When Will I Die?

Kind of a grim title and even if the answer were known, we may not want to hear the answer. But nonetheless, most of us want to extend that date as far into the future as possible. In the past year, I have become aware of new and effective nutrition-based treatments for diabetes, cholesterol buildup, liver age-related deterioration, high blood pressure, mental deterioration and a host of other “foods” that will revitalize aging hippies.

Along with a little exercise, these nutrients directly forestall the most lethal diseases threatening our society today. Those threats are Heart Disease, Cancer, Lower Respiratory Disease, accidents, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Diabetes and Influenza/Pneumonia. Most of these diseases are cross-connected so that a little of one precipitates another and perhaps another. Some very passionate researchers have discovered that by eating an extract of an Italian orange peel or a common cactus or a few amino acids or B vitamins, these diseases can be thwarted. This is so cool.

Anyhow, I cannot dispense medical advice from this column but I can suggest that you contact a skilled nutritionist and ask them about berberine for lowering your blood sugar, aloe for lowering your A1C, CoQ10 for improving memory and reducing arterial plaque. The nutritionist will have other formulations for other ailments and will surely nag you to join a gym and quit smoking if you still indulge but these will be a good start toward dancing at your great, great granddaughter’s wedding. Oh and ask the nutritionist about a liver cleanse as well. It may sound tedious but it is a quick (3-6 months) way to recover a little bit of your youth by drinking a morning shake.

I am also aware of a couple of remarkable products under development for raising IQ and treating airborne disease such as colds, flu and pneumonias. I will let you know when they are available and where.

Most of the accidents could be prevented by self-driving cars. These cars don’t drink or go into diabetic comas or even have road rage so the list of fatal causes is swiftly disappearing. But what will we do when there is nothing left to die from?

OK, perhaps boredom came to mind. As might other mental disorders.

But boredom? There is so much to do and so many places to see and so many interesting people to do it with. Back in the old days I learned to play the blues harmonica and became quite good after a bit. I also delved into photography and had photos published in a National Geographic special publication on submersibles and in other numerous magazine covers.

If it was interesting to do I would learn to do it and milk it for all it was worth. Learning, it seems, expands your horizons and accomplishing things is very satisfying. The combination gives one confidence and certainty, the great motors that drive success. Boredom, it seems, comes from quitting before things are complete or having too many incomplete things on your to-do list.

This week I started to learn fingerstyle guitar with a looper (a gadget that repeats parts of what you play so you sound like a band) and started a new column about the future. I have lots of stuff left on my to-do list even before I get to a bucket list. And every year awesome new technologies expand my horizons to many new and creative things. If I had Garage Band or iMovie back in the 60s I never would have left the house. Ever!

So now that we are recovering our youthful vitality and productivity we have a better chance of ending up further into the future. This, of course, gives us a greater interest in what will be there to welcome us… and it won’t be sitting on a sofa twiddling a button. We have discovered that static is septic. Motion makes life. Simple and telling. The future will bless those who understand this.

That future will have to be a social, sharing, integrated environment that supports all of humanity. A kind of Utopia with plenty of challenge, plenty to learn and plenty to do for humans of all capability. Hmmm. It seems we are already there. Of course, the social, sharing and integrated aspects all need work but the “plenty” stuff is securely in place.

Why should we care about humanity, you ask? Well, it is the highest state in human evolution. Loving someone else is more rewarding than loving oneself. Loving a group like family, for example, is even more rewarding and loving all of humanity is the most fulfilling state to which a human can aspire.

In order for there to be a future more people will have to know this than those who don’t, so expect this to be a major factor in all of us having a future.