Success Built to Last p. 1-32 & The Sacred Art of Dying p. 27-42

Success Built to Last p.1-32

"Although many things in life and work are temporary, and nothing seems to last, Builders believe that meaning actually does last--forever." (Porras, Jerry I., Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters. p. 32)

"Successful people don't rely on the approval of others to pursue their cause or calling. They have the audacity to take the initiative despite social pressures rather than because of them." (p. 14)

"When you can organize your thinking around creating real value, and your thoughts remain focused on what is important to creating that value despite all the incoming distractions, crisis, and complexity crashing down all around you... then you're really lucky because you have a sustainable model." (p. 24)

The three quotes above are the most powerful and important to me so far. I wholeheartedly agree with these statements and truly believe that meaning must be found before action is taken. I admit that when I think of success, I think of it in terms of finances and wealth. Just reading these first 32 pages has made me reevaluate my views on what success really is. I think success is more than just being content with your lifestyle. Although it’s hard to define what success is for everybody, I believe that everybody has the ability to fulfill and create their own version of what success is for them. Success for some people may be to simply have a family. What somebody values most is what defines their success.

            The quote about having a sustainable model is the most important to me. I believe that an individual’s drive for success will only survive if they truly believe in what they’re doing. Even with all of the complex and difficult situations that one may encounter, they still have the strength to move forward and continue to take action for what they believe is the right thing to do. Without a cause that someone truly believes in, how can they sustain their success? This book mentioned how many lottery winners end up either broke and/or addicted to drugs in only a few years after they receive their winnings. I think this is a great example of how wealth does not equal success. Without a goal in mind, people will certainly stray from their thought processes and the meaning behind their actions may become unclear. 

The Sacred Art of Dying 

"He who is able to be born at the door of death is devoted eternally. (Therefore) Die before dying, die living." (Kramer, Kenneth. The Sacred Art of Dying: How World Religions Understand Death. p. 38)

"According to the impersonal, cosmic law of karma, actions and reactions are equal, opposite, and other-initiating. Karma is the law of causation especially on the moral and spiritual sphere. It holds true regardless of time, place, person or events." (p. 34)

"The subtle dimension of the person does not die at death, rather takes on a new body." (p. 28)

Although I don’t agree with much of Hindu philosophy or their views on death and the afterlife, I still find it pretty interesting. The idea of reincarnation has always been an interesting way to view death to me, and I have read a number of literature on it. Although I still don’t buy this concept, it does seem like a nice way to think about death, as long are you’re not reincarnated into something like a tree. On second thought, I think I might enjoy the life of a tree.

            Hinduism strongly believes in the idea of karma, aka what goes around comes around. I’d like to think that karma truly does exist, but at this point in my life I haven’t seen any evidence. Too many terrible people living well beyond their means leads me to disregard the notion of karma. There are simply too many good people struggling to stay afloat, consistently being shit on by those in power for me to even consider karma as an actual thing. Like most religions, I think the ideas behind Hinduism are great, but simply unfathomable.

I try not to act like I know what I’m talking about, because really I don’t, but I hope that I will be able to gain more insight into religion and how it plays such a major role in so many people’s lives. I have never been very religious. I seem to question more things rather than simply accept them. Although I am sometimes overly skeptical, I still have the capacity to want to learn and grow from understanding others and how they feel about life and death.

The Sacred Art of Dying p. 1-26

Michael Feeney
9/11/14



"In what follows, we will suggest that death may be viewed through at least three faces: physical (the irreversible loss of brain waves, central nervous system, heart and breath functions); psychological (the life of quasiconsciousness, living, as if having already died); and spiritual (the death or transformation of old patterns, habits, roles, identities and the birth of a new person)"

“The fear of death must be present behind all our normal functioning in order for the organism to be armed toward self-preservation. But the fear of death cannot be present constantly in one’s mental functioning, else the organism could not function.” –Ernest Becker

This quote by Ernest Becker describes our natural disposition towards death in a rather matter-of-fact way, yet it seems to be the most accurate and clear description I have come across. As individuals, we do our best to avoid situations that may harm us or even cause fatal injuries. Yet at the same time, we mustn’t focus on death or the idea of dying, for it may cause us emotional/mental stress and interfere with our day to day life.       

               

Some people throw caution to the wind at times, and can put themselves into dangerous situations, seemingly lacking any fear of death. Is this a mental disorder that distorts the reality of death, or do people generally just have different perceptions toward the short link between life and death? On the other hand, many people think about their death so much on a daily basis, that it begins to cause distress for them. Abiding by either of these two extreme sides of the spectrum is no way to live life day to day, so it is important for us to strike a balance between the two that allows us to carry on while being mindful of how fragile life can really be. 

 “A spiritual death is self-transcendence, is getting outside prior confines of the self or, as it is analogously expressed in many traditions, is like falling unreservedly and compassionately in love.”

Spiritual death seems to be a very open ended topic, with many different factors and reasoning involved. Both self-realization and self-salvation can be a part of the spiritual death, yet it seems like these two things are very different from each other. While self-realization seems to refer to the enlightenment of one’s self, realizing their true self and their purpose or goal in life, self-salvation is seems like more on the religious side, in which someone needs to be saved by a higher entity to realize understand their true purpose on earth.

The concept of being reborn is the main component of a spiritual death, so in actuality, spiritual death is not really a death at all. Spiritual death is more of a reawakening, or the discovering of one’s potential and how they can progress as a person in this world. I feel that a spiritual death must occur before someone’s physical death, or else they may die feeling unfulfilled as a person and may not ever truly accept their own death. After a spiritual death, it seems like people may be more understanding and would be more able to cope with the idea of not living.

Spiritual death or reawakening has always been an interesting topic for me, and I have actually read a book on it called Zen Physics, the Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation by David Darling. I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the topic. I look forward to learning more about this topic in the Sacred Art of Dying, as I feel it may help me answer some of my own questions about life and the mystery of it all.