I originally wrote this post on ideapod called “Who are we on the cusp of death?”
I have recently been contemplating mortality, the meaning of life and purpose. We all do, of course.
Three events are uneasy reminders of my fragile mortality:
Philosophy, writing and poetry offer some consolation (special hat-tip to Alain de Botton). Exploring existentialism, stoicism, Buddhism, epicureanism and immortalism among other ideas ease the anxiety, somewhat.
But mostly I wonder: how can I best give back to this unfathomably vast universe that created me & will ultimately take me away? The universe that has heckled me, showered me with love, stung me with lessons, guided me to lifelong friends and enabled me to create – to express my, ultimately temporary, self – if only for a little while.
I had such a strong conviction that meaning and success were inextricably coupled with professional ascension. Had I continued that path perhaps, on the cusp of death, I would be reduced to my professional achievements. I now can’t accept that. It promotes only more suffering.
On the cusp of death, my dad, whose story is the subject of the next post, appears to personify his wounds. He is the incessant sting of verbal barbs flung at his struggling 19 year old self, by judgmental and petty relatives, decades long since decomposed.
Are we, on the cusp of death, our perception of ourselves? When we explode into stardust, can we say “I was myself”? Does it matter? Are we the things we did – or failed to do? Are we our hopes and dreams achieved – or left unmet? Did we meet good standards of behaviour, ethics, integrity? How much unfinished business are we willing to accept as we sleep for the final time?
Are we, on the cusp of death, memories that we leave in the safe hands of those we created them with? Are we that which soothes others’ when they are distressed? Or are we that which etches pain in the face of those we love; leaving behind, during our lifetime, too many harsh words left to fester? Are we the memory that inspires an amused smirk when our kindred spirits remember shared misadventures? Did we in life, and death, inspire fear, indifference or hope?
Are we, on the cusp of death, not one of these things, but the journey that we had – and what’s more – how we had it? Did we live deliberately – or let ourselves be led by circumstance? Did we contribute to the world – or take from it? Did we comfort – or distance – our most beloved? Did we inspire – or hurt – strangers and peers? Did we realise we were wrong – and say sorry? Did we learn from our mistakes? Did we try to get better – or did we sit back and hope that the world did that for us?
Did we immerse someone else in our own immortal love, at least once, during our infinitesimally short existence?
Are we, on the cusp of death, missing the point? Are we just terrified of going home? A home where, in the end, we patiently remained inert.
For trillions of years.
Until it was time for us to feel pain, fear and hope, yet again.
This post was originally published on Kat’s website here on 8 January, 2017
