Posted by Jeanne Rose, with a philosophical survey for a Tues morning on Tuesday, 28 July 1998, at 8:30 a.m.

I mean, what if suddenly you didn't just have 20 more years of reasonable life expectancy, or 40, or 60 (depending on how old you are now). What if you were suddenly looking at hundreds, maybe even thousands (barring an unfortunate incident involving someone else's sword)? Would it be too daunting to consider? Would you change your lifestyle at all if you knew you wouldn't get cancer, etc? Would it be a good change, or are you probably better off being limited to a
handful of decades?

For myself, I've been thinking lately that a dose of thinking like an immortal might be a good thing. I mean, it takes some of the pressure off to try to accomplish your life dreams by 30 (or 40, or before you die). Obviously, it is good to recognize our mortality and use the time we have as best we can, but there might be something liberating about being able to start something that might take a long time to finish, or to bare fruit. I don't know - I just think it might help me to see past the rush and stress of everyday living, to get a better perspective on what life is all about anyway. It seems like it wouldn't take too long before you'd start to realize what was really important to you. People are very important to Duncan. Doing the right thing morally and ethically is very important to Duncan. Other immies seem to obsess with one thing and get off-track, irrational, less human. How would you keep the balance?

Any thoughts?

Peace,

JR