Impermanence

Nothing lasts forever. But we try hard to ignore this fact. Think about the shelf life of foods, the beauty industry, and the practice of embalming the dead. In this practice, contemplate, how do we make sense of our own impermanence?

Transcript

In North American culture,

Where we are from,

We work hard to hide the realities of our own impermanence.

Just think of the beauty industry,

The preservatives in our food,

And more specifically to this conversation,

The act of embalming our dead.

On one hand,

Our culture has created countless scientific and technological advances that have positively shaped modern society.

On the other hand,

Does this fixation on immortality influence the way we navigate our lives and,

Inevitably,

Our deaths?

Drawing on inspiration from Alan Watts,

Who says,

The more a thing tends to be permanent,

The more it tends to be lifeless.

How do you feel when you think about your own impermanence?

That sadness?

An element of excitement in the unknown?

Perhaps a bit of fear running through your body?

All of these feelings may naturally arise as we move deeper into this journey of death awareness.

For now,

Just take a few moments to contemplate your relationship to impermanence.

And as you do,

We'd like to remind you.

You are here and you are safe.

Can you identify ways that you are running away from impermanence in your everyday life?

Is it available to you to see yourself living in a world where you embrace it?

Taking it one step further,

Could you even look it in the face and smile?

And speaking of smiles,

Before you move on,

Turn the outer corners of your lips slightly up.

Maybe show some teeth and use this contemplation as a powerful and simple reminder of just how alive you are.