Living More Fully - Death as a Motivator

     "If I had my life to live over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death.  I would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death.  There is no other practice which so intensifies life..."

                              Muriel Spark

     We all die, of that there is no doubt.  And yet, we fail to truly comprehend this fact of life, being surprised and startled again and again.  Do we not comprehend the reality of death or is it simply so painful to contemplate, that our psyche's block it out in a desperate effort to preserve our sanity?

     Death is a part of life, but it's the part that we just don't want to think about.  And who can blame us?  The understanding and fear of our own mortality is what separates us from all of the other animals, and it is what makes our lives more trying and more treasured as well.  We wish it wouldn't have to be so, we invent religions with promises of life-everlasting, we selfishly prolong lives that simply aren't worth living...all to fight a losing battle.

     Death will eventually come, there is no denying it.  So what should we do with it instead?    Read more...