"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? How can we put to some good use the reality that our lives will some day end?
In Awakening the Buddha Within : Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
This attitude may seem morbid to some. How can obsessing about death bring meaning to our lives? Obsessing and panicking about the inevitable serves no good purpose. But accepting it does. Talk to anyone you know who has survived a serious illness of a near-fatal accident and, most often, you will hear about how their brush with death helped them to appreciate every moment of their lives. Most people who have survived such a brush with death (and sometimes even those who will succumb but choose to enjoy what life they have left), use their new-found, intimate understanding of death to inspire them to live more fully.
A friend recently reminded me of a man whose personal battle with pancreatic cancer inspired him to really live and to share with others his wisdom on how best to live our lives. Many of you may already be familiar with his story but I think it is worth repeating.
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University. He was an exuberant and much-loved professor, who, while still a very young man, was diagnosed with pancreatic cncer. Treatments failed and he was told that he had only a few months to live. With a wonderful career, a wife and three very young children, the news of his impending death was tragic.
But Randy Pausch, being a lover of life, chose to make the most of the time he had left. And in his final lecture, he shared what he thought was most important for people to know. He wanted other people, and his children in particular, to realize that life is about living and realizing your dreams. The reality of death should motivate us to take our limited time and use it wisely; to work hard, to live with integrity and perhaps, most importantly, to have fun. I don't know if Professor Pausch is still with us in body, but his spirit lives and continues to have a profound impact on people all over the world.
So whether the wisdom of the Buddhist faith or the advice of a dying professor is more to your liking, the message is the same. In death, we learn one of life's greatest lessons; that our time here is finite and that we'd better hurry up make the most of it.
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How are you. If we fall, we don't need self-recrimination or blame or anger - we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit, to be whole-hearted once again.
I am from Libya and too bad know English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "This springs also handle the psychobilly or bass."
:( Thanks in advance. Acelin.
Posted by: Acelin | September 05, 2009 at 01:00 AM