Reflections On Death

Love, Work & Give as if you'll die tonight.
Dream Like Children as if you're gonna live forever.

To gain an understanding of the shortness and preciousness of life and how to make it meaningful we need to reflect on the fact that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain. These points may seem obvious but we rarely stop to accept the truth of them.

When we consider that death is certain we can reflect on several points ::

1. there is no possible way to escape death [nobody ever has],
2. life has a definite, inflexible limit and each moment brings us closer to the end of this life, and
3. death comes in a moment and it's time is unexpected [and even while alive we devote very little of our life to spiritual practice].

When reflecting on the fact that the time of death in uncertain we can analyse this further by recognising that ::

1. the duration of our lifespan is uncertain
2. young people can die before old people, the healthy before the sick, etc.
3. there are many causes and circumstances that lead to death but few that favour the sustenance of life in fact even the things that sustain life and make it comfortable can kill us e.g. food, our house, our car.
4. the weakness and fragility of our body contributes to life's uncertainty
5. our body can be easily destroyed by disease or accident.

The Final Questions will be ::

1. Have I Lived Wisely?
2. Have I Loved Well?
3. Have I Served Greatly?

How we would react if we were told, there are only a countable days more to live ::

1. am I ready to die?
2. what unfinished business do I have?
3. what do I want to do or achieve in the time I have left?
4. will my priorities change?
5. what can help me at the time of death?

As somebody put it ::

Live each day as though it were your last and one day you'll be right!

[SOURCE :: A BUDDHIST PRECEPT]