I never thought about death, until I was dying. Let me elaborate. Little less than a couple years ago, I was completely healthy (as far as I knew, no co-morbidities that old folk get) when I had a massive MI. Complete blockage of the to the left main ventricular artery. Heart stoppage usually happens and then relatives make arrangements sort of incident. I was not that lucky. While waiting for ambulance, then being worked on, I remained completely conscious. I simply thought, “When will I pass out and this will all be over?” Never happened (obviously). However, as I remember there was no fear of death—pain and discomfort—yes. Within an hour or so, I was in the emergency OR and the blockage removed. Two days later, I was discharged. Go and sin no more. 😇
As I think about the incident, I wonder if my MI event was of such a surprise that I had no time to think of the end of mortality or whether I had the blessing of not being very fearful of death. I guess I’ll see if—no, when, this occurs again.
Reading today’s missive, I can’t help thinking of the old refrain, “…a coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one…”. OK, coward is a bit of a pejorative, but the word “fearful” can be substituted without loss of meaning in this case.
Seems to me that humanity would be better off if we stopped listening to and following people with Cluster B personality disorders. The man even harvested blood from his teen-age son.
Beautiful article. I was thinking about the irony of his diagnosis and hoping that it helps him to perhaps take a spiritual route to immortality instead of a bio-hacking one. After all, we are 93% stardust.
Even a few more generations of being remembered after death is fleeting. We remember almost no one, there is a lot of luck and randomness in that, and we remember those inaccurately. It is very Norse and heroic-sounding to invest in great deeds that will be remembered, but it doesn't happen. Whoever the original model for Beowulf was, others who fought with him were more heroic but are long forgotten. Invest in something eternal - I think the Christian God is the best bet, myself - or in the moment. The other stations up the track are written on the schedule, but if the train lets you off there, you find there is no settlement nearby. "The Great Divorce" captures the spirit of this well.
I never thought about death, until I was dying. Let me elaborate. Little less than a couple years ago, I was completely healthy (as far as I knew, no co-morbidities that old folk get) when I had a massive MI. Complete blockage of the to the left main ventricular artery. Heart stoppage usually happens and then relatives make arrangements sort of incident. I was not that lucky. While waiting for ambulance, then being worked on, I remained completely conscious. I simply thought, “When will I pass out and this will all be over?” Never happened (obviously). However, as I remember there was no fear of death—pain and discomfort—yes. Within an hour or so, I was in the emergency OR and the blockage removed. Two days later, I was discharged. Go and sin no more. 😇
As I think about the incident, I wonder if my MI event was of such a surprise that I had no time to think of the end of mortality or whether I had the blessing of not being very fearful of death. I guess I’ll see if—no, when, this occurs again.
Reading today’s missive, I can’t help thinking of the old refrain, “…a coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one…”. OK, coward is a bit of a pejorative, but the word “fearful” can be substituted without loss of meaning in this case.
Seems to me that humanity would be better off if we stopped listening to and following people with Cluster B personality disorders. The man even harvested blood from his teen-age son.
Beautiful article. I was thinking about the irony of his diagnosis and hoping that it helps him to perhaps take a spiritual route to immortality instead of a bio-hacking one. After all, we are 93% stardust.
Even a few more generations of being remembered after death is fleeting. We remember almost no one, there is a lot of luck and randomness in that, and we remember those inaccurately. It is very Norse and heroic-sounding to invest in great deeds that will be remembered, but it doesn't happen. Whoever the original model for Beowulf was, others who fought with him were more heroic but are long forgotten. Invest in something eternal - I think the Christian God is the best bet, myself - or in the moment. The other stations up the track are written on the schedule, but if the train lets you off there, you find there is no settlement nearby. "The Great Divorce" captures the spirit of this well.
"travelling to Honduras to be genetically modified" is one of the most unexpected phrases I've ever seen written down.