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Our Awareness of Mortality Determines How We Live
A positive perspective on death
We need to guide ourselves through life based upon the knowledge that we will die.
This isn’t something exclusive to humans. All animals know that death is a part of life. They see it constantly. In a funny way, humans are less aware of death than their lower species counterparts.
In the wild, it’s kill or be killed.
In society, it’s ignore the finite nature of life until the day you're on your deathbed, struggling against the inevitable.
But if you’re aware of your own mortality, then you have an opportunity to live a more fulfilled life.
This is assuming you don’t get bogged down by this knowledge.
As morbid as this (obviously) seems (and is), it can actually be quite a liberating experience to fully recognize the fact that one day, you will die.
It’s a freeing exercise to simulate your own death; to feel what it would be like to actually let go and fade out from life itself.
Have you ever tried this?
I recommend it.
The Buddha said that we should be thinking about our own death with every in-breath and every out-breath.
