Life will end one day.

Sometimes music takes you into spaces of profound appreciation. Moments gently withdrawn from time’s unrelenting grasp, dividing its flow into two streams. In one, time is a river, rushing down valleys and hillsides upon which you travel on a raft. From this perspective, one cannot sense the passing of time. Thoughts and emotions project into the infinity of time as you are absorbed within them. Your predicament seems eternal, your bonds unbreakable. But there are moments in which time’s hand allows for some drops to escape its grasp. Perhaps to show us how strong his grip is. Or perhaps we would not appreciate time’s power without moments of mercy. The fleeting drops form a gentle stream, beside which our soul moves silently in its remembrance. Within the stillness of our senses, we carefully watch the motion of time as it passes, being fully aware of its passing.

I feel grateful that life will end one day. If it wouldn’t, would I ever wave at time as it goes by? If it wouldn’t end, would there be moments where I feel its passing is in fact when I feel most alive? Time only exists because it ends. Right now, I am aware it will end as I sit beside this gentle stream. Paradoxically, I also know viscerally that life only really ends in thought. I know there will be times in which I am caught in the boat once more, rushing down the river of time, absorbed in the illusion of thought. That too, however, shall pass. And when it does, I shall be back to where I was: nowhere, with a simple smile on a face and a love in a heart.