YOLO – You Only Live Once, But Are You Sure?
Indeed, that is so if you can make it happen! The YOLO believers of today, in a way, acknowledge mortality. Therefore, their goal is to squeeze out the best life can offer before it gets too late.
Life is to be enjoyed to the fullest. And that is demonstrated in nature all the time. Even my little blind puppy never gives up the chance to chase birds and rabbits in the backyard. Chasing them is so much fun for her. So it seems the YOLO mantra is ingrained in their psyche. But, we humans need to be reminded YOLO!
How long can one be alive enough to squeeze out every drop of the juice of life? A hundred years? It would still be a finite time, no matter how long that is. But for how long is one dead after this life is over? That can be a very long time, if not forever!
Where were you before you were born? Is that even a question, you might ask. If you were nowhere, did you just come out of nothing? Okay, your parents gave you the body to be in, with skin color and features resembling their own – but did they also give you the tendencies and qualities you possess? For example, you could be the only music-loving person in the family. That love for music certainly could not have come from the parents, especially if they know nothing about music. But, if it did, why would the other siblings not be as interested in music as you might be? And the music here is just one example.
Children often possess qualities that the parents have no clue about. How is that possible? It is not a coincidence. It is not just a mere chance that connects the wires in your brain a certain way to give you the qualities you have. We attribute those qualities as being a mere coincidence because of our inability or carelessness to go deeper.
The fact that you can even afford to enjoy life proves that something made you different from those who cannot afford to enjoy it.
You might say if I spend my life going deeper to enhance my understanding, I will miss out on life! YOLO, why waste time in understanding life itself? If you shut your eyes to life by not thinking about it, can you enjoy it? If you love driving a car, it makes no sense not knowing the road you are on or the traffic you face! Can you say, “Hey, I have only this much time so let me just have the ride of my life!”. You know, in that case, your YOLO enthusiasm would not last very long!
So, before you were born, you could have been alive in some form that possessed those qualities and tendencies. And, you carried over those very tendencies into this life. There should have been something that put you in the family you are in, not somewhere in a famine-stricken place.
If you had a life before this one, it means that YOLO is not true!
The yogis in India spend their lives ensuring that this life they have is indeed the last. That is because their psychic powers make them aware of their past lives. They also know where they were between the times they were alive. Since they understand the bliss of eternal enlightenment, they spend their lives getting enlightened rather than chasing the temporary and measly worldly pleasures. Once you attain enlightenment, you do not need another birth ever!
If you succeed in making YOLO a reality for yourself, you would be the envy of even the yogis and saints!