I found the poem "All Shall Be Restored" to be very neutral in a sense. It spoke exactly of what the title says, everything returning to the way it was. This is not presented in a positive or negative tone, but instead in a matter of fact way. It speaks of death in relation to culture, in that it is simply what happens. No matter what we do, where we go, death will find us and return us to the earth. Everything shall return to where it came from, this idea is repeated and compounded upon within this poem. As far as culture relates to this, I feel we somewhat echo the idea, while also fighting it. We are not completely shocked at deaths in our lives, we know they are expected, regardless of age, it is an unavoidable fate. So we may mourn, we may remember, but we accept it as the order of life, as what is to come.
I say this not to be depressing or somber. While death is something that comes for us all, it is not something that must be feared, not for me. I fear dying, but not death itself. This is because of my religion, of my confidence it what I have to expect. Therefore this is not an idea I can expect to be shared by all, but it is one I hope reaches out to many. Regardless of religion, I feel we all can accept that the lives we are given are blessings, and it is up to us to make the best of them. We could let ourselves lead an abysmal life, always afraid of death, of the unavoidable future, or we could rejoice in our present times. As I said, I do not hold a fear of death, only of dying. That is not to say it is something I hope to hurry along, but I have come to terms with it, and I know for myself there is more to come, something better by far. With that in mind, I still choose to enjoy the life I have now. I know I am here for a reason, I have a purpose, so I choose to enjoy the process of learning all I can, finding that purpose, and fulfilling it as best I can. There is no greater joy in my mind, not in this life, than doing what we were meant to do.
What sadden's me about todays culture is the overall fear of death. How desperately so many people try to escape it, how they cling to the fragile lives we hold. People want so badly to live on, to live forever, that they will go to extremes to attempt this. I am not against fighting diseases or living healthy lives, to live as long as we can, I embrace that idea. What I do not like is when someone tries to go above and beyond. I am not against this, but it is not something I favor or support either, it is simply a personal choice. I just feel that we get too comfortable in this life on Earth, when really it is temporal. We know it to be temporary, and those of us with religion, we know more is to follow, and yet we cling to what we know, for fear of that we do not know.
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When you talk at the end about how people cling to life, I really liked that. It is so true, and people are doing it more and more these days. I think that people forget that life is temporary on earth, and instead of focusing on the life after that they cling to this one because they cannot fully understand what is to come after death, and for a lot of people that can come as a scary thought rather than a calming one. People tend to fear what they don't know or understand, but faith is something that we all have, not neccessarily use, but we have it. I know what I am promised in my Heaven and I know that if this life on earth is only something I must live correctly to get there. As much as it is about the life we live on earth it is about what follows. Life is a cycle in the sense that everyone comes and goes the same way, the only difference is where we go in the end. I myself do not understand why people cling to life as much as they do. Of course it is enjoyable and things are great to have, but sometimes too life is just plain hard, and if I know that there is a place where there are no worries and all my troubles will be gone, I will never fight death. Besides all of that you cannot escape death.
ReplyDeleteI think that you are dead on with this one bryce. I agree that regardless of what anyone believes in faith-wise, we should all accept our life as a blessing and make the most of it. Also, the fact that we know we are going to die should never scare us. I personally think that for those without a faith in religion shouldn't also take dying as harshly because they have such a long time to accept it. It happens all around us and I don't know anyone yet who is very afraid of dying. If I do, they will probably be afraid of dying becuase of one of two things...either they are very materialistic, or they have a loved one/ones that they are afraid of never seeing again. I don't know if we could ever live our life correctly though. We could try, but to live completely correct under the written gospel is to do it perfectly. That is a tough subject simply because we are all sinners, and imperfect at that. I don't want to get into it, I just want to say that I think that to people in our circumstance, we should live our life as close as we can to the word. We could never possibly live it perfectly...for we are not perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think religion plays a major role in how people accept death. I agree with you when you mentioned we cling to what we know and fear what we do not know. Although, death comes to all of us I think most fear the unknown of what is in the afterlife. I understand that death is a natural process and the world would be overly populated if death did not occur but I am absolutely terrified of death I have no idea what is waiting for me when I die even though my religion gives me clues WHO really knows. One can read their religious books a thousand times but in actuality they are just history books HIS STORY. Because I never know when death might decide to visit I try and live life to its’ fullest in hopes that my kids will not be left motherless. I am so terrified death that I have only been to one funeral in my life and that was only because I was forced to as a child as I have gotten older and have had a few friends and relatives pass I do not attend funerals, as I am left to wonder if I will ever be able to accept death.
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