An old movie watched long ago, comes back to visit on a cloudy, sleepy afternoon.
Its genre is as haunting as it is soothing. Its recurrent message swaddles us in thoughts of life lived well or not well enough.
"Meet Joe Black" brings up some fanciful and forceful thinking. It challenges our mortality and teases our sense of a hereafter; our what comes next.
Measured words of wisdom blended with secrets untold, experiences that once completed leave room for more; so many more left unfinished.
Does Death, in fact, guide us through a journey of sequestered moments and choices that bring us to our purposeful end? Can the will to live be as powerful as the necessity of our inevitable demise?
Will death be an end or a beginning of something else, unexplained; unknown?
Or will the warm hand that holds ours, let go, one last time.
~
I sometimes wonder why I hear myself say, "I'm sorry," when someone else feels badly over something outside of my control...why I feel a sense of sorrow, of wanting to make things better by the mere utterance of the words. That is a human desire for some tid bit of power that is not in our possession. Yet we hear it said so often by ourselves and others. It bears some contemplating, as to the meaning and depth of the intent.
Intentions, well meaning as they are, are only as true as their basic instinctuary value; what really matters in the moments of worldly empathy for the feelings of others which mirror our own.
We live in a world of mirrors: Those which reflect who and what we are and those which shadow our authentic selves. We love and despise our reflections as much as we are loathe to accept our purest reality.
~
There is so much tenderness and pain in this story of Death finding love in a world of the living, where He can only stay for a short time. Through the guide He has chosen, He both banishes and begs for the humanity he sees and feels; and must put in order what is destined. A finale where life meets death in the mirror is inevitable and comes with dire timelessness.
What is human in Death illuminates that which is temporary, earthly and moving in and out of body, mind and spirit, that is spliced and dissected with each breath taken and exhaled.
The years do go by in a blink; the memories are strung together like glistening pearls. We long to live for the brighter moments of our lives and carry the energy of those who mirror our deepest desires and expectations.
We count our good fortune with each day we wake to a newness that is never guaranteed. We wonder with each day where we will be in the future. However, the future holds only mysteries for our wanting minds and souls. And the only answers we should seek are the ones we create for oursleves.
For Death will shed millions of human tears before it comes. The whisper in our hearts will tell us what we need to know if we seek our own truth, openly and without prejudice. We will know when to be sorry and when we are mimicking some lack within us that merely says what we want to hear.
"It will come to us."
And we will know in the end and hopefully far before it comes to that...
that we should "be sorry for nothing."
And grateful for the chance to start again, every day that we have here; while it lasts.
~~~
Authors note: My, such a lazy afternoon I've had to myself, but not without its rewards. This film, a later adaptation of its earlier 1934 version, "Death Takes a Holiday," has such an emotional impact on me every time I watch it. Both the underlying messages of the story line I receive and the amazing musical score, are both transforming and fill my head with such peace and calm. I couldn't recommend it more, when there is ever a chance to carve out some much needed alone time to rest the weary mind and welcome a sense of renewal and purpose to a new day.
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David Brin
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Comments
Rated.
Sirenita - An expression of habit best left unbroken, as it still extends empathy and caring.
Thats my job.. I do it all the time.
HUGGGGGGGG
Thoth - Thank you very much for your kind response. I am still growing up...I think!
no it brings us through an ETERNAL PRESENCE where all past and future are equally accessible to live again forever. check your
process theology. hint: whitehead. hartshorne.
Can the will to live be as powerful as the necessity of our inevitable demise?
no. all opposites are one, except in time.
here in time, sure.
it has to be, for the dark matter and dark energy to be
overcome. consult, oh, a physicist.
Spectacular. I think the entire post could have been just this and still have been worth an EP.
This becomes a question of faith, does it not?
Nice write!
I'll ask Santa for a VCR. I'll get one for sis.
She has the same names as you - Kathy K.
My sister is a hospice chaplain. Oh, Death.
`
Oh Death where is thy sting. I read somewhere.
You cause me to recall this: I said`I am so sorry.
The dying responded:`
`
Why? "Sorry-people have lots to be sorry for."
No say "we" as if we have a wiggle mouse too.
No walk with a little mouse in out underpants.
`
James M. E.? He such a metaphysical tickler.
He thinks we?
We die and tickle each other to death? huh.
`
I jesting.
Kathy buries people.
She never marries.
She's fun as Cathy.
I ask her opinion.
She's eccentric?
No. She's fun.
She giggles.
Hi Sister.
I behave.
`
Oliver Sacks wrote a book.
Read O.S` 'Musicophilia'?
`
Chapter 5- Brainworms, Sticky Music, and Catchy Tunes.
Chapter 9- PaPa Blows his Nose in G: a`Absolute Pitch.
Chapter 1- A Bolt From The Blue: Sudden Musicophilia.
`
Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia - Tales of Music and the Brain.
`
You sure got my Mind listening and You are so Interesting.
Tink - Happy you concur !
Algis - Thank you for such kind words!
Art James - Wonderful comment, read with appreciation for your juicy imagination. It's so good to have a giggly sister named Kathy who is fun! Kathy with K is Scottish and Cathy with a C is Irish, or so says my dear departed Irish Mum! So, it is Musicophilia I must be finding? I will commission my friend, iGiggleGoogle o find this fine recommendation. Thank you for being mindfully interested and making me smile. A gentleman and a scholar you are. Nay, a poet for sure and right you are!
Your post is fine meditation.
Jonathan - Thank you very, very much!
Mary - Yes, precisely a Pema practice! The line you reference is right on, sistah! And it is so very difficult to do, because we are creatures of habit and not creatures of creative intelligent comforting. Its a one size fits all apology of sorts that we find ourselves slipping into, like a favorite pair of socks we can put on in the dark. No effort. As I perceive it, the sufferer would quite simply rather be listened to than talked to in those moments of sorrow, grief or anger. Yes, it's as simple as, "Shut up and listen!" And it can be damned annoying when someone says they are sorry that has nothing to do with them. It's an ego response more often than one of genuine empathy and understanding. It's a verbal bandaid that just won't stick to the wound. It's not up to us to cure all the ails that befall others around us and it sure doesn't help to say, "sorry," when it is clear there is no foundation for the sentiment. This is in no way a judgment on my part, but an observation in human behavior and habits we have come to adopt over time. Well meaning, yes, but well spoken...probably not.
Sheila - Thank you very much. Love to know what you think of it. For me, it was a very quiet, introspective movie to soak in on a cloudy, lazy afternoon. It was a rare treat to turn off all the other noise in and around me and just veg in front of the screen for a few hours. Contemplation ensued. It compelled me to write, which I had not done for a while. It made me feel really good. Both the mood of the film and the energy to write its affect on my psyche. My chosen therapy du jour.
Lezlie