by Dylan Evans
In her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Bronnie Ware writes of the clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. ‘When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently,’ she says, ‘common themes surfaced again and again.’
What people regretted most of all was that they hadn’t followed their dreams. Again and again the patients she was nursing would ask her: ‘Why didn’t I just do what I wanted?’
Most people had not honoured even half of their dreams, and had to die knowing that this was due to choices they had made, or not made. And the thing that stopped them was fear. They felt the weight of social expectation, and lacked the courage to throw off the shackles of convention.
Whatever happens now, I know I won’t have that regret. My dream may have turned into a nightmare, but at least I followed it. I won’t sit around in my old age, wondering what would have happened if I had put that crazy plan into action, instead of carrying on with my job as a university lecturer.
And I’m not afraid of doing something equally crazy again, if the thought so takes me.
GLOSSARY
boomer Someone who thinks that technological progress will continue indefinitely and will make us all richer and happier.
catastrophism The belief that the world is heading towards an economic, environmental, social or spiritual collapse, and that a new and better world will emerge from the ashes of the old one.
cornucopian See boomer.
declinism The belief that things are getting worse, compared to some former Golden Age. Popular candidates for the moment when the decline started include the Industrial Revolution (romanticism) and the birth of agriculture (primitivism).
doomer Someone who believes that a global catastrophe is imminent, and that civilization will collapse as a result.
millennialism The belief that the imperfect world we live in will soon be destroyed and replaced with a better one.
prepper Someone who is actively preparing for a disaster by stocking up on food and other items so they can survive. The disaster could be anything from an extended power cut to a global catastrophe. Thus not all preppers are doomers; some preppers do not think a global catastrophe is imminent, and are only preparing for a relatively small disaster.
primitivism The belief that modern civilization makes people unhappy and that the cure lies in returning to a more simple way of living in natural surroundings.
rewilding The process of reversing human domestication by relearning primitive skills such as hunting and gathering.
survivalist Someone who is actively preparing for a disaster by stocking up on food and other items so they can survive. Unlike preppers, survivalists tend to think the disaster will be a global or at least a national catastrophe. Thus most survivalists are doomers.
transhumanist Someone who hopes that future developments in technology will radically transform human nature for the better.
Also by Dylan Evans
Risk Intelligence: How to Live with Uncertainty
Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine
Emotion: The Science of Sentiment
Introducing Evolutionary Psychology
Introducing Evolution
An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis
Atheism: All That Matters
First published 2015 by Picador
This electronic edition published 2015 by Picador
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ISBN 978-1-4472-6133-9
Copyright © Dylan Evans 2015
Design and Illustration by Joanna Thomson
Jacket Photograh © Sara Ferguson,
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Author photograph © Luis F.Prieto
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