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The Thing About This Blog Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead
The other day, despite my better judgment, I got a new book by author David Shields with a title that was clearly a warning to readers: The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead (Knopf). Not so much a forewarning that mortality looms around the corner, but a warning that if you elect to delve into this subject, you’d best be prepared to wrestle with some considerable existential panic.
Each time I brought the book up in conversation, or simply picked it up to begin where I had left off, my wife would accuse me of being a masochist, and insist that I would be far better off reading about our floundering economy. Truth be told, the book is exactly what the title advertises, a work about the generation and maturation of life and its inevitable demise. Now for me, the notion of my impending death is not really something that gives me a palpable sense of panic, but the explicit nature of my decline (leading up to my demise) along with a precise exposition of how time ravages our physical being (which this book generously offers) is enough for me to launch a hasty retreat into the dark recesses of my mind.
“When you arrive in the world as a baby, your hands are clenched, as though to say, ‘Everything is mine. I will inherit it all.’ When you depart from the world, your hands are open, as though to say, ‘I have acquired nothing from the world.’” (Quoting the Hebrew Midrash, from The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead.)
So, back to the original question: Why read something so definitely morose and defeatist? Well, to David Shields’ credit, this book is more than the sum of its parts and is as well written as it is overflowing with facts, insight, philosophy, and personal reflection. A Buddhist inspirational tome it is not, but it does approach mortality with a moderately sentimental gloves off approach that might make you, in a dark mire of emotional despair, look at your life and children with a little more wonder and compassion.
All of this leads to a few nagging questions about how we speak to the subject of human frailty and mortality with our children. A subject that I have recently introduced to my toddler son is that of healing, as in, “you get a boo-boo, and your body heals it.” But what happens when we don’t heal? When physical the ascension and maturation of our mind and bodies reaches its zenith and slowly (or in some cases quickly) starts the bumpy decent downhill? How do we instill in our children a sense of human strength and resilience, while faithfully acknowledging the atrophy and tenderness of human existence?
My own father, in a moment of ham-fisted encouragement, once told me that I would indeed grow tall (I was a late bloomer), but that once I stopped growing, at about age 17 or 18, my body would slowly begin to die. Factually, he was right, but in regards to parenting, well, let’s just say he could have been a bit more tactful.
Eric Steinman is a freelance writer based in Rhinebeck, N.Y. He regularly writes about food, music, art, architecture and culture and is a regular contributor to Bon Appétit among other publications.
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Nice, Caralien. Way to be wise.
And Lars: why are you so angry? I know hatefulness when I see it; your version of christianity doesn't seem to be doing your heart much good.
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For some reason, I just thought of something a great aunt did when eating--she'd mush everything on her plate together and say that it didn't matter (how it looked or tasted) as that is how the body treated food.
Personally, I love food and its flavours, but don't need it to look or taste like that. If food and life were disgusting and purely for existance while lacking enjoyment, then maybe I should simply die. Knowing that's not the case, I won't consider living to be simply a state of decay.
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I wholly disagree with the idea that my body has only been dying during it's second half (19-36), with my mind and inspiration following suit. I may not have the energy I had for years, but also have less insomnia and stress.
Anyone who hasn't lived (learned, experienced) might believe that they've accomplished and accumulated nothing by death, and those people I feel sorry for. If you can't look back at your life--at any stage--and see how different you are now from then, and what the future may hold, that's sad. Everyone has accumulated something, minimally experience. We've learned not to touch a hot pan or the embers in the fire (although sometimes we forget). There are depressing times when it's hard to find out what the future holds and what we can add to it, but it's not all downhill and decay.
I hated this article. I look at children and sometimes I'm jealous of their future while other times scared for them. I'm sure my parents have (and had) similar worries. But *I* don't have to fall 500 more times to learn some grace and balance, and if I want to eat something healthy or not, no one will get on my case. I don't have to compete with my sibling any longer.
Children have more energy than adults, and grandparents are more wrinkled or aged than their own children. Things are slowing down, I'm more responsible and less apt to break my neck than before, but I'm not dead and don't regret what I've learned and experienced. There's more to come.
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I wholly disagree with the idea that my body has only been dying during it's second half (19-36), with my mind and inspiration following suit. I may not have the energy I had for years, but also have less insomnia and stress.
Anyone who hasn't lived (learned, experienced) might believe that they've accomplished and accumulated nothing by death, and those people I feel sorry for. If you can't look back at your life--at any stage--and see how different you are now from then, and what the future may hold, that's sad. Everyone has accumulated something, minimally experience. We've learned not to touch a hot pan or the embers in the fire (although sometimes we forget). There are depressing times when it's hard to find out what the future holds and what we can add to it, but it's not all downhill and decay.
I hated this article. I look at children and sometimes I'm jealous of their future while other times scared for them. I'm sure my parents have (and had) similar worries. But *I* don't have to fall 500 more times to learn some grace and balance, and if I want to eat something healthy or not, no one will get on my case. I don't have to compete with my sibling any longer.
Children have more energy than adults, and grandparents are more wrinkled or aged than their own children. Things are slowing down, I'm more responsible and less apt to break my neck than before, but I'm not dead and don't regret what I've learned and experienced. There's more to come.
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Silver Cunningham......continued, on "Judas' evangelium" and more:
.....Jesus, in John 6:70, said Judas was a devil. But "Judas' evangelium" claims Jesus told Judas to betray Him !!!
These fundamental differences should convince most people that Christianity has nothing to do with gnosticism.
You say I presume you need me to tell you of the bible, and that I have a "corner on the truth".
Let me just remind you that you, masquerading as a christian, claimed I was wrong in saying that Jesus' coming is close and that many of God's people will be alive to experience it. In my first message, I quoted the bible to disprove the notion that we all will die. Right now, I disprove your accusations the same way - simply quoting what the bible is saying on this topic.
The reason I bothered to answer you was that I thought you were a Christian. That's why I suggested you read those three bible verses, hoping that they would convince you.
But it is clear that you don't want to believe God's word, even though you claim you have read all of it. So I see no reason to argue any longer with you.
I conclude this dialogue by asking you the same question Elijah was asking the unbelieving on Mount Carmel:
How long will you falter between two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.
And in case you don't know how this story ended up, you can read it in 1 Kings 18. It is a chilling warning to false teachers like you.
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Silver Cunningham,
You say you interpret those three verses "differently".
So let's take a look at them: In 1 Corinthians 15:51, brother Paul says that not everyone will die when Jesus comes back. How can you interpret that any other way than what it says? Then, in both verse 15 and 17 of 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says "we (his brethren) who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord....." . Once again - how can anyone in his right mind interpret that any other way than what it says ? These verses are crystal clear and different interpretation is impossible. Simple as that.
The Nag Hammadi Library you're talking about is nothing more than ancient Gnostic fairy-tales. Those of them mentioning Jesus have been carbon dated to be from the second and third century A.D. Wikipedia describes Gnosticism as follows:
"Gnosticism (Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) refers to a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God ".
That sounds bad enough. But there's more - let's take a look at the Gnostic "Judas' evangelium", allegedly found 1978 in a cave near Beni Masah in Egypt. In this fine "evangelium", Judas Iskariot is described as the only one of Jesus' disciples who understood Him - the other eleven of them did
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Lars,
The "presumptuousness" of which I speak is your presumption I need YOU to tell me of the Bible... and that you (and other Christians of your ilk) have a corner on the Truth. (Again, worry about the mote in YOUR eye...)
Yes, I "came to the Lord" 32 years ago... and have been a MINISTER for the past 20. (But thank you for "enlightening me" -- *not*!)
Not only have I read the Bible, cover-to-cover, more times than "Carter has Pills" and am, therefore, MORE than familiar w/ the passages you cite--the difference is *interpretation.*
In addition, I have been a Nag Hammadhi Library scholar, many of whose books pre-DATE the New Testament. (And you?)
*EVERY* Generation, from the apostles to the present, believed themselves to be living in the "Last Days/End Times."
If I may offer (another) suggestion? Don't give up your day job!
(PS: "God is coming... and is SHE pissed!")
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Right ON, Drew.
Not only do I find Lars' comment *presumptuous* (WHO's "worrying" about dying Lars? Did you even READ the posts you're replying to?) but callous AND biblically incorrect as well!
WHERE in the Bible (NT or old) does it say *anyone* isn't going to die... much less that accepting JC as one's Lord & Savior gives one that "pass?" (...)
I'm not gonna waste (anyone's) precious time debating an obviously closed mind, but, yet MORE proof of your presumtuousness... I already *did* what you're asking I do ("ask Him into my life") *32* YEARS ago.
UNlike YOU, howwever, I actually *LIVE* his admonition that we "Judge not, that we be not judged..."
As it has been my experience that such posts as yours, reeking of such ignorance, are those of a NEW Believer and one only coming to know the Lord recently... I "forgive," you Lars. But, if I may offer a suggestion? Remove the MOTE from your *own* eye, before you worry about the speck in *mine/ours*!"
Now shut up and go read your Bible--I've other "turkeys" demanding my time!
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AaHhHahaha silly Lars.
I am not "suffering" at all. I love my life, and unlike some evangelists I've seen I am not watching the clock, waiting for Jesus to come put me out of my misery. Jesus seems leek a decent guy but all available evidence ("evidence" does not include the Bible, a book of cautionary tales written by ancient elites to control the behavior of the masses) suggests that death is where people get off the consciousness bus. I would rather deal with that and live well than surrender my intuition to religion and live in resentment and avoidance of the natural world of which we are a part.
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