I always found the sight of cemeteries appealing.
One might rush into a conclusion that I am morbid, but truth is far from that.
Cemeteries can be fascinating. They represent the culture and the beliefs of a religion and of individuals and blah blah blah..
I could say so much about their significance culturally but in the end what draws me into these places is always the calmness. There is a sensation of peace and loneliness that leads to deeper thoughts. Thoughts of our transient nature, of impermanence, of life and death, of wishes, of time.
Monks and philosophers used to keep rooms with view of cemeteries or they kept in their room objects reminding of death.
"Memento mori" they called it. Quoting Wikipedia: "[it is] a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die".It refers to a genre of artworks that vary widely but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their mortality.."
And remembering our mortality is -opposed to what most people believe- the start of the most fulfilled and rich life. For knowing how to die is knowing how to live.
Being aware of how short and unpredictable life is, lets us appreciate the moments. Prompts us not to keep malice between each other, because what today angers us in aspect of death it means nothing, while love and kindness means everything.
Would you keep being angry at your partner if you knew you would never see him the next day? No.
Would you cry and be depressed over what a client shouted at you at work if you knew you had only a month left to live? No
My favorite psychiatrist-author ,Irvin Yalom, says :"Although the physicality of death destroys man, the idea of death saves him".
In the end, conscience is what separates us from animals, and knowledge is our burden and our privilege as a species, as God's image creatures and as individuals.
One might rush into a conclusion that I am morbid, but truth is far from that.
Cemeteries can be fascinating. They represent the culture and the beliefs of a religion and of individuals and blah blah blah..
I could say so much about their significance culturally but in the end what draws me into these places is always the calmness. There is a sensation of peace and loneliness that leads to deeper thoughts. Thoughts of our transient nature, of impermanence, of life and death, of wishes, of time.
Monks and philosophers used to keep rooms with view of cemeteries or they kept in their room objects reminding of death.
"Memento mori" they called it. Quoting Wikipedia: "[it is] a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die".It refers to a genre of artworks that vary widely but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their mortality.."
And remembering our mortality is -opposed to what most people believe- the start of the most fulfilled and rich life. For knowing how to die is knowing how to live.
Being aware of how short and unpredictable life is, lets us appreciate the moments. Prompts us not to keep malice between each other, because what today angers us in aspect of death it means nothing, while love and kindness means everything.
Would you keep being angry at your partner if you knew you would never see him the next day? No.
Would you cry and be depressed over what a client shouted at you at work if you knew you had only a month left to live? No
My favorite psychiatrist-author ,Irvin Yalom, says :"Although the physicality of death destroys man, the idea of death saves him".
In the end, conscience is what separates us from animals, and knowledge is our burden and our privilege as a species, as God's image creatures and as individuals.
