The life of a man, fit in four minutes. South Korean designer StoneHouse used a graphics tablet to tell the story of every woman on Earth, from birth to death, without words. The essence of his video message, in our opinion, is accurately conveyed by the words of the outstanding American psychotherapist Irvin Yalom.
“We humans go through several life stages. As young children, we think that death is a big event; some of us get caught up in this thought. Death is easy to spot. We just look around and see dead things: leaves, flowers, flies, bugs. Our pets are dying. We eat dead animals. And soon we realize that death will come to everyone – to grandmother, to mom and dad, and even to ourselves. We draw our own conclusions. Our parents and teachers, thinking that it is harmful for children to think about death, remain silent about it or slip us fairy tales about heaven and angels, about eternal life, immortal souls.
– And then?
– We obey. We drive death out of our thoughts or openly and recklessly challenge it. Then, shortly before growing up, we again begin to attach great importance to it. While some can’t bear the weight of these thoughts and refuse to live, most of us shut ourselves off from the troubling thoughts of the end of life by immersing ourselves in adult affairs – career and family, personal growth, gaining power, acquiring real estate, winning races. After this stage, we enter the last period of life, when again comes the awareness of death. And now death is dangerously close—and inevitable. From now on, we have a choice – to think of death as a great event and live the rest of our lives with dignity, or to somehow pretend that death will never come.
– How can you enjoy at any stage of life, from any activity, if death looms on the horizon and you have only one life?
I turned this question upside down. Perhaps death makes life richer, more vibrant. The awareness of death adds a special poignancy, a bittersweet taste to human life.
“It’s just awful if it ends. Non-existence.
“Those who die without having lived their lives to the fullest fear death the most. It is better to use all your life without a trace. Leave nothing to death but darkness, nothing but burned bridges.”*
* I. Yalom “Mommy and the meaning of life” in the book “Psychotherapeutic stories” (Eksmo, 2005). The quotation is abbreviated.
Read more:
- Irvin Yalom: “I don’t want to keep my distance”