Yes, but perhaps he did have something to do with it.” (In such arguments Stenham often found himself unexpectedly extolling the bourgeois virtues.) “If he was good himself, and worked hard–”“ Never! ” cried Amar, his eyes blazing. “You’re a Nazarene, a Christian. That’s why you talk that way. If you were a Moslem and said such things, you’d be killed or struck blind here, this minute. Christians have good hearts, but they don’t know anything. They think they can change what has been written. They’re afraid to die because they don’t understand what death is for. And if you’re afraid to die, then you don’t know what life is for. How can you live? .Paul Bowles
About This Quote
To live is to be aware of the dying. To live is to sense death in all around us. To live is to realize that our humanity cannot last forever. To live is to know that we will die and that all that we have done and all that we will do on this earth will cease to exist.
It was not a matter of being afraid to die, but rather a matter of understanding what death was truly for. We do not fear death because we think it will hurt, but rather because we think it will be an end. We do not fear death because we think it will be painful, but rather because we think it will be the end of who we are as a person.
It is our perception of life as being something so full and so wonderful, that if this world were to end then there would be nothing left for us after death, that makes us afraid of dying. Someone who understands the true nature of life, does not fear dying because they understand that death is an end and nothing more.
Source: The Spiders House
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