“The truth is . . . once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
On the fourth Tuesday visit Morrie talks about death. Mitch asks him how we can be prepared to die. Morrie talk about a Buddhist philosophy that every day, one must ask the bird on his shoulder if that day is the day he will die. This acts as a reminder to us all that this bird is on everyone’s shoulder at every moment of our lives, despite how young or old we may be.
Morrie has adopted values and beliefs from many different religions; he is described by Mitch as a “religious mutt,” born into Judaism, but turned agnostic during his teen years. Morrie reveals during this lesson that it is only once a person knows how to die that he can then know how to live.
This raises the question of why death is so difficult for most people. Morrie says that realising the imminence of death is realising what is essential, enabling us to see our life in an entirely different light. Morrie also tells Mitch that if he accepts death, he may not be as ambitious as he is now, as he will see that he must spend time on what is meaningful to him, and not working to make money.
This is a sobering awareness for us all that one day, it will all be out of reach and prompts us to appreciate and value what we can have only for a limited period of time, and to use every moment of that time doing something that we will not regret when the bird sings its last note.
Next month… more lessons from Morrie!
Take care
Helen