Die today
My son has all his toys in a shelf several decks high. He does not use most of them. But he does not want to part with them. Whenever his mother, my wife, asks him to give out those he no longer needs, he will refuse with a cry. Slowly over time he has given out a little of them. But most still lie there unused gathering dust.
We all have possessions of varied kinds. If you ever get a chance to go into someone’s house and take a peek at the things they have gathered, you can see the madness called life in its full glory.
We see more people living around us all the time reinforcing the belief that death is far away. Of course we get to see the old and sick. But this life is quite long, thanks to modern science and medicines, that death appears eons away for all of us. So we almost forget that such a thing will occur to us ever. We go on gathering stuff.
Watched a movie of Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt by name ‘Meet Joe Black’ last week. Leaving the romance part, the movie shows the lingering shadow of death that comes to grip Anthony Hopkins who has led a illustrious life as a media mogul and how death gives him the time to complete his life in honor and leave. I do not know if such a thing is possible for everyone. But definitely an interesting way to part this world. Sometime ago a Kamal Haasan’s movie had a similar theme where a popular actor decides to sign off graciously after learning that he has glioblastoma multiforme (Google it :-). The South Koreans seem to have funerals for living to remind themselves of death and be more empathetic in this otherwise competitive world. You can read it here. Ray Kurzweil seriously talks about achieving immortality by 2045. I do personally believe Robots or some sort of Cyborgs are going to live on this earth and conquer interstellar space. Science will create Intelligent beings semi-biologically probably by 3D printing biological parts and a dash of AGI in the not so distant future.
Anyone great you think and eulogize, have died and will die. If you ponder on this seriously, your approach to life will be a lot more attentive. You will realize you are just a visitor here and begin to focus on you than others. But living is so vibrant that it will absorb you and make you believe in it until you get to see death. We are constantly oscillating between living and dying every day. Since death is certain, you may as well focus on living better but without the indulgence and with the awareness that nothing is permanent here including the YOU.
