Someone I know died yesterday, suddenly, after a bad headache and a couple of seizures. This is not someone I was close to, but still.
Since I received the news I've been pondering the life force - how powerful it is, powerful enough that the Cedar of Lebanon cone "knew" to slowly open and shatter even though it had not been connected to a living tree for quite a long time.
No matter how strong the life force, the truth is that everything and every one has a life span. When we die is completely out of our hands which might account for why death is so often anthropomorphized. We want to understand, but death is incomprehensible. Usually a "he" (though not always), death is portrayed as the Grim Reaper and by many other names. Frederic March played the part in the 1934 film, "Death Takes a Holiday." Fast forward a few decades: Brad Pitt is death in "Meet Joe Black."
There aren't subtitles in this clip from "The Seventh Seal." Indeed subtitles are unnecessary. What an excellent portrayal of death. Wow.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
As a shaman and philosopher, I often think about death. Since visiting my mother's grave, and with age 60 just around the corner, it has been rather more on my mind than usual. The sudden death I heard about yesterday snapped me out of my deep contemplation of mortality, thank goodness. It's ironic, isn't it?
Live now, worry about death later, said the Voice in the Shower this morning. Great advice! Hence I'm out of here in a little while to Whole Foods. I'm going to cook all day, including pistachio masala crusted lamb chops, hence the name of this post.
Life is good and I am grateful! Shalom.
5 comments:
Life is indeed good if we will only stop and pay attention to it.
I try to remember!
It is shocking when someone dies unexpectedly. Nothing else serves as such an effective memento mori.
You're right to emphasize living in the moment, though it is indeed easier said than done!
Your "voice in the shower" is so wise.
Death speaks Swedish, who would have thought.
When Tessa died (remember Tessa?), she appeared to me a few nights later and said, Don`t worry about the dead, pay attention to the living. Yes, good advice.
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