Death is the yin to life’s yang. If we all lived forever or even knew we lived until a certain age, life would be dulled. Uncertainty can be a beautiful thing when it comes to all the points you made. Living to your respective fullest, gratitude, and perspective can all be enhanced with contemplation of death.
Like any form of intentional stress, practice in this area makes what many fear/avoid more comfortable and beneficial.
“Our fears don’t stop death, they stop life.” -Rickson Gracie
In some ways, I have learned to *enjoy* getting older.
I have a slightly different way of explaining my healthy relationship with death (i.e. not fearing it, but somewhat looking forward to it, yet not in a depressed or suicidal way), even more since I'm a follower of Christ--as stoicism is quite flawed (understatement), and often rips off Biblical/spiritual wisdom and repackages it through a secular lens--though your points are true - there's just things that I would caution against stoic philosophy as a man of God.
The Bible warns us to first be worried about what can destroy our *soul* - even more than what can destroy our body. Heaven and Hell are not fictional; they're real, so when you're body dies, you're leaving this world, and you theoretically become an angel (or a demon, if Hell is your destination). Satan and his helpers do attack our physical bodies, ultimately to discourage us from finding God, but I have found it often has the opposite effect Satan is shooting for.
Christ makes himself known to absolutely everyone - so anyone that goes to Hell, it's not for lack of belief, but rather, hate. Seculars, are merely haters of the one and true God - this *can* be easily observed, by really paying attention to every detail of their thought process. I can give so many examples of this, one does not actually qualify as an "atheist" or a "secular" individual, those are simply more lies that come from below. The worldly/secular/fleshly man is moody towards Christ, but at some point, will know that Christ is who the Bible says He is. There are no ancient or recent writings, that compare to the Bible in terms of truths and prophecy, it really is God's word.
*Any* spiritual being, angels, demons you name it, are well aware that God exists. Would you stoics--presuming yourselves wise--really attempt to argue that angels and demons are merely fictional constructs?
I'm not sure of your age, but you certainly have a lot of wisdom . And the thing is as I said, on the note that you posted with the story that with my career as an RN in intensive care units, I saw death a lot and saw how people's lives changed.. and it did change me.
I remember for so many years after the childhood abuse and sexual abuse and then I turned to drugs and alcohol addiction. I just didn't wanna live anymore. Every dayI prayed that I wouldn't wake up. I was miserable and I felt like I didn't belong here.
I was 27 years old when I stopped all that. It took some time and a lot of work to come to where I am today at a very young 64 😉
As I said before, I think about death and it's not anything that I'm afraid of at all. some of your points and suggestions that were made I wouldn't say that I say every single day, but I say it most days .
If this was my last day on Earth, what would I be doing and it does change what I'm doing! Does this matter? and I don't usually say five years from now I say is this gonna matter next year? It helps with some of the anger I still carry about some things, but we're all working on something...this is a journey not a destination.. at least that's what I believe.
As I'm reading this, I'm in North Florida, sitting outside. I built a fire earlier even though it's 70° out, it feels wonderful. There's a nice breeze and I'm just looking at the stars. I live in the country so there's no street lights and I can hear the deer, the crickets and the frogs - just enjoying this quiet time out in nature and very blessed and grateful for everything... and I mean everything, including the things I stated above because it made me the person I am today
Thank you so much for sharing your story with Tom and giving great insight and wisdom to all of us. Age doesn't matter it's just a number. We are all learning and growing together 🙏
Thanks for listing the resources too. I'm gonna check them out 💯‼️
You should absolutely be proud of yourself for writing this, and I think your friend feels that way too. I went through a different experience (having the university I teach at be a target of a mass shooting), but I relate to much of what you write here. It made me more acutely aware of my own existence and it was a “wake-up call” for me to try my best to bring positive change in the world, using my role as an educator. It’s as if I see my surroundings in a whole new light: before I had this filter and haze hanging over me, but now I see clearly. I’m grateful to just be alive and have the support that I do, so I am trying my best to take what happened and pursue meaningful action and share knowledge with others. Thanks for having the courage to discuss what you went through <3
Thank you so much Kelly ❤️ I'm so sorry you went through such a terrifying experience.
Reading about how you're using your experience to make a difference as a teacher brought tears to my eyes. That shift in perspective you described - seeing everything more clearly now - I feel that exact same way after losing Tom.
Thank you for understanding and for sharing your story.
It is to think deeply.. To uncover what is real, what is important in our lives.. And appreciate all around, lessons still to learn, the value of all around.
A recent post of mine on an impactful experience with death and how it changed my life.
Sharing these tragedies and making death discussion normal is something I’ve become a big believer in (even though the concept has been around for a long time thanks to the Stoics!)
What if you think about death and it encourages you to get things done, but you don’t know why or what to get done? What if you think you know, and you end up doing all of the wrong things?
That's why Christ needs to be in the center of one's life. All of those great questions--every single one of them--are even answered in the Bible alone. Secular philosophy is very limited compared to what God has on offer - and often, "stoic" philosophy makes observations that are originally Biblical teachings, discerned spiritually, and puts a secular coat on them not to mention overcomplicating everything.
Excellent post as always.
Death is the yin to life’s yang. If we all lived forever or even knew we lived until a certain age, life would be dulled. Uncertainty can be a beautiful thing when it comes to all the points you made. Living to your respective fullest, gratitude, and perspective can all be enhanced with contemplation of death.
Like any form of intentional stress, practice in this area makes what many fear/avoid more comfortable and beneficial.
“Our fears don’t stop death, they stop life.” -Rickson Gracie
Thanks again for the great post.
In some ways, I have learned to *enjoy* getting older.
I have a slightly different way of explaining my healthy relationship with death (i.e. not fearing it, but somewhat looking forward to it, yet not in a depressed or suicidal way), even more since I'm a follower of Christ--as stoicism is quite flawed (understatement), and often rips off Biblical/spiritual wisdom and repackages it through a secular lens--though your points are true - there's just things that I would caution against stoic philosophy as a man of God.
The Bible warns us to first be worried about what can destroy our *soul* - even more than what can destroy our body. Heaven and Hell are not fictional; they're real, so when you're body dies, you're leaving this world, and you theoretically become an angel (or a demon, if Hell is your destination). Satan and his helpers do attack our physical bodies, ultimately to discourage us from finding God, but I have found it often has the opposite effect Satan is shooting for.
Christ makes himself known to absolutely everyone - so anyone that goes to Hell, it's not for lack of belief, but rather, hate. Seculars, are merely haters of the one and true God - this *can* be easily observed, by really paying attention to every detail of their thought process. I can give so many examples of this, one does not actually qualify as an "atheist" or a "secular" individual, those are simply more lies that come from below. The worldly/secular/fleshly man is moody towards Christ, but at some point, will know that Christ is who the Bible says He is. There are no ancient or recent writings, that compare to the Bible in terms of truths and prophecy, it really is God's word.
*Any* spiritual being, angels, demons you name it, are well aware that God exists. Would you stoics--presuming yourselves wise--really attempt to argue that angels and demons are merely fictional constructs?
Such a beautiful read! Thank you.
Inspiring. I needed this. I'm sure that Tom is proud of you.
What an honor to Tom 🙏
I'm not sure of your age, but you certainly have a lot of wisdom . And the thing is as I said, on the note that you posted with the story that with my career as an RN in intensive care units, I saw death a lot and saw how people's lives changed.. and it did change me.
I remember for so many years after the childhood abuse and sexual abuse and then I turned to drugs and alcohol addiction. I just didn't wanna live anymore. Every dayI prayed that I wouldn't wake up. I was miserable and I felt like I didn't belong here.
I was 27 years old when I stopped all that. It took some time and a lot of work to come to where I am today at a very young 64 😉
As I said before, I think about death and it's not anything that I'm afraid of at all. some of your points and suggestions that were made I wouldn't say that I say every single day, but I say it most days .
If this was my last day on Earth, what would I be doing and it does change what I'm doing! Does this matter? and I don't usually say five years from now I say is this gonna matter next year? It helps with some of the anger I still carry about some things, but we're all working on something...this is a journey not a destination.. at least that's what I believe.
As I'm reading this, I'm in North Florida, sitting outside. I built a fire earlier even though it's 70° out, it feels wonderful. There's a nice breeze and I'm just looking at the stars. I live in the country so there's no street lights and I can hear the deer, the crickets and the frogs - just enjoying this quiet time out in nature and very blessed and grateful for everything... and I mean everything, including the things I stated above because it made me the person I am today
Thank you so much for sharing your story with Tom and giving great insight and wisdom to all of us. Age doesn't matter it's just a number. We are all learning and growing together 🙏
Thanks for listing the resources too. I'm gonna check them out 💯‼️
You should absolutely be proud of yourself for writing this, and I think your friend feels that way too. I went through a different experience (having the university I teach at be a target of a mass shooting), but I relate to much of what you write here. It made me more acutely aware of my own existence and it was a “wake-up call” for me to try my best to bring positive change in the world, using my role as an educator. It’s as if I see my surroundings in a whole new light: before I had this filter and haze hanging over me, but now I see clearly. I’m grateful to just be alive and have the support that I do, so I am trying my best to take what happened and pursue meaningful action and share knowledge with others. Thanks for having the courage to discuss what you went through <3
Thank you so much Kelly ❤️ I'm so sorry you went through such a terrifying experience.
Reading about how you're using your experience to make a difference as a teacher brought tears to my eyes. That shift in perspective you described - seeing everything more clearly now - I feel that exact same way after losing Tom.
Thank you for understanding and for sharing your story.
Of course! Keep sharing your work and doing your thing!
Sorry for your loss. Great points. Keep up the good work.
Appreciate it my friend. Thank you.
What if you want to pour out your feelings to someone
What if they didn't feel that way
It is to think deeply.. To uncover what is real, what is important in our lives.. And appreciate all around, lessons still to learn, the value of all around.
https://open.substack.com/pub/kyleshepard10/p/transcending-life-and-the-impact?r=1cn3fa&utm_medium=ios
A recent post of mine on an impactful experience with death and how it changed my life.
Sharing these tragedies and making death discussion normal is something I’ve become a big believer in (even though the concept has been around for a long time thanks to the Stoics!)
What if you think about death and it encourages you to get things done, but you don’t know why or what to get done? What if you think you know, and you end up doing all of the wrong things?
That's why Christ needs to be in the center of one's life. All of those great questions--every single one of them--are even answered in the Bible alone. Secular philosophy is very limited compared to what God has on offer - and often, "stoic" philosophy makes observations that are originally Biblical teachings, discerned spiritually, and puts a secular coat on them not to mention overcomplicating everything.
Agreed Lucas, I couldn’t agree more.
I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it —Epictetus