Time is the fire in which we all burn. Every second that passes by, we grow older. Slowly. Irreversibly. Inevitably. Eventually, time would gain the upper hand. Someday, we would all die.
As a matter of fact, at one point of our lives, we will find ourselves on the verge of death, gasping and fighting for our dear life. We hold on to our last breath because we are afraid to die. There is nothing we can do then but to cry in anguish over our pathetic condition.
Yet, death only tells us that we must live life now, in the moment --- that tomorrow is illusion and never comes. It tells us that it is not the quantity of our days, or hours, or years that matter, but rather the quality of the time spent. Every day is new. Every moment is fresh. Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance. Time is relative. It is ours, given freely to spend wisely or to squander idly, but never to be hoarded. Time past is gone and all the moaning will never bring it back.
Death also teaches us the impermanence of all things. All things change. All things die. To be attached to thing or people, both of which will surely vanish, can only bring despair, for eventually one is left with only a handful of dust or a frail memory. Life that is free of attachment lives in the moment and makes no demand that the moment last. Life's concern is not with the future but with the present. To wait for life is to love to wait, nothing more.
For some, the fear of dying may lead them to think that this earthly life is all there is. Thus, they satisfy themselves with doing what they want without any regard for others. However, try as they might they never seem to achieve complete happiness. Each acquisition leads to desire for procuration. More! More! More!
A vicious cycle, indeed. Alas, they fail to realize the emptiness of their actions. Only a fool would seek something infinite from the finite.
However, try as we might not to fall prey to this perennial hunger to have more, we still commit the same mistake. Especially in these troubled times, nothing matters to many of us except our own lives. Our only concern is anything that will make us happy. In our pursuit of happiness, however, we allow ourselves to fall into the snare of temptation and to be controlled by our worldly possessions believing that these are the only things we need to live. We search for what is earthly but ephemeral, not for what is heavenly but eternal. In the end, we cry out in desperation because despite accumulating earthly possessions, we still find our lives empty.
After all, death teaches us that in the long run nothing belongs to us. Even if we desire to form permanent attachments or possess, we in truth cannot. Things will break in spite of us. People will depart when it is their time no matter how loudly we protest.
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Written by: Swiss Wenger
Email: swisswenger09@gmail.com
Each day we build a new foundation for death. Unfortunately, it comes as an event as ordinary as doing your day to day chores. Everyday events is an inevitable part of the living kingdom. The cycle of our life is a cycle in time itself.
ReplyDeleteEventhough each one of us know the concept of death, still we continue to conquest for money, power and glory. Some of us believe that to measure our lives is to by how much we gained in terms this money, power and glory thing, and others consolidate it by the wrinkles in their faces. Overcoming this fear of death is the greatest strain in our life. Absurd as might they say but it is not that I am afraid to die, but I just don’t want to be around when it happens.
But, we have to live with this certainty, though, living with a certainty is more disconcerting than living with an uncertainty.
Do not seek death, death will find you. But seek the road that makes death a fulfillment.
PANGZ
Ang galing naman ni Pangz!!!
DeleteThank you Pangz for sharing your insight!
DeleteWhile it is true that we do not have to seek death because it will find us, yet how many of us truly understand the paradox of death? While it is true also that many of us say that he/she is ready to die, yet how do we truly prepare ourselves for this eventuality? Hence, the vicious cycle of acquiring for more continues. Trying to secure ourselves from experiencing the pangs of death and delay its coming. Thus, living with this certainty that all of us will die becomes more disconcerting especially if we do not know where we're going after we die.
The invitation here is not to fear death. However, we can only do so if our whole life truly made sense, as Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." After all, at the end of the day it just between you and God!
Death is a just a phase of life that everyone will surely undergo, this is a fact that everyone needs to accept, in which there is no need for a preparation. Death can never be inhibited, it is natural, we can never escape death in any means. We should always treasure our time, and treat it as if it is our last. Each and every Day, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds are important. We can never know how long or how short we are staying here. Some dies a second after birth, some stays a decade, some lives a century. No matter how long we stay alive, we will always die the same way, and fall to the same place.
ReplyDeleteStay happy, stay beautiful, and live your life the way you wanted it, you alone can build your life the way you wanted it, do that, and you will die happy, coz u know that you lived the way your heart and your soul wanted to live.
Magulo ata comment ko, ahahaha, sana maintindihan. ahahahhaa
-eusethadeus-
Thank you Euse for sharing such a beautiful insight!
DeleteWhile it is true that we know how short life is, yet how much do we understand the truth of it? Hence, most of us resort to simply existing rather than truly live.
The invitation here is that we truly live our lives and treat everyday as if it is our last because we love LIFE. Most of us fail to understand that the opposite of love is not hatred, anger or rage, but FEAR. Hence, the urge to secure ourselves with material possessions accelerates. Do we truly love life or how much in our living our life is motivated by paranoia?
At the end of the day, we should come to a point of realization that things which are eternal will give us joy more than things that are ephemeral.