the unknowns of being human. But, we can all cling to the fact of our mortality. I find this pretty cool. I actually find this so cool l that I am part of a Pre-Dead Social Club. I’m a facilitator, which basically means I make sure everyone feels seen and heard when we unpack these heavy topics.

This weeks discussion question…?

Is dying a life skill?

And boy oh boy, this is an interesting topic. I think this can be viewed in a lot of different ways. Instead of finding a specific order to how I will address this topic, I’m going to hit you with my very own stream of consciousness. My first thought.

This week that would be:

Bryan Johnson & His Obsession with Immortality

Bryan Johnson is a tech-entrepreneur centi-millionaire trying to live forever. He spends his entire life (and savings) finding longevity solutions and attempting to tick back his biological age. Currently, he is at 46, his body is at 30 and his heart is at 37… not bad. Johnson has spent millions on longevity tests and treatments — including taking hundreds of pills a day, red light therapy, and using his son’s blood to transfuse into his body. He has an extremely strict diet, exercise regime and sleep routine. His life is dedicated to getting younger.

Many people are praising him for his efforts, others just find it a bit weird.

Time Magazine wrote an article on Bryan’s lifestyle, and he reveals his goal is more than just about youthful skin and health:

“Most people assume death is inevitable. We're just basically trying to prolong the time we have before we die…. I don't think there's been any time in history where Homo sapiens could say with a straight face that death may not be inevitable.”

It begs the question… is Bryan on to something? Are we all just trying to prolong the time we have before we die?

My opinion?

Nahhhhh.

I think dying is a life skill. I think it’s part of the living part. I see death and rebirth in every moment of every day. How could I have the audacity to believe that it doesn’t apply to me? I think to practice of the acceptance of dying is an important part of the spirituality and mental state of living. When we accept that death is inevitable, I would argue it adds more beauty into our ever-changing, mortal life. I would argue death is a life skill because living is a life skill too. We need both spectrums to survive and thrive, and we need acceptance that life is impermanent to survive (yeah, I f*ck with Buddism a bit.) I believe this allows more brightness, more appreciation, more presence for the beauty of the present moment — the beauty of the everyday.

I don’t believe Bryan Johnson is building this ‘life skill’ by living the way he his living. I understand he has a goal in mind, he wants to change everyone’s mind on how we view death. He certainly has incredible discipline and determination in trying to accomplish this goal. But, to me, it seems as though Johnson is so scared of death that he his willing to sacrifice his quality of life to attempt to grasp this elusive idea of immortality.

The Kardashians visited Bryan Johnson’s house on a recent episode. A funny clip is below:

At the end of the clip, Kris is asked: if you had access to an algorithm that could give you the best physical, mental, and spiritual health of your life — and you did what it said, would you do it?

Kris says: Yes. Of course she would.

She is later asked by a producer:

“Are you willing to give up your 5 o’clock martinis?”

She says No. Lol. Her answer immediately changes.

I’m with Kris on this one. (Not because of the martinis though.)

Bryan Johnson’s lifestyle does not appeal to me.

I’m all for doing the little things to keep up the quality of my life — walking everyday, drinking enough water, eating whole foods — but when it comes to cheating death? I’m out. I don’t want to be here forever.

My (current) spiritual belief is that my soul already incarnates forever, and now I want my one physical body to stay here forever too? A big no thanks.

Why would I want to live forever anyways? You have to be a pretty narcissistic to believe you alone need to be in that physical form to help humanity. At some point, it’s just time. Time to let go — physically, mentally, emotionally. I hope everyone has the chance to come to terms with that before saying their big farewell. But it might be another fool’s errand to have the audacity to believe we’ll ‘know’ when we might be leaving this physical form. In my opinion it’s just all a part of being human.

I could go on. But for now, I’ll leave you with Bryan Johnson and his quest for immortality.

What do you think? You drinking the martinis or living forever?
Do you think dying is a life skill? Why?

Forever in pursuit, but certainly not living forever in this physical form,

T