On Death and Dying- Dialogue 500

“So, what do you think it means to be ready to die tomorrow?” “I think it means getting your shit together, getting your ducks in a row, doing what you love. You know, don’t die doing a job you hate, or being with someone you hate. There’s something to be said for providing a roof over your head, having the wherewithal to pay your way through life, but to tell the truth, I want to be living joyfully every day no matter what.” “It’s important to have spiritual peace, too.” “I’ve seen a lot of people die, and they all seem to have a common thread. The ones who have made peace with their mortality, the ones who figured out a path of spirituality are in harmony with the soul’s departure from this earth. The ones who haven’t made peace with their spirituality are tumultuously thrown into the labor of death without a guide, the blind leading the blind. The reaper shows up unannounced, or sometimes he gives them a head start. Like ‘You have stage four cancer and no more treatment options’. Either way, the clock is ticking loudly, and some people don’t find their way out of the dark confusion of life into the serenity of whatever life after death means for them. But we all die one day…”. “If you could choose, what would you do the day before you die?” “This I ponder often because I’m hauntingly reminded of death every day. Reminded that life is too short, that I should live, laugh and love, as the cliché so nauseatingly goes. I’d want to make sure my family knows that I love them, knows that I was an altruistic person who wants to do good. I’d want to experience my own personal liberations- like being honest, purposeful, and vulnerable in every aspect, with everyone I encounter. What about you?” “Hmm, that’s a good question. Anyway, I don’t feel like I’ve thought it through as much as you have . I just want to be with the people I love every day. I’d love to have enough damn courage to quit my idiotic job and start my own painting studio. I really want to teach people how to paint. But where do you draw the line between ‘doing what you love’ and ‘making sure you pay your bills’, you know?” “Right? So true. I deal with that dilemma too. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in some chronomentrophobic twilight zone, hoping that I’ll have enough time to just get through this year, to fix whatever current catastrophe I’m facing, then next year, I’ll commit to doing what I love. But I’m scared of getting older, actually, I’m scared of death itself. There. I admitted it. So sometimes I feel safer living in the bubble of believing life-as-I-know-it-will-never-end, y’know? Even though I know deep down in my spirit that there is an end to this life.” “Yeah, I understand. But what if we thought about it like this…”