“We live in a culture where it has been rubbed into us, in every conceivable way, that to die is a terrible thing, and that is a tremendous disease from which our culture in particular suffers.” ~Alan Watts, British-born American philosopher (1915-1973)
I am sharing this four-minute video, not because I embrace all Mr. Watts’s points that address the question “Is death terrible?” (and he doesn’t even touch on any theological considerations), but because I think it’s important for each of us to come to grips with our own mortality, and I believe nature, and the way it works, has a great deal to teach us.
My natural instinct is to embrace life and resist death, but perhaps that resistance is a waste of emotional energy. Yet understanding how fleeting life can be is surely an incentive to make the most out of whatever time we’re given, isn’t it? And I certainly support medical research and charities that seek cures and relief from the world’s illnesses.
I’m still processing this and would be very interested in your thoughts.
Nature’s Perfect Timing
What a relief – someone is mentioning the ‘D’ word – death. It happens to all of us, and yet we are so afraid to talk about it. Perhaps we think that if we don’t say the word out loud, it won’t happen to us…? :-0 I’m reading a fabulous book called Being Mortal, and it’s opening my eyes to how to prepare, can we prepare?, for what’s ahead of all of us. One of the things we gain by talking about and acknowledging death, in my view, is an added appreciation for all we have/do/are while we’re living.
Thank you so much for this wonderful perspective, Pamela. I admit that I paused a bit for hitting the “publish” button on this one, because it’s a little different for me. But I decided that I want to be real about authentic connections in life, I can’t avoid the things that are a little less fun but no less important.