Q3-19980617-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-shining_the_light_of_death_on_life_part_2-43034 Leandra Tejedor

Talk: 19980617-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-shining_the_light_of_death_on_life_part_2-43034 Leandra Tejedor.json Start_time: 01:26:13 Display_question: If death is so natural why does it feel so frightening? Keyword_search: birth, death, natural, Krishnamurti, leaf, reeducation, five reflections, aging, sickness, children, fear, resistance, spiritual life, urgency, transformation, conditioning Question_content: Questioner: We say, or we hear often, and that is the natural way of things to be born and to die. And this concept, I know it's natural, but it's still frightening. If it's so natural, why is it so frightening? Larry: No, but we're denatured. You see, we have not had an education. This is a good time for this quote. And then somebody can pinch me after it. It's a long one, but it's worth it. You see, it's obviously natural, from the big picture, right? It's just happening. You're not being what? Questioner: It doesn’t feel natural. Larry: Exactly. You're not being singled out. Neither am I being. Questioner: I understand that. Larry: Yeah, okay. This is Krishnamurti, who was my first teacher, and it's towards the end of his life. This was his last journal. And my guess is he must have been about 89 here. He died at just shy of 91. And I'm not going to read all of it, but he picks up a leaf. He sees a leaf, and he looks at it and he sees how beautiful it is, even in death. And he wonders why we human beings, we don't die with such kind of beauty, the way this leaf did. Quite the opposite, implying, because of the way we've lived, that we don't die that way. Break_line: But anyway, here's why do human beings… I just want to give you a little bit of background, in this particular... I think it'll become evident, but just to make sure. See, personally, I feel that what we are... these five reflections are, and what I hope we can accomplish, for as many weeks as it takes, until we go through all five, is a reeducation. That is, we have not had a proper education about the place of aging, sickness, and death, in life. We have subjects on… now it's starting to change. I mean, there are books, books on death, all over the place, but many of them are still abstract, and just theoretical. It's got to move closer to part of our education. Break_line: And so, he's talking… his frame of reference are children. But I would like to suggest that, probably most of us, did not have an adequate education, in terms of these factors of life, which are... they're not trivial. And then suddenly one day we wake up, and it's starting to happen to us, and to the people in our life, and we're inadequate. We're overwhelmed. We're not equipped. So, he's talking about children, but I think he's talking about us as well. Break_line: “Why do human beings die so miserably, so unhappily, with a disease, old age senility, the body shrunk, ugly? Why can't they die naturally. and as beautifully as this leaf? What is wrong with us? In spite of all the doctors, medicines and hospitals operations, and all the agony of life and the pleasures too, we don't seem to be able to die with dignity, simplicity and with a smile…Don't give up…Yet, as you teach children mathematics, writing, reading, and all the business of acquiring knowledge, they should also be taught the great dignity of death. Not as a morbid, unhappy thing that one has to face eventually, but as something of daily life, the daily life of looking at the blue sky, and the grasshopper on a leaf. It is part of learning. As you grow teeth and have all the discomfort of childish illnesses, children have extraordinary curiosity. If you see the nature of death, you don't explain that everything dies, dust to dust, and so on, but without any fear. You explain it to them gently, and make them feel that the living, and the dying, are one not at the end of one's life, after 50, 60, or 90 years, but that death is like that leaf. Everything on earth, on this beautiful earth, lives, dies, comes into being, and withers away. To grasp this whole movement of life requires intelligence. Not the intelligence of thought, or books, or knowledge, but the intelligence of love, and compassion, with its sensitivity. One is very certain that if the educator understands, one means himself… Break_line: One is very certain that if the educator understands the significance of death, and the dignity of it, the extraordinary simplicity of dying, understands it not intellectually, but deeply, then he may be able to convey to the student, to the child that dying, the ending is not to be avoided, is not something to be frightened of. For it is part of one's whole life. So that as the student, the child grows up, he will never be frightened, of the ending. One would like an education to bring death into some kind of reality actuality, not of someone else dying, but of each one of us, however old or young, having inevitably to face that thing. It is not a sad affair of tears, of loneliness, of separation. As one looked at that dead leaf, with all its beauty, and color, maybe one would very deeply comprehend, be aware of what one's own death must be, not at the very end, but at the very beginning. Death isn't some horrific thing, something to be avoided, something to be postponed, but rather something to be with, day in and day out. And out of that comes an extraordinary sense of immensity.” Break_line: That may sound too… not satisfactory, because finally, we all know this seems to be some kind of existential resistance, and fear. But you have to understand, the urgency of spiritual life, has to do with coming to terms… all spiritual life, coming to terms with this existential fact. There are people who do. I don't think there are very many, in any generation, although I don't know how I could say that. But there's a good chance there aren't. And I think it has everything to do with how we live. And I think it has everything to do with the depth of our understanding, of this process. So, when we, I include myself with you, look at it from the point of view of where we are, and make a final judgment that precludes the possibility of a certain kind of transformation, in us, so that the actual understanding, of what this is, is experienced, rather differently. We cannot help but experience it the way we're experiencing it, because of the way we see it, which is based on our conditioning, our education, our likes, and dislikes, our fears, and so forth, which probably have not been dealt with adequately. Break_line: And so, I would say the whole point of the reeducation, is at least to some degree, to smooth out that whole dimension. So that even though there may be anguish, and fear, maybe right to the end, we're still equipped, to work with it. We're still equipped to practice right into death. Practice to the end. Now, I personally do allow, and I have met a couple of my teachers look me in the eye and told me, that they don't have fear of it. And certainly, one of them, I believe. Do you see what I'm getting at? But the fact that we don't experience that as natural yeah. End_time: 01:33:54