A mental model on disease and dying
We might as well figure out ways to think about dying because it’s going to happen to all of us and people in our lives. Sorry if I broke the news to you and brought you down, but I figured you knew already.
I’ve written before my main thoughts on mourning, mainly based on a Taoist passage, quoted in my post, “Thoughts on mourning.”
Like you and everyone else, as I get older I face more people recognizing their mortality. More people we know get sick. More people we know die.
Some people fear disease and dying. Some repress thoughts on the matter. Some people use the change to live life to its fullest in every moment.
I’ve worked out a model that works for me. I’m sure it will change over time. I don’t know if it will work for you, but here it is anyway.
A model on disease and dying
Here’s a model that works for me.
Many people have many ailments, some fatal some not.
Not everyone who has cancer dies of it. Not everyone who has a heart attack dies of it.
Only one condition leads to death in 100% of cases.
Birth.
But every creature born dies.
We all have it. It’s only a matter of time.
All the happiness, joy, reward, and so on you created in your life came despite having a terminal condition you knew about.
If you created it before you can create it now.
Once you adopt the belief that you’ve been dying since you were born, you realize you’ve been able to create all the joy, emotional reward, relationships, achievements, and so on despite having the most terminal condition of all.
Whatever ailment you have, it doesn’t change this condition.
As happy as you were before, you can still be.
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