There’s a great passage in Zorba the Greek in which Zorba describes and encounter with an old man planting an almond tree.
“Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!’ I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?’ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.’ I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.’
Which of us was right, boss?”
To live each day as if you’ll live forever is to always be planting seeds that you hope will one day grow into something worthwhile or beautiful.
To live each day as if it’s your last is to try to make the absolute most of every moment of life, to be always in the present.
Well, who do you think was right? Is it better to live each day as your last, or each day as if you’ll live forever? Or is this a false binary?
If you think this is a false binary, what does it look like to take a middle path between these two?