Already Dead

By Sonny Go

We were born from nothing. We live, gaining and losing things in gradual sequence. Then, we die, losing everything all at once. We return to nothing. What does that mean about life?

We all have nothing to begin with.

A person's strongest fear is the pain of losing and dying. It is a natural fear that leads to self-preservation. This is ultimately human instinct. But, as one progresses with life, such fear becomes less about survival and more about materialism and hedonism. Preservation would only be aimed at the things that he holds dear that are actually more of a superficial nature. By then, that fear starts to cloud one's judgement and his intentions become selfish. Such misleading fear corrupts one's mindset and makes him feeble against the struggle of living in this mortal realm. It is fear of the inevitable.

Fearing what is inevitable is foolish. It blinds one from the truth. It is the truth that can set us free. Death is not the end. It is a fact that has been disputed for ages. Either there is life after death or death is eternal darkness, we may never be sure. One thing is for sure though. There is actually nothing to lose and death is definitely not the end.

Life is full of pain and suffering. It can be happy as well, but there are only a few chances one can take to enjoy such an existence. Everything else is a blank case. If life is so much like this, then what could death be like? One must understand that life is a constant struggle, and death shall be rest.

You must know, not fear, that someday, you are going to die. Until you address this, you are useless. You must understand that this life is the process of dying. We may want to think that we are getting ready to live, but the truth is that we are actually getting ready to die. Those who do not wish to stray from the path of inevitability are to live as if they are already dead. It is only when one has lost everything that he can be free to do anything. Everything else that does not matter in one's purpose is superficial. It is only a bother. It is all falling apart.

When one lives as if he is already dead, he knows that he can die at anytime anywhere, but he does not see it as a loss. He sees it as athe awakening from the dream called life. He meditates upon it with images of him getting hit by swords, arrows, knives, axes, guns, grenades, and many others. The person that was once soft in the past becomes a being carved out of wood, chiseled by inner strength.

Death is a part of life itself. Whatever pain it causes, we must remember that it is not about the uncertainty of the other side, but the expectation of it. When one lives with no fear of death, that person will walk through life and smile. Nothing can get in his way ever again.

"The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one's body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one's master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the way of the samurai."

- "Hagakure" by Tsunetomo Yamamoto

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