I came across this sentence “Evening of his own life” in the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Indian Teachers. Perhaps it was this sentence that led me to the following concept: A day in our life is a replica of our whole life.
Training Phase:
Think about it. A child spends many of the initial years of their life just doing basic stuff, learning how to crawl, stand, walk, speak, eat, etc. Similarly, the initial time of our morning is spent just preparing for the day, brushing teeth, showering, etc.
A child who gets adequate training and care in their early life develops proper health, a balanced personality, proper brain functioning, etc. An adult who similarly prepares themselves in the morning can expect a productive day.
Waking up late:
A person who wakes up late messes their day. Similarly, an adult who ‘wakes up’ (becomes ‘conscious’) during their later years misses out on great opportunities to build their potential.
Despair near the end:
As the day nears its end, we might regret not doing as much as we planned for the day. We might try to resist sleep and push for more, more work or enjoyment (or enjoyable work), but at the end, we will have to sleep.
This symbolic connection seems powerful to me. When people reach near the end of their life, they are able to see clearly all that they did in their lives. They tend to get bitter realisations and might try to make their life straight, but the light would be decreasing fast.
Schedule:
After spending a significant amount of years for our education, we spend a majority of our life just to earn a living so that we can survive. After-retirement time represents just a fraction of the total life. And we would be too ‘tired’ from working all those years.
Similarly, we spend most part of our day working and we think we have some time left to enjoy and relax, but sometimes it might not be enough.