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 Mason's
Meditations
If
you're looking for something to chew over, some thoughtful seeds
for mental cultivation, bookmark this page for Jeff Mason's fortnightly
meditations. To think in or take away...
Number
Eleven: Death
What
is death to the living? Is it a veil through which we pass into
another life? Is it a wall into which we inevitably crash, and from
which there will be no looking back? Can we distinguish the thought
of a time before we were born from that of a time after we are gone
from this world? We no longer have anything to fear from being born.
It has already happened. Why then do we fear death?
Death
is nothing to the living, and it is precisely this "nothing" that
we fear, precisely because we do not know what it is. How can one
fear something that does not exist? Sometimes the fear of death
is just a fear of dying, a fear of slowly or quickly losing everything
that has made life dear, a fear of pain and dependency on others.
The
meaning of death for the living is not exhausted by fear. The thought
of death also brings sadness. Whatever the truth of religious assurances
about an afterlife or reincarnation, the thought of one's own death
and the death of everyone you know is still sad. So much beauty
leaves this world with the death of each loved individual that however
fervently one believes in its translation above, the sadness remains,
otherwise funerals would be joyful occasions. The truth is that
those who are left behind feel the lack. Death takes someone from
the world and leaves a hole where that person used to live.
As
for my own death, and yours, I am inclined to say with the philosopher
Socrates that we should reserve our judgement about death, since
we have no idea whether it is a good thing, a bad thing, or nothing.
The trouble is that while you can conceive of your own death abstractly,
it is impossible to imagine it, since to imagine is still to exist.
Perhaps it is a help to think that no matter how bored you get with
life, no matter how jaded, there is us at least one new thing for
each of us to do, and that is to die. Timing is all. Until that
time, live.
Mason's
Meditations will next be updated on June 1st 2001
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Previous
Meditations
10.
(1st
April 2001)
9. (16th March 2001)
8. (1st
March 2001)
7.
(15th February 2001)
6.
(1st February 2001)
5. (15th
January 2001)
4. (1st
January 2001)
3.
(15th December 2000)
2.
(1st December 2000)
1. (15th November
2000)
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