Life and Death

[china]

We think that living is always in the present and that dying is something that awaits us at a distant time. But we have never questioned whether this battle of everyday life is living at all. We want to know the truth about reincarnation, we want proof of the survival of the soul, we listen to the assertion of clairvoyants and to the conclusions of psychical research, but we never ask, never, how to live--to live with delight, with enchantment, with beauty every day. We have accepted life as it is with all its agony and despair and have got used to it, and think of death as something to be carefully avoided. But death is extraordinarily like life when we know how to live. You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die psychologically every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is.
And you now have the "freedom" to post your comments.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

To not fight death at every opportunity is to give in to death. Yes, all biological life on this planet eventually dies but to go gently in to the night is defeatist. Smoking, bads diets and unsafe behaviour is to actually court death. Do things exciting and even take some chances but to actively engage in activities which WILL kill you is ludicrous.

The last thing the redneck said before he died was " Here hold my smokes and brewsky, watch this."

 

[AmberEyes]

I read an interesting book once, very sci fi but it touched on an interesting idea. There was a race of ageless people who lived forever until they were killed. They believed that they haven't lived properly until they have experienced EVERYTHING there is to experience, and so slowly one by one they killed themselves into extinction, just to see what it was like.

I think it's very hard for people to overcome the pain of everyday life. We're always stressed and unhappy, there's always SOMETHING wrong, whether it be the weather or a relationship. There are few people in this world that see everyday life as something extraordinary, something to look forward to. We strive to be one of those few, but because we are taught that to be happy is to be selfish, we never make it.

 

[L Gilbert]

We think that living is always in the present and that dying is something that awaits us at a distant time. But we have never questioned whether this battle of everyday life is living at all. We want to know the truth about reincarnation, we want proof of the survival of the soul, we listen to the assertion of clairvoyants and to the conclusions of psychical research, but we never ask, never, how to live--to live with delight, with enchantment, with beauty every day. We have accepted life as it is with all its agony and despair and have got used to it, and think of death as something to be carefully avoided. But death is extraordinarily like life when we know how to live. You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die psychologically every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is.
And you now have the "freedom" to post your comments.

lol Thanks for the permission to post.
I agree somewhat. For me it isn't about living and dying. I live life. Period. Death may be unavoidable but it is only incidental, in my opinion. I cannot seem to dwell on death unless I put a concerted effort into it, like discussing it here, for instance.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

After losing all but one immediate family member to untimely death and narrowly avoiding it myself, I think about it a lot. Maybe more than is healthy for me too.

 

[L Gilbert]

To not fight death at every opportunity is to give in to death. Yes, all biological life on this planet eventually dies but to go gently in to the night is defeatist. Smoking, bads diets and unsafe behaviour is to actually court death. Do things exciting and even take some chances but to actively engage in activities which WILL kill you is ludicrous.

The last thing the redneck said before he died was " Here hold my smokes and brewsky, watch this."

Geeeeeez, yer a morbid bugger. I fought fires for a living. I freeclimbed mountains for fun and did it by myself a lot. It was fun, except for the firefighting sometimes. How can you stand to even cross a street? Some poor bugger will come steaming down the road on his bike and run swquare into you, breaking your neck. Or even go outside? Perhaps sometime when you go outside you may be killed because someone out in the boonies fired a rifle into the air and the round will come down and penetrate that gloomy noggin of yours. 8O

 

[selfactivated]

After losing all but one immediate family member to untimely death and narrowly avoiding it myself, I think about it a lot. Maybe more than is healthy for me too.

OK This is where Tam gets esoteric on yall. Death IS Life! A Shamanic death is a new begining. A physical death is the end of a cycle. I look forward to death Shamanic and Physical. On the other side of that veil is peace, unconditional Love, No prejudice or hurt. I fear life not death.

 

[selfactivated]

Geeeeeez, yer a morbid bugger. I fought fires for a living. I freeclimbed mountains for fun and did it by myself a lot. It was fun, except for the firefighting sometimes. How can you stand to even cross a street? Some poor bugger will come steaming down the road on his bike and run swquare into you, breaking your neck. Or even go outside? Perhaps sometime when you go outside you may be killed because someone out in the boonies fired a rifle into the air and the round will come down and penetrate that gloomy noggin of yours. 8O

Its not gloomy its introscpective........not every things a joke.

 

[darkbeaver]

Death is our best advisor. Contemplation of life is not complete without simultaneous contemplation of death.:wave:

 

[L Gilbert]

I very well know that not everything is a joke (I've seen a few burnt and dismembered kids, for instance). But, I've found very little yet that I cannot joke about, death included.

 

[L Gilbert]

Death is our best advisor. Contemplation of life is not complete without simultaneous contemplation of death.:wave:

Good point. I don't contemplate life much either. To me it just happens and I do my best to make the best of it. But the end of it will just be incidental, still.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

Geeeeeez, yer a morbid bugger. I fought fires for a living. I freeclimbed mountains for fun and did it by myself a lot. It was fun, except for the firefighting sometimes. How can you stand to even cross a street? Some poor bugger will come steaming down the road on his bike and run swquare into you, breaking your neck. Or even go outside? Perhaps sometime when you go outside you may be killed because someone out in the boonies fired a rifle into the air and the round will come down and penetrate that gloomy noggin of yours. 8O

I race motorcycles for fun. And am likely to be the guy on the bicycle. Burying family and lying on a table being zapped back to life and then being split wide open from adams apple to appetite kind of puts a different perspective on some things.

 

[L Gilbert]

I race motorcycles for fun. And am likely to be the guy on the bicycle. Burying family and lying on a table being zapped back to life and then being split wide open from adams apple to appetite kind of puts a different perspective on some things.

I suppose. Never been in that kinda situation before but it doesn't seem to me that it'd be a whole lot diffeent than being under dire threat of death by fire or death by a sudden stop at the bottom of a a few hundred feet of freefall.
I had a booboo while riding my '68 Triumph Bonneville once, too.

 

[El Barto]

I read an interesting book once, very sci fi but it touched on an interesting idea. There was a race of ageless people who lived forever until they were killed. They believed that they haven't lived properly until they have experienced EVERYTHING there is to experience, and so slowly one by one they killed themselves into extinction, just to see what it was like.

I think it's very hard for people to overcome the pain of everyday life. We're always stressed and unhappy, there's always SOMETHING wrong, whether it be the weather or a relationship. There are few people in this world that see everyday life as something extraordinary, something to look forward to. We strive to be one of those few, but because we are taught that to be happy is to be selfish, we never make it.

Are you sure your 21?

 

[AmberEyes]

Are you sure your 21?

Last I checked

 

[selfactivated]

Are you sure your 21?

Isnt she AMAZING?

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

The only reason I am alive today is because I live 2 blocks away from one of the premier hospitals in London, a town known for it's hospitals. My symptoms were not classic symptoms and I collapsed 15 minutes after arriving for treatment for incredible back pain.

I intend to pickup motorcycle racing again and am intent on rock climbing. An article posted at work said per mile travelled the riskiest things to do are race motorcycles, ride bicycles to work and rock climb. I thought "Gee I haven't rock climbed yet."

I was referring to smoking cigarettes, eating unhealthy and engaging in such activities as brooming ethnic persons in Detroit ghettoes, b!tch slapping H.A., having unprotected sex with persons of questionable history, using intravenous illict drugs and watching TV while swilling brews and pigging out on cheesie puffs.

 

[china]

L Gilbert:
You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die "PSYCHOLOGICALLY" every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is.

YOU can,t live fully ,while carrying with you the burdens of the past .

 

[El Barto]

Last I checked

Its just you sound much more mature than some of the thirty to fourty year old that I know.

 

[AmberEyes]

Its just you sound much more mature than some of the thirty to fourty year old that I know.

Thank you Though I think it comes with experience.. I find many people haven't experienced much, and their maturity seems to reflect that - they havent' been through hell and back. Neither have I, but I've been through more than the average 21 year old.