Is Life a Rebirth or a Lifelong Renewal?

By Bob Staretz

Throughout our lives we grow, we learn, we experience, and we age. If you really think about it, aging is a profound experience that intersects deeply with the big questions of human existence: “Who am I”? “Why am I here”? “What is my purpose”? “What happens when I die”? I am now in my senior years, and as I have aged, my understanding of these questions and answers to them has continuously evolved over my lifetime. This evolution was shaped by my accumulated life experiences, my changing perspectives, newly assimilated information (at least new to me) and the increasing awareness of my mortality.

The question "Who am I?" definitely became more nuanced with my increasing age. In youth, my identity was very pliable, often defined by external factors such as family, friends, associations, culture, and social roles. But as I aged, there was a significant shift with a growing tendency toward introspection and seeking a clearer, more authentic sense of myself beyond societal labels. Aging provided me the opportunity to reflect on the evolving nature of my identity with the blending of experiences, achievements, successes, failures, and all the lessons learned from all of that. It revealed to me that I am not a fixed being born with a predefined personality, abilities or destiny, but rather I am an adaptable being in a continuous process of becoming, shaped by events, time, interconnections, change, and sometimes lucky or unlucky chance.

“Why am I here?” is a question that has gained great importance as I now face the incredibly short finiteness of my life. Aging now often brings moments of clarity and sometimes urgency, prompting a reassessment of my bucket list, my purpose, and my passions in this world. I suppose for some, the answer they are seeking may lie in relationships; connections with family, friends, and community, affirming that their presence has meaning through the impact they have on the people in their life. For others, their purpose may be in personal growth, expressing creativity, or in pursuing spiritual exploration. One thing I know for sure, aging has encouraged in me a search for deeper meaning beyond superficial goals and toward the emphasis on the importance of contributing to something larger than myself.

So, I guess my quest for understanding the question "What is my purpose?" is intimately tied to the passage of time. In my youth, my purpose was associated with ambition, success, discovery and accumulation of material possessions. In later years, my purpose shifted toward the search for meaning, wisdom, and personal fulfillment. Aging has helped me distill my life experiences into guiding principles and has clarified what truly matters. This journey has inspired a purposeful life oriented around seeking, compassion, understanding, and being authentic. For me, aging has revealed that my life purpose is not static, it never was, but it is a continually transformative process which has deepened in richness and complexity over my lifetime.

The question of "What happens when I die?" is still one of the most profound questions where my aging casts its long shadow. Facing mortality has become unavoidable as I age. It has evoked a wide range of seeking, of emotions and philosophical studies. Some may find comfort in religious or spiritual beliefs about an afterlife or reincarnation. Others may adopt secular or existential viewpoints, embracing death as the natural conclusion to life’s cycle. One thing I know for sure: aging is a process of coming to terms with death, leading to acceptance, peace, or a reevaluation of whatever makes my life meaningful. It also highlights the paradox that my awareness of death gives my life its urgency and preciousness.

Looking back on my life, if find that aging is not merely a biological process but a deeply purposeful journey that has shaped how I answer the big questions of my identity, my purpose, and my mortality. It invites reflection on myself as a continually changing entity, encourages me to seek a meaningful existence, and fosters an awareness in me of how incredibly short the time we really have in this reality. Through aging, my quest for understanding the big questions "Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What happens when I die?" has become a richer, more nuanced exploration of what it means to be human.

One other thing I have gained from the reflections and experiences of my life. I am quite sure that from my own seeking, from what I have learned from ancient wisdom teachers, from sages and mystics throughout the ages, and from modern science and philosophy, we are all interconnected and a part of something much grander in ways that we can barely conceive. My current understanding of reality, which is far grander than I once conceived, is deeply comforting for what will come after my body's demise.