Here are five reasons why one must not fear death:
I: Death is our birth.
We begin dying from the moment of our conception, and we never stop doing so. Death is linked to our life and thus is inescapable; there are no immortals - not even the Universe itself is one, but, in accord with its own laws, marches surely towards chaos. Our own life is nourished by the Death of other beings, our breath sustained by the inner blaze combusting our own matter. Death is so bound to life that its knowledge of existence surpasses no-one, not even ourselves; hence...
II: Death is an adviser.
Death is the best counselor that we have, as don Juan Matus said. Nothing knows life as well as Death, its twin sister, does. Just turn to it, as you turn to a good friend, when you need advice on how to act, how to live: "You have but a moment left to live, use it well" it will say - no better advice will you ever find. Death, this wise entity, makes such a good adviser because it is without ourselves, it is objective, outside our control; hence...
III: Death is uncontrollable.
We never choose the moment we die. All control we think we have is mere illusion, for life is a like a battlefield: as we sidestep one blade, we squarely fall onto another, there always is a most bare flank, a chink within our armor. Those who try to bend Death to their will but waste their strength and breath, as him who tries to grab a stream with his bare hands or her who tries to command fire with her voice. Indeed, all things we try to bridle lose their beauty, be they part of life or death, and lose their mystery - what we don't control, we cannot know; hence...
IV: Death is unfathomable.
Many fear death because it is unknown. But if death is the opposite of life, our self cannot know it nor experience it, only that part of us that belongs to neither life nor death can touch both. Therefore death indeed consumes life and strips us of all the earthly things we know: not only happiness and bliss, but also pain, loneliness and fear. In death old things will be forgotten and something new will be 'known', if something as knowledge indeed exists in death. So alien is death that to fear it is pointless; hence...
V: Fear is Death.
Most importantly, to fear death is to stop living. Death, instead, must be the other side of the mirror, the darkness that makes us see through the mist of life. While knowing Death opens our eyes, to fear it blinds us ever surely and turns to shadow all life's beauty. Those who covet freedom from Death's grasp become as pebbles, ever closed upon themselves, untouched by all except that which they fear. In sum, when we lost immortality in Eden's garden we gained life, since Death only helps us live; hence... Death is our birth.
I: Death is our birth.
We begin dying from the moment of our conception, and we never stop doing so. Death is linked to our life and thus is inescapable; there are no immortals - not even the Universe itself is one, but, in accord with its own laws, marches surely towards chaos. Our own life is nourished by the Death of other beings, our breath sustained by the inner blaze combusting our own matter. Death is so bound to life that its knowledge of existence surpasses no-one, not even ourselves; hence...
II: Death is an adviser.
Death is the best counselor that we have, as don Juan Matus said. Nothing knows life as well as Death, its twin sister, does. Just turn to it, as you turn to a good friend, when you need advice on how to act, how to live: "You have but a moment left to live, use it well" it will say - no better advice will you ever find. Death, this wise entity, makes such a good adviser because it is without ourselves, it is objective, outside our control; hence...
III: Death is uncontrollable.
We never choose the moment we die. All control we think we have is mere illusion, for life is a like a battlefield: as we sidestep one blade, we squarely fall onto another, there always is a most bare flank, a chink within our armor. Those who try to bend Death to their will but waste their strength and breath, as him who tries to grab a stream with his bare hands or her who tries to command fire with her voice. Indeed, all things we try to bridle lose their beauty, be they part of life or death, and lose their mystery - what we don't control, we cannot know; hence...
IV: Death is unfathomable.
Many fear death because it is unknown. But if death is the opposite of life, our self cannot know it nor experience it, only that part of us that belongs to neither life nor death can touch both. Therefore death indeed consumes life and strips us of all the earthly things we know: not only happiness and bliss, but also pain, loneliness and fear. In death old things will be forgotten and something new will be 'known', if something as knowledge indeed exists in death. So alien is death that to fear it is pointless; hence...
V: Fear is Death.
Most importantly, to fear death is to stop living. Death, instead, must be the other side of the mirror, the darkness that makes us see through the mist of life. While knowing Death opens our eyes, to fear it blinds us ever surely and turns to shadow all life's beauty. Those who covet freedom from Death's grasp become as pebbles, ever closed upon themselves, untouched by all except that which they fear. In sum, when we lost immortality in Eden's garden we gained life, since Death only helps us live; hence... Death is our birth.
