Understanding death

Our entire life culminates at death. It comes to death, and stops, or finishes. We don't really know what happens to us after death, even though there are countless theories - some in the form of religion, some spiritual and others simple philosophy. When we think about how much we know - or rather how little we know - it dawns that each one of us individually don't form even a speck in the history of time. 

We know that one day we're going to die from the second we can grasp the concept of life. Immortality is a concept that exists only within the limits of the word itself. So, we know that life is limited, we know that we're going to die, and we know that this in inevitable and will happen to each and every person we know, without fail. And yet we manage to get so upset about death, and live in the shadows of the fear of what we know is going to happen. 

One way of looking at it is that, its only natural. Losing a person who you once loved, cherished and shared so many beautiful memories with is painful. We are individuals with emotion, we're bound to feel pain. But we're also individuals with the power of reason. That's essentially the only thing that humans can boast of possessing over all other living beings. Then how does the pain of experiencing something that you know is inevitable cause emotions to overshadow our reasoning powers to the extent where no explanation is good enough to overcome the agony?

If you think about it practically, no one else can really cause you any pain or happiness. It's your understanding and response to another's actions or words that has the ability to cause pain or happiness. Consider this: A younger brother tells both his older sisters (separately) that they are fat. One takes offence and locks herself in her room and cries, while the other takes no heed and moves on. The comment was the same, but the reactions depended on the other person. The same way, a boy could tell 2 different girls that she looked like an angel; while one would be flattered and blushing, the other might think of it as cheesy and decide to stay away. It all eventually boils down to the filters we use when we perceive the world. Each person has a different lens on their eyes depending on every single experience or idea they have had (which, in the larger scheme of things, amounts to nothing). Yet, experiencing death of a loved one manages to put almost all humans in the same boat. A boat filled with worry, denial, confusion, wonder, anger, pain and most importantly, fear. 

Some feel the fear of realizing that their time too is limited. Although this sounds simple, it has the ability to really shake up your reality. While as a concept, death is grasped by us mentally at a young age, the first encounter in reality with the same makes us view the world with a new lens of impermanence and, in some cases, disillusionment. 

I started writing this with the idea that, the way I view the world today, I feel death will not have as much as an impact on me as before. Once the acceptance sets in that everyone is going to leave one day, no matter how good, bad, rich, smart, dumb, kind, bitchy, ugly or pretty they are, you start to realize that its time to look at the bigger picture. The motivation to actually serve a purpose in this lifetime arises. The life I live probably wont be spoken about 18000 years later. No one then will remember my name or who I was, or even know of my existence. But what I can do is something that I feel is worthwhile. Its not about what other people think or say or expect. Its about feeling a personal sense of achievement when the day comes to go. Knowing that this world may not remember you, but you made the most of it anyway. Because at the end of the day, everyone goes... I want to go happy.