7.7.2008

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops"…. Henry Adams

I just finished Tuesdays with Morrie, I hadn't finished a book in a day for a long time but this one I simply could not stop reading. It was light and yet heavy, it was funny and yet sad…and made me think a lot, about how precious life is and yet we take it for granted most of the time. We are conditioned to a degree that we get stuck in a rat-race, we seek happiness on the outside, become materialistic and somehow go round in circles and believe that there is no light at the end of the tunnel…. Well, I know that we don't all live like this but unfortunately majority do.

Anyhow the book was about a professor dying who gives his final lectures, every Tuesday, in private to his student Mitch Albom. And the lectures cover all sorts of topics; death, love, forgiveness, family, culture, emotions, fear of ageing…

It made me think a lot, as death has been in my life everyday since losing my brother, it is part of living. Perhaps that is why I can still look around me in amazement, know that I am luckily to take everything in with awareness, and appreciate it. But it brought back so many painful memories too, of watching someone slowly detoriate in front of you, become dependent and unable, and the guilt you carry as you walk out of the room being so healthy. But those negative emotions slowly leave their existence to appreciation, gratitude, love…Afterall who knows how we will die?

John Scott had put that in great words last month, we move in and out of form…So why fear something that has no ending. It's like the story of the waves and the ocean. As a wave realises that it will crash and disappear as it nears the shore, another wave reminds him that he IS the ocean, he is not separate from it.

I remember a friend from university dying from a bike accident in summer holidays and how weird it was to return to classes and notice his absence. It was as though someone had erased a person from a picture leaving an empty space, they were supposed to be there and yet they weren't.

Do we forget the dead? Professor in the book says that if you can still hear their voice, visualise them or have that warm feeling when you think about them; then you certainly don't forget. They live with you, what they have shared with you is always alive.

One of the most beautiful parts in the book is when the professor decides to have a "living funeral" because it seems pointless to have friends saying great things about you when it's too late. Why not actually be present and hear it when you're alive.

And there is a fairly big part on love, compassion and respect. Mother Teresa said that there are many people starving for some food in the world but there are also just as many people starving for little love. And how great for those people who shone that love to as many people as they can around them, share a bit of wisdom and light.

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning to your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning"

And to end it I guess not to take life too seriously, to be able to laugh, dance, sing, have fun, explore, learn, make mistakes... Perhaps this is where we go wrong, a lifetime security (whatever that means), building a career, having the biggest house, fastest car…Where do these take us? I now have more respect for people who have balance in their lives rather than become slaves to society's expectations. It is better to be awake than half-asleep…