It’s natural to die. The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don’t see ourselves as part of nature. We think because we’re human we’re something above nature.
Interpretation
Death is a natural part of life, and our obsession with it comes from a disconnection with nature.
Morrie Schwartz's quote reflects on humanity's relationship with death and nature. He emphasizes that death is an essential aspect of existence, yet society often reacts to it with fear and resistance. This reaction stems from our belief in human superiority over nature, leading to a misunderstanding of our place within the natural world. By recognizing our interconnectedness with nature, we may find peace in the inevitability of death.
In practice
In a eulogy, to express the idea that death is a natural part of life.
People are only mean when they're threatened… and that's what our culture does. That's what our economy does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.
The best way to deal with that is to live in a fully conscious, compassionate, loving way. Don't wait until you're on your deathbed to recognize that this is the only way to live.
Now that I'm suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer more than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims....and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own. I don't know any of these people. But - how can I put this? I'm almost......drawn to them.
Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overhelmed with what comes back
When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.
Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.
The Buddha is not a person but a (state of) realization to which anyone can attain.
In India we celebrate the commonality of major differences; we are a land of belonging rather than of blood.
In my travels I have found that those who keep Heaven in view remain serene and cheerful in the darkest day. If the glories of Heaven were more real to us, if we lived less for material things and more for things eternal and spiritual, we would be less easily disturbed by this present life.
Meditation is not growth of the ego, it is death of the ego.
When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us- he enters into our trouble and saves us.
The church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.
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