imagining death
If we could explain life, we could explain death. Mostly we take life for granted and deny death. But in rare exquisite moments when we see life for the miracle it truly is, it becomes possible to imagine death. And when we can imagine death, it becomes a gift, like life itself.
One of my favorite professors ever told me, when he first viewed my blog, that understanding death was intimately connected to understanding life.
ReplyDeleteHe though the Ancient Greeks had it right—dividing life into the three categories of stoic, epicurean, and hedonistic. You either believe life is meant to be borne (stoic); life is for trying to reach the heights of whatever you seek to pursue (epicurean); or life is for pleasures like beauty, food, passion, etc. (hedonistic). He believes everyone is some combination of those three.
But he didn't come to this view until after being forced to confront death through a health crisis of his own and the deaths of some close friends
I'm not sure I've ever been one to need a wrapped-up-in-a-bow meaning for life, but that's the best explanation I've heard.
But I agree 100% with your post. That's a large part of why I find death such an interesting topic. You can't truly appreciate life or understand life without death.
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