“Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham

Today is Halloween, the day of the dead, so I guess the thing we need to really talk about is death.

It’s the last thing we’d like to talk about, of course … We’d rather dress up in costumes that mock death and go to parties or gather candy (or both). In fact, we’d… rather do anything but remind ourselves that our life on this Earth is tenuous; that our days are numbered; that we are, quite literally, running out of time.

And so we hide from that Truth — covering our heads under the thick blankets of hollow “fun”, melodramatic “news” or worrisome “crises”. We think that we can somehow gather enough pleasure for ourselves that death won’t come for us. We think that hiding under the covers of “healthy boundaries” and “self respect” and “good times” will have death somehow pass us by. We focus on making our lives as comfortable as possible by neglecting the one thing that can bring us real joy (open, selfless Love). By running from death, we make our lives meaningless. Ironically, by running from death, we die …

“Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.” ~ Elie Wiesel

And yet in order to truly live, we must choose to to “die”. In order to fully know the joy of life, we must have the courage to sacrifice ourselves.

We must greet others every day as though we haven’t seen them in ages, and we must say goodbye to them every time we part as though we will never see them again. We must remember while we are with them that our time together is priceless — that if there is any kind thing to say, that we must say it then and say it fully. We must set aside our fears of being harmed or seeming foolish in order to Love others with everything we have in every moment we have to give it.

And this is especially true in our difficult times …

Indeed, there is no greater privilege than the ability we each have to be neglected and yet choose to Care; to be betrayed and yet choose to forgive; to be attacked and yet choose to be Kind; to be afraid and yet choose to be tender; to be rejected and yet choose to keep Loving.

Indeed, this is what it means to die …
… and this is the Way to Life.

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr

Filed under: Wisdoms from the Journey by Scaughdt