A lot of people I know have experienced loss recently. Loss is particularly hard when your last words to the deceased person were spoken in anger.
I don’t know whether you’ll get married. I don’t know whether you’ll have children or grandchildren. I don’t know if you’ll be kind. But I know you’ll die. Because that’s something we all do. Death is something we often don’t want to think about, even though it’s inescapable and a simple fact of life.
Hence,in the Buddhist teachings, we find reflections such as this:
Those who have come to be,
those who will be:
All will go,
leaving the body behind.
The skillful person,
realizing the loss of all,
should live the holy life
ardently.
And this:
There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die. But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.
We don’t want to think about death, so we have to make a conscious effort to do so.
This may, for all we know, be my last post on this blog. You, for all I know, may have already passed away before my finger hits the “publish” button. For all I know, this post has been written by a corpse, for a corpse.
Life is short. Be kind.