Raging Against the Dying Light: Reflections on Time and Mortality

Time can be a haunting thing. It doesn’t pause or spare a single soul—neither peasant nor king. Right now, in this very moment, everything that shapes the world around us is bound to be devoured by time. It’s a powerful thought, one that can bring resolve to some yet push others to the darker corners of despair. Everything, both living and lifeless, is destined to end, often without warning, vanishing as if it had never been. 

We’re all here on borrowed time. This experience we call life is fleeting. If there’s one certainty, it’s that we all share the same destination, the same ending. Sometimes we linger as memories, but even memories are slaves to time. Though they may outlast us, in the grand scheme, they too fade, slipping quietly into oblivion.

My heart and soul stand bare, without armor, vulnerable to time’s relentless march. Happy days, desperate nights, they all pass. All things pass, and so do we.

I often feel an unshakable empathy for aging animals. Do they know what’s happening as they grow older? Do they wonder what comes next? I can’t stop time for them; I can’t save them. I can’t even shield myself or my loved ones from its grasp. All I can do is hold space for these moments, honoring what remains of those I cherish.

Perhaps the best I can do, the best any of us can do, is to embrace the passing of time. But to simply react to its passing feels foolish. We must understand it, live with an awareness that in the balance of time, there is little to lose. This is the time to take that risk, to seize what’s in front of you. After all, by not taking it, we keep nothing; we hold onto nothing. We are already marked by time’s hand. So "rage against the dying of the light." Make your limited time here meaningful by doing what matters to you, crafting a life that leaves you with fewer regrets, even as the days slip by.