Meditation for January 19th
Mortality
We all have a set number of days on this planet. Some people believe our conscience goes somewhere after we die, while others think that we are forever repeating life in different forms over and over again. All that matters is that we have a life here and now, and some day we won’t.
You are going to die. This isn’t the meditation for you to pick up an extra hobby or be nicer to your parents, but stop messing around with dumb shit because you are going to die, and do you want to die knowing you watched ten thousand hours of Netflix?
You are not living like you’re going to die. You might be scared to die, but you aren’t acting like you’re scared to die. You eat like an idiot, you waste your time beating the shit out of yourself at the gym or worst: running, you put stuff off till tomorrow, you promise you’ll quit smoking some day, but right now isn’t a good time because you are in school and some stressful thing is coming up, so quitting smoking will only make things worst, but really, do you have that kind of time?
You might get lucky and get an expiration date. You might get a few years or a few months. You won’t be able to fulfill any bucket list because you’ll probably be too sick in the hospital to skydive or run from bulls in Barcelona, finally. One day, your perfect body will be hooked up to some machine at the hospital, wishing the pain would go away. You were running or watching all the episodes of Friends for the fifth time last week, and this week you are in agonizing pain in the hospital, and they are saying you aren’t leaving alive.
I’m not talking to older people or other people who have health problems already; I’m talking to you. You are going to die, and it’s going to happen before you know it. You are not special because of good genetics or good health or even a great gym regimen along with a strict diet; you will die a horrible, ugly, excruciatingly painful death.
Prayer
Jesus’s Dad,
Please, O please let me die in my sleep,
unexpectedly,
with no pain,
with little fanfare,
quickly and silently.
James’ stepdad,
Let me remember that I am going to die,
and that nothing I’ll do will put that off,
let me accept that I am going to die when I’m going to die,
and that I should live like it’s tomorrow.
Let me stop being a wussy when it comes to challenges,
stop me from doing things the right and/or good way,
and enjoy life.
Amen.
Craft
Write yourself an obituary. What would it say about your life? Would it be worth paying the extra fee to have it featured as an obit? What picture would you post along with it?
Here’s mine:
David Everett Fisher. October 3rd, 1976, to blah blah blah, 20xx. Survived by some family. He was a chaotic neutral half-elf rogue. He had 12 strength, 18 dexterity, 20 constitution, 12 intelligence, 18 wisdom, and 20 charisma. He chose to pursue a career in the health insurance industry to further develop his storytelling skills.
He is best known for walking into a cave with a Dwarven rune priest, a Dragonborn Warden, a human bard, a human barbarian, and a Drow ranger and defeating the Cult of Vecna, evil God of secrets, the undead, and necromancy, before they could raise Vecna from the dead. You all would have been fucked if it weren’t for him; he had the killing stab in the head wizard’s back.
Goal
Stop wasting your time and start living, as you’ll actually die. Try to leave a legacy on this planet. Try to make as many people as possible sad when you’re gone.