sanacounselling
07-06-2016, 12:32 PM
Existence, Life and Death
When I write my blogs, I write about events or ideas that occurred the week before that inspired me, or that I simply connected with. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid that this week I feel I have connected to the idea/thought of death- and I have to be honest, this isn’t the first time.
I have observed that when it comes to anxiety and it’s root causes, a number of people in therapy mention time, purpose or death. Who can blame them? Philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Existentialists like Irvin Yalom and the great musicians all wrote (and for those who death has not touched, still write) about the subject.
Death is hideous. Death is beautiful. Death is an ending and for some believers, a new beginning…it is pretty much whatever we want it to be, and the one thing that is has in common for all of us is that it is a certainty. I have a hunch that this absolute death that we all face leads many of us to feel overwhelmed and anxious about how we choose to live. It also calls for us to question how we spend our time and pretty much reevaluate all that is important to us…or at the very least begin our quest to reevaluate our lives and reconsider the question, “what is important to me?” And so the anxiety paired with excitement begins and this, I dare say, is the quest of my generation.
I guess my question is that even though we all know that death looms over us and will one day put us on it’s shortlist, is there a way we can ever really be ok with it? Is it worth pouring our aliveness into thoughts about what comes next, or is it a waste of our life to consider death so closely?
I know that I have had my fair share of health issues over my lifetime- shute, I’ve spent over half of my life on anti-convulsant medications and have no idea what lucidity even means! But seriously, when my health is not 90%+ I get scared and the idea of death spirals again. Honestly, I don’t think that I will be OK with the idea of dying any time soon but I do, every now and then, really like to acknowledge death and pay homage to one of the most powerful concepts that humans like to ponder.
So, I’ll leave with you these quotes by two iconic authors.
”Live your life to the fullest; and then, and only then, die. Don't leave any unlived life behind.” -Irvin Yalom
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’” -Hunter S. Thompson
Check out more at Sana Counselling.
When I write my blogs, I write about events or ideas that occurred the week before that inspired me, or that I simply connected with. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid that this week I feel I have connected to the idea/thought of death- and I have to be honest, this isn’t the first time.
I have observed that when it comes to anxiety and it’s root causes, a number of people in therapy mention time, purpose or death. Who can blame them? Philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Existentialists like Irvin Yalom and the great musicians all wrote (and for those who death has not touched, still write) about the subject.
Death is hideous. Death is beautiful. Death is an ending and for some believers, a new beginning…it is pretty much whatever we want it to be, and the one thing that is has in common for all of us is that it is a certainty. I have a hunch that this absolute death that we all face leads many of us to feel overwhelmed and anxious about how we choose to live. It also calls for us to question how we spend our time and pretty much reevaluate all that is important to us…or at the very least begin our quest to reevaluate our lives and reconsider the question, “what is important to me?” And so the anxiety paired with excitement begins and this, I dare say, is the quest of my generation.
I guess my question is that even though we all know that death looms over us and will one day put us on it’s shortlist, is there a way we can ever really be ok with it? Is it worth pouring our aliveness into thoughts about what comes next, or is it a waste of our life to consider death so closely?
I know that I have had my fair share of health issues over my lifetime- shute, I’ve spent over half of my life on anti-convulsant medications and have no idea what lucidity even means! But seriously, when my health is not 90%+ I get scared and the idea of death spirals again. Honestly, I don’t think that I will be OK with the idea of dying any time soon but I do, every now and then, really like to acknowledge death and pay homage to one of the most powerful concepts that humans like to ponder.
So, I’ll leave with you these quotes by two iconic authors.
”Live your life to the fullest; and then, and only then, die. Don't leave any unlived life behind.” -Irvin Yalom
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’” -Hunter S. Thompson
Check out more at Sana Counselling.