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| Akashi Gidayu writing his death poem before committing seppuku |
I don't agree with every aspect of the samurai code, otherwise known as Bushido. Nor do I fully agree with everything the samurai did historically. Many of their ranks were rife with hypocrisy when you really get down to it. One thing I CAN really respect about the samurai was how they learned to face and embrace death every moment of their (sometimes short) lives.
It seems morbid to overly preoccupy oneself with death. Naturally, being alive, we think of matters that pertain to life left and right. Yet what of death? Since it can strike any time without warning, and this fact is certain, is it really such a bad idea to dwell on it? It's not suggested to do so just for the sake of becoming death-obsessed. If one were to go about meditating on it in the right way, instead of getting trapped by deathly thoughts and subsequently being paralyzed from true living, the opposite should occur. Done correctly, daily ruminating on death can actually propel one forward to a mindset where they can fully embrace life, and NOT be a slave to death and fears surrounding it.
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| A genius work by the great M.C. Escher |
What is the 'correct' way? I think each person would have to find out the way that suits them the best, there is no one path. But a post-indicator of 'healthy' death-thinking would be if it causes you to lose a substantial amount of fear and doesn't hinder your living, rather it enriches it..as just discussed. Personally, my method is as such: I get a few glancing thoughts when I think of death to start. The Grim Reaper, skulls, coffins, stuff like that. That's just trimmings. I have to go deeper than mere word association. Facing death is something I should aim to do daily and I usually find it convenient to do it for some number of minutes after waking up and greeting the day. You can find whatever time is good for you though. Beyond the trivial surface thoughts, when I go deeper it involves these levels or aspects:
*facing death physically, facing physical pain
*relinquishing life hopes and goals
*guilt and leaving loved ones behind
*fear of the great beyond, fear of the unknown, fear of divine judgement
*other people dying
There it is, those five. I can't think of anything else that wouldn't cover facing death in all its forms. Now, for some more detail....
The first aspect or point is physical death. Not all of us have the luxury of dying without physical pain. Death usually hurts like hell! So, I picture myself in a variety of 'ouch' situations (haha): getting smoked by a truck, getting knifed by a mugger, getting shot, etc. Usually we can't easily comprehend the sense and nature of pain involved with these situations. We can use our imagination to the best of our ability though. Beyond just these wild imaginings, in our day to day life we can also practically train our bodies to push past pain. This could be accomplished through anything from heavy workouts to involvement in the martial arts- any situation really that punishes the body (yet sound reasoning still being involved, we allow ourselves to heal and not be mangled to a foolish level.)
The second aspect: relinquishing life hopes and goals. It can be hard dying with unfinished business. This is an exercise in letting go and just saying in the grand scheme of things, will it matter if you completed this or that before you died? Bucket lists and all that, will they really change who you are as a spirit if you have an afterlife? How solid are your legacies? Leaving behind money and material things is good and fine, but they all get spent and broken down in the end. In terms of legacies of character, this can easily be accomplished even by living a single day as a pure and strong upright person.
What about an idea like 'don't let the music die in your head'? All our neat ideas many a time are just for recognition and affirmation by others. Solely basing your deeds always on what others approve of is death of character, and as if you had no life of your own to begin with. It's a form of self slavery. Writing a great song or book or whatever it is...think of that as if you were the last person on earth. Who is going to enjoy or utilize that? No one. Maybe aliens if they stumble across it. Would you still do it? Maybe, probably not. What that loosely proves is that wanting to complete many things before death has do to more with wanting high regard of others than anything else.
Chances are that great painting will just gather dust in some attic, and at best be appreciated by a very select few. Or, you could be the next Shakespeare or invent some world-shaking medical cure. Surely THAT is worth it? Tell me, do you think Einstein or Sir Alexander Fleming can enjoy what they created, being dead? Perhaps if their spirit lives on. All inventions or works of art aren't flawlessly beneficial though. There can be a downside, side effects. If you did have some amazing treasures in your mind and you died with that all still undiscovered, if there's no afterlife you wouldn't be conscious to care either way. If you did live on spiritually, would earthly matters even concern you so much or compare to the vast power and complexity of the realms beyond? Would Earth just be another little anthill? A supreme higher power would also have the wherewithall to preserve your ideas even after you died, keeping them safe. Perhaps they could show up in a new person's head back on earth, or brought to life in the afterlife itself.
This all doesn't just mean totally give up all aspiration in life. By all means, enjoy life and work hard to make the world a better place. Yet instead of a WIN/LOSE mentality, change it to WIN/WIN. If you leave a great legacy or influence humanity for the better somehow, great. If you don't get a chance in this life, there may be another, or in the supreme scheme of things it may just not matter. So this is the second tenet of facing death in my mind, strive to win but learn to graciously lose and let go. Life should be enjoyable and fun, but maybe something a million times better lies beyond. Appreciate both. Goals are not only for this planet.
The third is facing guilt of dying. You can try your best to live and survive at all costs, but if that's not good enough with the universe, and it's your time to go, why feel guilty over it? Everyone will die- we'll all end up the same more or less. People will all have to cope with losing someone in their life sooner or later. It's not that we aren't equipped for this either. Going a bit sooner, what will it mean? Even 50 years is a microspeck in the grand scheme of things.
Which brings me to the forth, facing the great unknown. The unknown can be scary, it is, after all, the root of all fears. So fill in some blanks, make the unknown known. Even if it's not the full truth, it's an attempt. You can fill your mind with all the possibilities you can think of as well. Fear will dissipate. There are generally three ways you can go when you kick the bucket: heaven, hell, or worm food. These are just nicknames and generalizations based on pretty much all schools of thought out there. Put another way, you can exist after death in a pleasant way, you can exist in an unpleasant way, or you can just sit there and unconsciously rot. Heaven is no worry at all! According to some belief systems, sometimes death involves hellish torment, but that's usually only the case if you are truly evil. So don't be a malevolent jackass! The worm food part (kinda covered already) means if we just rot, at least we won't be conscious of the fact and dwell on how much a bummer it seems. Physically, it's a way of giving back to nature and the Earth, in the least. That part ain't so bad.
The fifth and last great deep dwelling on death is quite tricky. Even if you come to terms with your own death in a million shapes and forms, what about facing the death of others, your loved ones?
It can seem a lot harder to live on after losing them! Yet it must be faced. As said before, we are all technically equipped to deal with death and grieve and heal, and we will all die in the end anyhow. Reunions are a very good possibility too.
So all in all, this isn't a throw away your life recklessly kind of deal. It's about appreciating life more, but at the same time not fearing death. It's about feeling content with whatever comes your way, and feeling capable of dealing with it. This can only, like all things, come with practice.
