When I was younger, I was afraid of the dark. Growing up, I've learned (actually I've been forced to overcome this fear) because in high school I shared room with people who can't sleep with lights on. My fear of the dark slowly vanished, but it has been replaced by other ones, including the fear of death. By looking for ways to overcome it, I've discovered this book by Francois Cheng: «Five meditations on Death, In other words.. on Life.» which helps me rethink the idea of death. And that's what I want to share with you today. Thank you for joining me.
Realize the omnipresence and power of death.
“As soon as man comes to life, he is at once old enough to die.” | Heidegger
Since I have no control over it, the idea of death was not something I liked to think about. Yes, we all know we're going to die one day, but we don't like to be reminded of it. It's painful, and even depressing. What is the point of living if we can die at any moment? But the truth is, death and life and inseparable. And by excluding death from our life, we deprive ourselves of a complete life and, by welcoming it, we expand our life. We need to change the way we look at death. We must think about based on a deep understanding of death. And, instead of seeing death as the end of life, we must see it as the crux around which life revolves.
If life did not exist, there would be no death.
I have always been fascinated by the time travel films/series, even if it is sometimes hard to understand haha. I don't know if you ever heard about the Syfy series "12 Monkeys". For those who don't know, it tells the story of a sect, that called itself 'The 12 Monkeys Army'. And their aim is to destroy time using a giant, time-traveling paradox machine city known as Titan. They believe that once the time is destroyed, a Red Forest will spring in its place. (The Red Forest is a place free of time, and thus death and where they could forever live in the 'now', an infinite repetition of a specific instant). In reality, we know it is something impossible. And no matter how hard we try to defy it, time still makes its way and at the same time put us in the emergency of moving forward because we realize we are not immortals. Everything has its end, life too. And if life didn't exist, they could be no death.
Thinking about death is thinking about life.
“Death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love… Life always says yes and no simultaneously. Death (I implore you to believe) is the true Yea-sayer. It stands before eternity and says only: Yes.” | Rainer Maria Rilke.
By accepting that we have a limited time, we see death and life in a whole new light. In fact, by thinking about death, we are thinking about life. This consciousness of death gives birth to the idea of the sacred of life. And without this sacred notion, it's impossible for humankind to establish a values hierarchy. We learn to be more grateful and to appreciate the beauty of life. We realize that the world is beautiful, and this beauty reminds us, sometimes without our knowledge, that life, our life, is worth living.
Death as the cessation of a 'certain state' of life
“Essence of life is eternal.” | Baruch Spinoza
The human being is not only reduced to his body shell. We are made up of body, spirit, and soul. In this sense, bodily death is therefore only the cessation of a 'certain state' of life. Many religionists and thinkers share the belief that at the moment of death, the soul detaches itself from the body and survives it. Some people believe in an afterlife and others see death as fulfillment and an opportunity to be reborn in another way (reincarnation).
Duty of remembrance
As Birago Diop said in his poem "Spirits", The dead are never dead. They are in our hearts, and all around us. They gauge life through the lens of eternity and have a lot to teach us. They can watch over us and protect us as long as we are not ungrateful enough to forget them.
“Not to forget the dead is also to learn gratitude towards them and through them, towards life.” | Francois Cheng.
Sources:
At the end of my reading, I can't say that I have completely conquered my fear, but I have made great progress. I have a fresh look at the prospect of the end of life, and incorporating death into my daily reflection helps me to glimpse the beauty of life and be more grateful. I hope this will help you in your journey too. Thank you for reading. May God bless you, take care.
“Listen to Things
More often than Beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind,
To the sighs of the bush;
This is the ancestors' breathing.
Those who are dead are never gone;
They are in the darkness that grows lighter
And in the darkness that grows darker.
The dead are not down in the earth;
They are in the trembling of the trees
In the groaning of the woods,
In the water that runs,
In the water that sleeps,
They are in the hut; they are in the crowd:
The dead are not dead.
Listen to things
More often than beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind,
To the bush that is sighing:
This is the breathing of ancestors,
Who have not gone away
Who are not under earth
Who are not really dead.
Those who are dead are never gone;
They are in a woman’s breast,
In the wailing of a child,
And the burning of a log,
In the moaning rock,
In the weeping grasses,
In the forest and the home.
The dead are not dead.
Listen more often
To Things than to Beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind to
The bush that is sobbing:
This is the ancestors' breathing.
Each day, they renew ancient bonds,
Ancient bonds that hold fast
Binding our lot to their law,
To the will of the spirits stronger than we
To the spell of our dead who are not really dead,
Whose covenant binds us to life,
Whose authority binds to their will,
The will of the spirits that stir
In the bed of the river, on the banks of the river,
The breathing of spirits
Who moan in the rocks and weep in the grasses.
Spirits inhabit
The darkness that lightens, the darkness that darkens,
The quivering tree, the murmuring wood,
The water that runs and the water that sleeps:
Spirits much stronger than us,
The breathing of the dead who are not really dead,
Of the dead who are not really gone,
Of the dead now, no more in the earth.
Listen to Things
More often than Beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind,
To the bush that is sobbing:
This is the ancestors, breathing.”
| Birago Diop - Spirits 1960
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