It occurred to me today, during a tine when many people are taking vacations, that preparing for a trip—all the many months of planning and making reservations and thinking that the departure day will never arrive—resembles what happens when our death day arrives. Okay, I realize this may sound gloomy and will probably chase away a few readers, but the parallels are there.
The one thing we can be certain of is death, but just as a departure day for a trip can change, so can our death day. We may have several run-ins with it. When we’re anticipating a trip (I know, we don’t usually anticipate death the way we do a vacation, though taking this attitude could help us to embrace it more positively), it seems as if the day we leave will never arrive. We fantasize about the places we’ll stay, the sights we’ll see.
Quickly this analogy is breaking down: not many of us, I’m sure, spend much time wondering about where we’ll be when we die or anticipating death’s arrival. Of course, we can speculate on reincarnation or ending up in other dimensions. Or we just might consider death as a vacation from life rather than a permanent condition.
I prefer this last approach.
4 thoughts on “How is death like a vacation?”
I consider death a part of life so fearing from it is a coward and foolish idea. Woever is born has to die so welcome it rather to repent it. Interestingly whoever
dies never returns so we may ‘taste’ this phenomena courageously. I endorse Lilty’s idea in her last paragraph. What a nice idea of VACATIONING Lily!! Amazing and wonderful. Kuodos with love and hugs digitally!!
Thanks for joining me on this journey!
Thank you and love always Lily. Not gloomy. Necessary. Supportive of life, which does, end. Our society is so afraid of death. At my wonderful father’s deathbed, I moaned his loss as he silently indicated No! He was ready to leave his amazing life of 92 years. Time to go. Work to be done. Over the next four days, he left his life that he had loved, like a Texas working man Buddha. A Friday afternoon in time to beat the traffic.
It’s so wonderful to hear from you, Jane! I hadn’t realized you received my blogs. Yes, it is necessary to think of the end game, especially at my age (I’ll be 85 in October). Are you taking any Fromm classes? How are you doing otherwise? Sending my best! Lily