UNDERSTAND DEATH: YOU WILL LOVE LIFE!
I was reading a great book, "TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE", By Mitch Albom, a celebrated Coulmnist and a famous author which rekindled my own view of life that "when you live for yourself, life is utterly miserable and when you live for others it is pure joy". Though it is the stark reality, we are living in a world torn apart with hatred, violence and petty differences based on race, religion and color of the skin. Understanding death is the only practical and easy way to get a handle on life, and living worth its while here and now. While we all need to work, and support our family and community, there is no reason to make this wonderful life a "rat race". The shortest distance in the world is the distance between life and death. It is here now, next moment no one can say for sure. Life is like a dewdrop dancing on one's palm.
When we try to understand death, it opens new vistas of wisdom about life and its shortcomings. First of all,it is not permanent. Nobody is here forever. Realizing that truth and hanging onto it all through our waking hours can solve more than ninety nine percent of our problems.We look at all our problems as though we are immortal and are here for ever. As soon as the problem arises in our mind, let us dissect it and see under the microscope of mortality, it immediately shrinks to it proper size. Then we can deal with it in a reasonable and logical way. Afterall every problem is a product of your mental imagination. It is also true that there is a SOLUTION for every problem. The Solution you may like or you may not like. Still it is a solution to the problem.
WHAT IS DEATH? It is the absence of life in a body that is made up of atoms and chemicals. As long as the body can sustain the atoms that created the tissues, the muscles and the organs we can sustain life in our body. Just like any other organism, one day the body has to wither away unable to hold the pieces together. Medical Science has come up with different names to give an explanation for the cause of body's disintegration. While doctors are doing everything in their power to extend lifespan, and hoping to discover the fountain of youth, death takes away our dear ones under one pretext or the other. Should we mourn one's death or celebrate one's life? It is said that a person realizes the value of something before he gets it or after he loses it. It is true of our lives too. All of a sudden when the icy hands of death snatch one of our beloved ones, we sadly realise it is too late even to say "good bye".
"Live as though it is my last day". When we live everyday as though it is our last, all of a sudden life will have new meaning and purpose. You will not forget to kiss your wife/husband good bye before going off to work, or hug your little children. Your tendency to yell at your associates or subordinates at work, and honk at a stranger who over took you on the expressway will start departing like an uninvited guest.You are more at peace with yourself and in turn emit that peaceful vibration wherever you go. As the Good Lord said "Love thy neighbor as thyself", you can not love others unless you love yourself first. You can not give me five dollars unless you have that five dollars with you.
WHO DIES? This is a proverbial question that needs to be answered. If you consider yourself as the body, you will die because that lifeless body is either buried or cremated according to one's belief or wishes. As it is consumed by the flames or the elements, only memories are left of that person who had the body. I always asked a question to myself about my death. When I am dead, but before my body is cremated my son will say "my fathers body is lying in state". What happened to the father,then? Who was the father? Was he not this body which is lying in state? Where did the father go?
While reminding oneself about limited time we all have in this world, may not solve all our problems in life. Yet it can definitely give a new perspective to life, and an added meaning to live with a sense of urgency we have never experienced before. A paradigm shift is all we need to take our life to new discoveries, new voyages and new opportunities. While Science and Technology may discover the Fountain of Youth one day in the not distant future, it does not really matter. Let us all embrace death as a part of life, and not as the end of life. Rather than how long we live, let us care about how well we live, and embark on a new beginning by giving a new meaning and purpose to life. I beg you to look at my one sentence philosophy again :"When you live for yourself life is utterly miserable, and when you live for others it is pure joy".
MAY THERE BE PEACE AND TRANQUILITY AMONG ALL BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE! OM!PEACE!PEACE!PEACE!