I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.
Interpretation
Facing death can enhance our appreciation of life.
Damien Hirst suggests that acknowledging the inevitability of death can lead to a more vibrant and energetic engagement with life. By confronting what is often avoided, individuals can find beauty and meaning in the fleeting nature of existence, much like the transient beauty of flowers that bloom for a short time.
In practice
In a speech about embracing life's challenges, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of confronting mortality.
After great pain, a formal feeling comes — The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs — The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore, And Yesterday, or Centuries before? The Feet, mechanical, go round — Of Ground, or Air, or Ought — A Wooden way Regardless grown, A Quartz contentment, like a stone — This is the Hour of Lead — Remembered, if outlived, As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow — First — Chill — then Stupor — then the letting go —
The years seem to rush by now, and I think of death as a fast approaching end of a journey-double and treble reason for loving as well as working while it is day.
Behind every sweet smile, there is a bitter sadness that no one can ever see and feel.
This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.
Nothing is here to stay_x000D_ _x000D_ Everything has to begin and end_x000D_ _x000D_ A ship in a bottle won't sail_x000D_ _x000D_ All we can do is dream that the wind will blow us across the water_x000D_ _x000D_ A ship in a bottle set sail
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