Friends, a couple of thoughts for Thanksgiving Day. What does it mean that we are all going to die, and none of us know just when? Yes, it means “eat dessert first,” but is that the limit of the conclusions we can draw?

If I were to die today (and it won’t be any different tomorrow or next week) the vast majority of what I am, what I think and feel, what I have learned, will no longer be accessible to anyone who might be interested. If I haven’t expressed it, although it may be still in “the mind of man” as Dion Fortune would have it, for most purposes it’s gone. And that’s true of us all. We are infinite mysteries to one another. So maybe it would be as well, while we still have time, when it’s possible and when it’s true, to:

* say thanks to people for what they have given us, and for what we have learned just watching them;

* appreciate them as having come here to be who they are, not to be more like us;

* say “I regret” when necessary, and “it was nothing personal” when true;

* say “I love you” (and perhaps as important, “I have loved you”);

Don’t feel guilty about looking forward to the next thing after life, whatever that may be. You had a right to be here; you have a right not to be here, too. But while you are still here — continue to enjoy the ride, giving thanks as you go. Remember — as deeply and consciously as you can — how beautiful the world is, and how fortunate you have been to have experienced life in time-space.