Preparing for Death
In The Book of the Samurai, the author talks about how the samurai should begin his day. According to the old warrior narrating the text, a samurai should wash, shave and groom himself. He should especially prepare his head so that if he should fight and be beheaded this day, he would not be ashamed of his head as it sits on the spike. I have always been struck by the philosophy embedded in these instructions. To begin each day as though one were to die before the end is to be prepared for anything. If one is willing to die today, anything is possible.
As part of our end of the year wrap-up, many people are thinking of about those who have died over the last year. My community, Manzanita Village, lost two beloved members this year. One was a planned suicide, the other completely unanticipated. My church community has also experienced many deaths. Some were surprising, others the natural ending of long and fruitful lives. All of these have left holes in our community life.
The Village community has rallied together to not only grieve the latest death but also to help the family who lives far away. People have spent, are spending, countless hours helping to clean out the home, sorting through the things the family wants to keep and disposing of the incredible amount of stuff that remains. Our friend might have been a bit of a hoarder, but everyone who has cleaned up after a death, helped a family member downsize, or moved themselves, realize how much stuff we all have squirreled away.
New Year, New Beginnings
For many of us the new year is a time of hope and beginning anew, but these deaths remind us that, like the samurai, we should each be thoughtfully preparing for our own demise. Perhaps, before the new year catches all of us in our myriad activities, we might want to spend some time taking stock of what we’ve got hidden away in all the closets of our lives. Perhaps there are things that we no longer need or want stuffed back in closets and hidey holes. More importantly, perhaps there are old ideas and ways of acting that no longer serve us, ways of being in the world that are hiding in the recesses of our conscious or unconscious minds. Would we be happier, more truly the persons we want to be, if we excavated those old ways and old ideas, reconsidered them, and perhaps dumped some?
Have you ever thought about having a warrior’s attitude toward death? Does it feel creepy or like something that would make your life better? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
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