To see each day as a lifetime: there's a beauty in this.
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Most civilizations are too cosmetic about death: death is presented as hermetically
detached from living. As a result, few people are keenly aware of how they are dying each day.
On of the most important Buddhist meditations is the contemplation of death. It makes the gift
of living seem all the more precious. A human birth is a remarkable gift.
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The most important lessons in life come when confronting our limitations. That is when spiritual
transformations take place. Only after the ego cracks and one begins to see how the world does
not operate around any single person do deeper discoveries take place. Some people are not able
to bear this strain, seeking escape into fantasies or even suicide. Yet whether we realize it
or not, the chance for deeper discoveries is always present. So enjoy life with grace and
humor without fear of cracks or bumps: those hold the seeds for great discoveries.
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Fossils are excellent teachers. Each fossil is a time capsule from a bygone age. Species
long since extinct are often preserved in an adamantine rock-cage. Our civilization, too, will
someday become a series of fossils. What sort of creatures will examine our debris?
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Basically, funerals are a waste of money. Moreover, standard burial practices are ecologically
unsound. Fertile land should be devoted to the living. I would like to see all cemeteries become
productive fields. All life is part of a Great Recycling. To keep corpses in an elaborate coffins
or reserve plots of ground solely for burial space doesn't make sense on a planet with over six billion.
If the dead wish for some kind of marker, let their ashes be transformed into new seeds. Perhaps it is
time to construct virtual cemeteries with cyber tombstones. On a crowded planet, people
should consider using digital cemeteries.
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If possible, before going to sleep each night gaze at the stars: it's a good way to
remember our insignificance. People who gaze at the stars regularly seldom worry about trivial
things and their eyes have a curious clarity.
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We are all time travelers: past, present, and potential futures co-mingle. Visionaries know how
to time travel. You can experiment and send messages through time. At certain stages in life,
it is useful to receive "a message from a bottle". And not all bottles float in the oceans of space -
many are drifting in the Great Sea of Time.
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A wise friend once told me –
Every day I live, I die a little.
When I remember I die a little
Every day, I live a bit better.
Her words are with me to this day. |