Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 28, 2023

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 28, 2023 

CHRISTOPHER Nyerges [www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]


Please take another look 
at “MAKAELA”

You can't get a kitty more 
purr-fect than Makaela, 
aka “Mikki,” age about 1. 
She is so sweet, so loving, 
so cuddly, and so friendly! 
She'll come right up 
to you for kisses, pets, and head bumps. She may 
even talk to you! She has the coat of a "mackerel/
tiger" with a "bulls-eye" pattern--very unique.She's a 
total delight! Mikki was found as a stray--how could 
anyone have ever put her in harm's way? Thankfully, 
a very kind and caring family rescued her and 
brought her to us. She's healthy, vetted, and microchipped-- 
ready to go to the very lucky purr-son (or 
people) who will make her a cherished part of their 
family. See more of her on our website's "Teen and 
Young Adult" page, at www.lifelineforpets.org.

TERUMASA’S QUESTIONS

[Christopher Nyerges is the author of “Til Death Do Us Part?”, available from Ama-zon. 
He is the author of many other books, and he leads self-reliance classes. For more information, 
contact him at School of Self-reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

 

Hallowe’en has traditionally been a time to reflect upon the nature of Death, 
and those who have passed. It’s timely to share an excerpt from my book, “Til 
Death Do Us Part?”

 

Terumasa – Nami’s friend from Japan – had arranged to visit in December of 
2008. But unbeknownst to Terumasa, Dolores had died a few days earlier

 

In the evenings of late December and early January, I would often sit with Terumasa and Nami 
and have dinner together, often watching television, and always trying to converse with Terumasa. 
Terumasa was a noble man who exuded greatness. I loved to be around him, and wished that our 
language barrier was reduced.

 

One late afternoon, after we had the backyard memorial for Dolores, a few people lin-gered in the 
backyard and living room to talk. Terumasa sat there next to me, with my friend Mel sitting there 
listening. Terumasa looked at me while we talked about Dolores. He said, “Christopher,” to gain 
my attention. 

 

“Christopher,” he repeated with great concern in his voice.

 

“Why are we born? Why are here? Why do we live this life? Why must we experience all this 
pain?” He paused. He was about to cry. He added, “Why do we die?”

 

We were all silent for a few moments. Mel commented, “Those are the questions, al-right.”

 

I nodded to Terumasa. What could I say? Should I offer my opinion as to the meaning of life and 
death in a few simple words with the attempt to cross the chasm of our English-Japanese divide?

 

“Yes, what is this all about?” I asked rhetorically. I felt that I was certainly able to intellec-tually 
approach those questions, but I did not feel emotionally up to it in that mo-ment. “Let’s talk about 
that some more soon,” was all I offered.

 

Eventually, after everyone left, Mel said to me, “We should get together and talk about Terumasa’s 
questions. I’d really like that.” 

 

“OK,” I told him. “We will, but you have to promise to come.” Mel said OK.

 

About a month later near the end of January, we planned Boy Voyage party for Te-rumasa, who 
would be actually departing the following morning. We invited many peo-ple, and planned to 
have Japanese tea and Japanese food. 

 

We filled our tea cups and touched them together for our toast, and then all held hands and recited 
the words of the classic work “Friendship Bridge.” 

 

Then, after a little small talk, we made the effort to answer his questions. Prudence and I prepared 
with different parts of the book “Thinking and Destiny” by Harold Percival, along with our own 
insights.

 

We didn’t want our bon voyage to Terumasa to become a strict metaphysical study, but rather we 
wanted to provide some preliminary answers to his serious query. It was as much for us as it was 
for Terumasa.

 

We decided that we were born upon this world in order to continue our spiritual evolu-tion. Each 
of us added some comments to this, but everyone seemed to concur that this is why we are here, 
and which is why we are here to live this life. We agreed that the purpose of life is not to make 
money, to have fun, or to pursue good surfing. Everyone laughed, because that’s what most people 
do with their lives, but we all seemed to be in consensus that life is about evolution and something 
called “whole-ness.”

 

The subject of pain was much more complex. Yet, we quickly denounced the notion that our pain 
is something given to us, or done to us, by “god,” as is so often averred by reli-gious zealots. In 
fact, in all the cases of individual and large scale pain that we could list, we felt that we are our own 
worst enemy. We men and women are the sources of pain on the earth, which usually come about 
by some violation of natural law, some breaking of the Ten Commandments, not abiding by the 
Golden Rule, and by happily partaking in any of the Seven Capital Sins. 

 

This was a big topic, but again everyone was in agreement that we bring our own pain upon ourselves, 
and that pain is largely unavoidable unless we make other choices.

 

Then we talked about death. Prudence read from “Thinking and Destiny” and pointed out that 
death can be a friend to our Spiritual Self, that our bodies are simply not des-tined to live forever, 
and that – like it or not – we will all die 
as part of our long progress towards spiritual 
perfection. 

 

This was not wholly agreeable to all, but the 
topic of death is so full of emotion and opin-
ion and religious dogma that we did not attempt 
to have agreement all around, and that 
was OK.

 

By now we were feasting on some delicious 
Japanese fish and soup, and we gave Te-rumasa 
some gifts to take back to Japan. We all 
hugged, and Terumasa flew away to Japan on 
the following Saturday morning.

Pet of the Week

 
Chester is a gentle senior Labrador mix who is 
looking for a comfortable bed in a loving home. 
Chester is nine years young, and just hitting his 
stride. He enjoys going for walks in the park 
so he can smell all the smells and plod happily 
along.

 This handsome guy is also fun- he likes playing 
in the yard, exploring and having a laugh, even if 
that means wearing a cow Halloween costume.

 Like most dogs his age, Chester loves having a 
place to nap in the sun. He has spent some time 
in a foster home and the foster family reported 
that he is housetrained, likes to sleep on the 
couch and enjoys a nice belly rub. What a good 
boy!

 Chester is one of many dogs over 31 pounds that can be adopted for only $10 during the 
Adopt-a-Boo promotion.

 The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and 
age-appropriate vaccines. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet. 

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Adoptions are by appointment only, and new adoption appointments are available 
every Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. 

 Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adopters by phone 
calls or email.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com