The Essence of Aging

I'm feel like I'm learning some unteachable, inchoate lesson about the essence of aging. I was in going to sleep last night when I realized that so many of my attitudes and beliefs of 15 years ago have completely changed, and that I had no control over what about me changed. No, that can't be true. You could decide to not change your mind about one issue over a span of time, but that's just stubborness. What I mean is that in any set of beliefs, feelings, desires, or goals, there is vast inevitable change as one reacts to the persistent change around them.

What I guess is surprising is that change is a lot wider and in a shorter cycle than I ever would have thought before. Memory is critical to who we are because its the string that ties all these things together. I used to think that it was our memory that regulated change in our identity, but it's more just a bare skeleton upon which to hang all the elements of our ever-changing selves.