We all understand that death is inevitable, that we are all bound to die one day, but we rarely utilize this fate as a driver, as a push, towards living a better life. Death is what gives life meaning, and embracing its fate allows us to live life more fully.
In our culture, we do not discuss or acknowledge death very often. We never know when death is going to come; though rare, tragedy could strike at any moment. When this truth comes up, we suppress it. “I’ll know when my time is coming,” we say. Instead of grappling with death when we are old and grey, why not grapple with it now to live a better life?
This fear of death can tell us something about our current life. As Michael Singer, the author of The Untethered Soul, says,
”We fear death because we crave life.”
We fear death because we fear, on our death bed, being filled with regrets. In the moment that death is right in front of us, we want for our life to have meant something.
Instead of picturing ourselves on our deathbed, then shoving that thought aside and living life as normal, why don’t we start utilizing death as a way to embrace life?
Death as a tool for perspective
We are alive, in the grand course of Earth’s life, for only a small sliver of time. If you were to die this year at age 85 years, your life would make up 0.003% of the amount of time that humans have been on earth.
When we picture a timeline of human existence, and how we make up a tiny tic mark on that timeline, it greatly shifts our perspective. Our everyday problems become much more trivial. The fears that we have, the limitations we put on ourselves, the self-sabotage we hold on to because we don’t think we deserve better, all become something to get through or to release when we consider death.
Death as a unifier
Death teaches us that all of us humans are the same. At the end of the day, we are dealing with the same predicament. We are on this earth, we are not 100% sure why we are on this earth, and we want our time on this earth to have at least some meaning. For it to have been at least somewhat worthwhile.
As Michael Singer puts it: “While people can teach you that men and women of all races are equal and that there is no difference between the rich and the poor, death instantly makes us all the same,” (Singer, 156).
Self – love for living a quality life
In order to better embrace life, self – love is also important. We are all deserving of living a life that we love and that we are proud of. Self – love allows us to take the necessary steps towards living a life that we truly want. It gives us the motivation to take those first steps in improving our mental health, improving our relationships, in leaning more into our passions.
When we embrace the fate of death death, we are not only giving our future selves the internal peace of no regret, but also our present selves the gift of all that life has to offer.
Final Thoughts
Embracing death is not morbid. Instead of thinking about death only in the context of where or how it will happen, why don’t we consider how it can help us live better? Ask yourself, if you were told you had a week left to live- what would you do? What fears would you move past? What chances would you take? What would you say to your loved ones? And instead of waiting for that warning to do those things, start to do them now.
References
Singer, Michael A. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself. New Harbinger Publications, 2007.
In Common Light 
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