Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Loss
It has often been said that there is nothing sadder than a parent outliving their child. A number of years ago, I was at the funeral of a close friend. In hindsight, I feel all I did was watch his mother grieve. Psychologists will tell us about the stages that she will go through, a self prescribed journey through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She will learn that she can live without him, that there are other pleasures in life. And then her life will be back. Or will it? She will always miss him, and wish for him to be back, despite the fact that he is now numb to the pains of the world.
Are there things in life you can't give up on? (discounting Playstation games)
Update: The answer, according to Buddha, is No. You can distance yourself from everything close so that it's demise will not cause you anguish.
Which I still do not understand, because as humans, we are proud. Example:
You distance yourself from your DVD collection
It burns
You feel no pain. Thus you have preemptively make a win with no feeling of loss.
There are two contra stances here:
1. You will have never experienced any joy in ownership, as fleeting and insubstantial as it may be.
2. You will have gained a fondness for the control of your mind - a possesion in itself.
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