On Accepting Death

Death is a tricky thing to think about. On one level, I know objectively that some day I will die. I have done a lot of Buddhist meditation, and am familiar with the teaching that we all will grow old and die. Even though I’m an optimist about technology, I don’t believe we will “solve” death. Maybe we will figure out how to live a little bit longer, but we aren’t going to be living for 1,000 years any time soon. Still, even though I accept the surface-level facts about death, I still can’t quite wrap my head around it.

About five years ago, I participated in a year-long course about death and dying, which was based on the book A Year to Live by Stephen Levine (no relation). One thing that jumped out at me was that preparation for death is more about reflection and meditation than about checking off all the items from some bucket list. We were encouraged to keep a death journal; I still have mine floating around.

2/20/16

The thing that comes up when I think about death is denial. I don’t want to acknowledge that I’m going to die. Maybe I’m somehow immune, or scientists will figure out a cure for death. The truth is that I will die one day, and it will be soon, at least on the scale of the universe.

During the course of the year, Levine himself died. It was a reminder that no one is exempt, even Buddhist meditation teachers who write…