Thursday, February 22, 2007

THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE & DEATH


I’ve been thinking about death lately. The concept has fascinated mankind since the beginning of time because, well, not so many people can experience it and come back to tell about it. It’s the ultimate universal hush-hush. Cross culture, cross time, people get uneasy when death is mentioned.

The simple fact is: we’re all gonna die. I’m not so obsessed with where we go afterward as much as to what it means when one dies. Take Grandpa for example, one day he was sipping tea and reading the newspaper in the living room, the next day he stopped being there. Life without Grandpa took a bit of getting used to but we eventually got to be so good at it that, 20 years after his death, we don’t speak of the man at all. He has become a character in the family album, a fainted image whose merits and faults are inconsequential, his ideals and regrets irrelevant.

This can’t be it. The significance of one’s death cannot be reflected by the number of pictures one was in.

What does it mean to other people when I die?
What does it mean to me when I die?

After losing a dear friend to a heart failure in my late adolescence, one self-important know-it-all told me that “The process of dying starts at birth” and the thought has stuck with me since. I don’t appreciate the negativity it suggests, yet I like the possibility it offers. I think Sophie’s World says it better, “You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die. But it’s just as impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive.” The awareness of dying motivates living fully; the appreciation of living summons the reality of death. Life and death are the black and white in the Taoist Symbol of Everything: There’s the Ying and there’s the Yang, but the Ying is a part of the Yang and vice versa. Ultimately, the Ying is the Yang and life and death simply cannot exist without one another.

So what does all this mean?

The Dali Lama said, “Live a good and honorable life so that, when you’re old and looking back, you can enjoy it for a second time.” What if you’re dead? What does your good and honorable life mean then? And to whom?

It also seems a bit silly how tirelessly we’re trying to prevent and avoid death when it is unpreventable and unavoidable. We try so hard to prolong life but for what? The quality of life? We are vigorously trying to hold on to life because of our fear of death. But when do we stop? Death is a necessary part of the continuation of life, just like we all need to go to sleep in order to wake up again. Can you imagine all of us trying to stay up all night all the time? We’d all be mad!

3 comments:

  1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

    One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.

    That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.

    I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered. I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

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  2. Billy,
    I thought it was very wise this post you added! But it doesn't end there, Solomon came to a conclusion to the matter which is the most important point!!

    Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man's whole purpose on this earth because God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.
    (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

    And.... The great news is we can have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ even after we die and leave this earth.

    We have HOPE!!!!

    In 1John, 5 it says: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. and... This is love for God: To obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.... God has a testimony and
    anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.... And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son (Jesus). He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son does not have life.

    Is this not great news? though our body is subject to death our souls can have eternal LIFE with and through the worlds savior Jesus Christ. All that is required of us is to believe and have faith in Jesus who God the Father sent to redeem us!! The evidence of that faith is love for God and the evidence of that love for God is obedience to what He commands. And what he commands is good...It's all GOOD!!

    God has given your sweet girlfriend whom you love a prolonged life here on earth so she can have the opportunity to have true Life eternal. Billy my little brother you know this treasure, have faith and share that faith while there is still time.

    THE NIGHT IS FAR SPENT
    by Joel Chernoff

    The night is far spent,
    the day is close at hand
    when Jesus comes as the Son of Man
    He will come quickly,
    no man knows the time
    to take His children home
    to mansions in the sky
    So why do we slumber
    when it is time to rise?
    Awake all you sleepers
    His coming draweth nigh
    So let us walk honestly
    in His sight
    Shedding the old ways,
    the ones we did in the night
    Let's put on new clothes,
    the armor of His light
    And let's do His work,
    before the end of night.

    I love you Billy, and I love your girlfriend. Have faith and share your faith with thoes you love, It's your greatest treasure!
    In Jesus Christ love, Your Sister Diane.

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