vitalogy

Pearl Jam has an album named vitalogy. The word comes from a latin root and a greak suffix and means, essentially, the study of life. Unlike the modern usage of the word biology--which also means the study of life but has come to be focused on organic life--I think the word vitalogy should enter our vocabulary as a way of talking about WHY we're living rather than HOW: the study of one's course or way of life. A conscious, reflective position about why we're making the choices we're making. As in, "I don't really think that a life of pot-smoking is for me, but I understand that others' vitalogy leads them to see it as acceptable," or "My vitalogy includes a value for not intentionally hurting others." Yeah, I know that other words (like philosophy, say) cover the same basic ground, but I think that that vitalogy somehow adds something new.

Yesterday I presented at a seminar for teachers in Sheridan. The drive up was spring-time beautiful, and the participants were incredible--great people, committed to making a difference. It's part of their vitalogy, I'll say, that leads them to give back to the world around them in ways that hopefully will make the next generation smarter and wiser than those who came before them.

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin': that's what your vitalogical clock tells you.