The great Russian writer, Tolstoy, said in A Calendar of Wisdom: "The more you transform your life from the material to the spiritual domain, the less you become afraid of death."
Our living room in the house we are renting has not one stick of furniture in it. I'm sitting by the window that looks out onto a beautiful park in a twenty-five dollar lawn chair. My dad telling me the other day about his time spent with my grandfather when he had a heart attack moved me deeply. I am no Tolstoy, but the things I just mentioned are getting more and more important. The need for material things has been taken down a notch or two since my own heart attack. Will this be continued the further away from the crisis I get? Will the spiritual become increasingly important? Will I become less and less fearful of death if it does?
Before my heart attack I thought I was not afraid of death but deeply afraid of pain. Now that I have experienced the latter I'm not so sure of my fears.
Questions: Are you afraid of death or pain? Are you moving from the material to the spiritual? If so how? I would like to know.
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Lately I have been approaching this question from more of a practical place - my house is so full it is suffocating me and my family. But in order to get rid of the material things in some reasonable way (instead of putting it all in a dumpster) my family has had to look at out spiritual beliefs and how do they guide us. Some days I find the kids are more in tune that I am. Thanks for sharing John, and I hope you continue.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ethan for your comment, thoughtfulness and continued support. Be well.
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