Recently, I have witnessed the experience of friends dealing with the suffering of beloved aging parents. While the ailing parents suffer physical pain, their children must cope with the emotional debility and helplessness in the face of the oncoming and inevitable end. I have repeatedly encountered the unlikely sentiment that death is preferable to a diminished and painful life that no longer has meaning.
I am deeply moved by the (now well-known) experience of a neurosurgeon diagnosed with lung cancer in his thirties and his wife, as they bravely dealt with and documented the end. I am struck with their struggle to imbue his remaining life with meaning, their decision to have a baby and their belief that one always has a choice.
Few of us have answers and I certainly have only questions… So, I turned to the wisdom of the Hindu scriptures and the words of the ancient sages to find these comforting words: ‘The body has death, but not the soul. The body sleeps, the soul flies.’ and ‘He who lives the inner life knows that death is truly his resting-room. To him, death is anything but extinction. It is a meaningful departure.’ Yesterday, I wandered among the gravestones in the Christian cemetery across the street from my Alexandria home and read several words of comfort in the epitaphs: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’ and ‘He shall receive, in the world to come, eternal light.’
I’m sure we each seek to make our lives more meaningful each day. At the same time, we will each have to come to terms with our mortality.
