Can Death Be Beautiful?
Burr
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
in Discussions
Me and a freind were discussing this. I said that on some level, you could find beauty in death, but I couldn't explain how. I know somehow you can, maybe its the fact that it is the only thing that truly makes us all equal. I would like some thoughts as well as some examples.
Comments
Old people die, and even if expected, it is seen as a tragic event since they've managed to live so long.
However, I've seen many a moments presented in movies where death is far from "losing."
Tom Hanks in the movie Philidelphia gets HIV and tries to survive long enough to see the outcome of the trial for him being discriminated against and fired for having HIV. Towards the end on his death bed, he hears that he in fact won.
He dies in the end, but I don't believe that is tragic as much as it is a happy ending. He knew he was going to die in the end, so in this case, accomplishing what he wanted to accomplish was the "battle." And he won in the end.
its not the fear of the inevitable, its the fear of the unknown
If, like me, you beileve in life after death, death is still sad, but there is an element of happines (beauty if you will) in the knowledge that you will see the decseased again.
Back on topic, I'm comfortable with death.
Maybe I see not actually death as beautiful, but maybe what can represent death or what can bring death or what death has done. The ballet of a bullet going through flesh and ending a life, ending something that was and now is not. Once you are dead (at least in this day and age) you are gone forever from the mortal world, and maybe just the fact that death has that kind of power and it is inevitable makes it somewhat beautiful.
There's some perspective for you.
In my humble opinion, dying at the age of 70-90 is not how I want to die; I want to die for a purpose and for a cause-I want to die knowing that I did something to help the world-and not old and rotten. It all depends on the fates, if they want me to die old then I will die old, but we shall see, because I still have plenty of life to go to assume and feel in what way I want to die.
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>*sacrificing yourself for a loved one, for example, as opposed to impaling yourself on a corn cob or something. </span>
There's beauty in everything if you know how to look for it.
I'm listening to a Kenny G song right now... "Loving You".
Back on topic: death can be beautiful if it influences others emotionally (in a positive way). It can also be good in a way - it controls overpopulation (I think I've mentioned that in every post I've posted in this forum).
People fear death because they wish to prolong their lives. As for me, I'm not sure if death can be beautiful, but I'm certain it can be preferable to certain living conditions.
Are you afraid of being stabbed, or the blackness beyond dying.
Going back to that "dust in the wind" idea (we're all a drop of water in an endless sea and so forth), death shows us that we are less than pawns in the course of the universe, gives us an idea of how small we are compared to the majesty of the natural world.
In a nutshell I figure the beautiful part of death, for me at least, is the natural corellation death has.
Quite the opposite, I'd say.
Sacrifice.
I personally define "beauty" in terms of "artistic power" - how much it can effect us emotionally. There is "good" and "evil" beauty; it's all in the eyes of the beholder, and the context.
Myself, I believe in reincarnation. I do not fear death; but I fear suffering. Those who know me will understand this, those that don't will soon enough.
Myself, I believe in reincarnation. I do not fear death; but I fear suffering. Those who know me will understand this, those that don't will soon enough. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Was that a threat? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Those who welcome death have only tried it from the ears up.
Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)
There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?
Woody Allen (1935 - )
Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!
Matt Frewer, as Dr. Mike Stratford in "Doctor, Doctor"
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone, 1997
It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task.
Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC), Aeneid
The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Julius Caesar", Act 2 scene 2