Again death and life goes side by side

One day, I was curious to know how Yoshino cherry trees, the most common species in cherry trees, could live long while they are all single clone plants developed in the end of Edo era. Any biological species of single clone could live only for the same life span and may die at the same time. They seem to live long enough so far. Maybe, decades of years or even longer.

In searching the life span of cherry trees, I have learned that trees are living death and life at the same time. In the main trunk of a tree, the central portion is continuously dying while the outer layer is in neogenesis. Two phases of living go side by side. Death may overwhelm life in decades or centuries, that is, the total death of the individual being. It would be the end of the individual tree life.

At first, it seemed to me that it was different from animals including human beings.  As for human beings, under the consciousness, it seemed our life is integrated into living being. It seemed to be no such dual life system in our body as trees.

Several days ago, however, it has dawned on me that our body udergoes continuous change from life to death in microscopic level. The skin or the GI tract epithelium is undergoing continuous dying while new epithelium is covering the dead tissue. Most human tissues or cells are metabolized at certain span. It is caused by apoptosis in single cell level. Every cell, if it could renew itself, would die after certain times of cell division. It is destined to die in certain time with fixed number of cell division. It brings aging to our body. Consciousness might undergo subtle but steady change of aging. We may die from such aging process while the others may succumb from the external causes like infection. It is important we are programed to death and are living death and life at the same time without being conscious of that.  

Considering of such continuous transition from life to death in us, I have remembered of Toru Takemitsu. He has lived death and life side by side and has told that to Seiji Ozawa at a dialogue with him.

https://nuttycellist-unknown.blogspot.com/2022/02/life-and-death-go-side-by-side.html

We live under an implausible hypothesis that we are continuously existing on the side of life. However, we are living death and life side by side as Takemitsu told. 

Needless to say, that is why we should cherish every moment in our lives. The older I become, the more I am convinced of this fact, even though we often forget of the reality that our life goes death and life side by side.