Death

Grandma Gerry

Ama Reynolds, USA

(Submitted by the author)

Grandma Gerry, when I forget how much I miss you, when I think of you instead of me, I daydream about your heaven and what might be there. There would be lots of yummy, no-longer-dangerous cigarettes, sweet and satisfying. And rose gardens - red roses, pink, yellow, white and red red red.

Inherent magic

Claire Elizabeth Terry, England

(Submitted by the author)

The basis for any discussion about the 'art of living' lies in having an acute perception of our own mortality, out of which arises a sense of the magic inherent in the very fabric which holds us alive.

Sense

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy

(Submitted by Giulia Minotti, Italy)

Death does determine life. Once life is finished, it acquires a sense; up to that point, it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous.

Remembering

Gloria Gilmartin, USA

(Submitted by the author and originally published in 'The Art of Living')

On the first anniversary of my husband’s death, I found myself dreading the approach of 10.26 pm. How will I feel? What am I supposed to feel? What if I don’t feel anything? Over and over, all day long, these questions went through my head. I thought of how quickly a year had passed. What had seemed like a dream and a nightmare twelve months earlier was actually beginning to resemble reality.

The one thing heedful

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, France

How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing, when the one thing heedful for a man is to become, to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being?

Impermanence

Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibet

Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can say about it: It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide-and-seek and think that no one can see them. For all its technological achievements, modern Western society has no real understanding of death or what happens in death or after death.

It's nothing to die

Victor Hugo, France

It is nothing to die; it is frightful not to live.

Designer Dying

Timothy Leary, USA

Personally, I've been looking forward to dying all my life. Dying is the most fascinating experience in life. You've got to approach dying the way you live your life - with curiosity, hope, experimentation, and with the help of your friends.

I have set out to design my own death, or de-animation, as I prefer to call it.

A Beautiful Death

Petrarch, Classical Rome

A beautiful death celebrates an entire life.