There are many misconceptions about death and life after death . Many of them are the creations of religion. Most of the religions claim that there is life after death and this false idea gives a sense of fear and worry in day to day life as men are prone to death any time in their life and for the fact that death is inevitable . The mystery behind death gives constant worry and fear to many people who does not posses the right attitude towards death and life . And the fear of death is one of the supreme fears man posses which disturbs human beings from leading a happy life. Seneca, one of the stoic philosopher of ancient Rome helps us to develop the right attitude in matters related to death. Seneca’s views are embedded with wisdom and reason and anyone who frame his/her mind according to this right attitude develops a free mind devoid of fear in day to day life . Seneca’s friend Lucilius writes to him after his close friend dies suddenly . Lucilius asks “ How can my friend who is younger to me can die before me “? This is a misconception we have that people who are elder to us die earlier than us . Seneca replies with the quote that “ Something inevitable can happen any time “ . We plan for post retirement plans and life after eighty etc . Are we sure that we will live up to that age ? With what certainty a person can plan for his post retirement life ? The fact that many people in the past have passed the post retirement phase has given us the illusion that we will also reach old age . As Seneca said , anything that is a must to happen will happen anytime . It may rain in June or not , we are not sure . So we can ascribe a particular date for the rainy season , one may get married or not , so we can say that people get married at a particular age … Every year we have our birthday coming , so we can say that it will come on a particular date . These are not inevitable events . But death is something which is a inevitable so it can happen anytime … This is why we have to prepare our mind well in advance and overcome the fear of death so that we can live a life without anxiety . Recollection of those whom we have lost should become a source of pleasure to us .Seneca warns us that we should not mourn unduly over someone death, at the same time , our eyes should not be dry even when a near one dies . Seneca’s advice goes like this . “ When he was with me , I had the feeling that I am going to lose him (this shows my love towards him ), and now when I lost him, I have the feeling that he is still with me . If we want bodily presence of someone every time , it means attachment disorder and if we neglect some one near to us when he is alive , there is no point in grieving once we lost him . "All things are liable to death but that liability is not governed by any set of rules “ Says Seneca . So we must be prepared to face death anytime without any reluctance . The wise man understands that death is inevitable and there is nothing a wise man does reluctantly . So he finds it a joy to live in spite of that he is not reluctant to die . To explain life and death , Seneca gives an example of a candle lit in darkness . Initially there was darkness and there was deep silence and no one speaking each other .When the candle is lit , people started doing various activities and they started speaking . Flies started coming to the candle and there comes lot of noise and disturbance . Suppose the candle is put out , then there comes deep silence again . Seneca says , we too are lit and put out . There was tranquility and peace before the candle is lit and after it is put out . Like that there is deep tranquility and peace before our birth and after our death . Seneca says “ After your death , you will be what you were before your birth “ If there is any torment after death (as religion says ), there must also have been torment in the period before our birth . Our life is like the candle and we suffer somewhat in this intervening period but either end of it there is deep tranquility . This is the right attitude towards life and death . A man afraid of death cannot live a happy life . regards Sreenivasan.V.P bangalore
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