How We Can Prepare Ourselves For Death
“Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you’re alive and able — be good.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Today, I listened to somebody on Facebook live who spoke beautifully about vulnerability and how we can embrace it. He even took my question, which apparently was a big one for him, and he gave me his view on how I could approach my meditations on my final hour.
The Stoics told us that we should not fear death as it is inevitable and part of life. They even said that we should ponder on our final hour. I love that expression.
The problem for me is: to grasp that thought one must be closer to his final day than somebody in his thirties. However, nobody knows when his or her time has come, and that is why we should prepare ourselves. How do we do that then?!
I think, he [the speaker]gave some great answers: He talked about the question what is life all about anyway? Is life the sum of our experiences? Probably, who could argue with that, but our thoughts should travel further. We should go deeper and ask whether we would have any regrets looking back. “Would my passing be easy for me,” he asked himself in his live video. I love that question. One could look at his health or his past. Hopefully, nobody has to suffer from illness or a broken body at this moment and can only look back with a satisfied smile.
We only have the present moment, just like he said. I hope everyone knows. There is no reason to dwell on past sufferings for they are long gone, and also no need to be anxious about the future; for she is not here yet.
Instead, let us all follow the beautiful message Paul Kalanithi gave his newborn daughter only shortly before he passed away:
“When you come to one of the many moments in life where you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and one, and mean to the world, do not, I pray, discount that you filled a dying man’s days with sated joy that does not hunger for more and mire but rests, satisfied. In this, right now, that is an enormous thing.”
I can highly recommend reading Kalanithi’s book “When Breath Becomes Air.”
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