Death
Code of the Samurai – Death
“One who is supposed to be a warrior considers it his foremost concern to keep death in mind at all times, every day and every night, from the beginning of New Year’s Day through the night of New Year’s Eve.”
Essentially, this chapter deals with the idea that if we keep in mind that our time on earth is a limited one, it help us to remember what is important and spurs us on to be as productive as we can be. It calls up examples of various problematic situations that can occur in life if we take the time that we have on the world for granted.
Understanding death and accepting it, rather than fearing it, is an important mindshift for someone who seeks to becoming a more disciplined person. Death is perhaps the one certainty in life for a human being. We know we are going to die and yet the fear of it drives us to ignore that it is bound to happen. We choose to assign an unknown date in the future for the time of our passing, letting ourselves hope that it is a long way off.
The mindshift occurs when we take back control of our lives by assigning a definite fixed point in time that death will occur, even if it does not. If hold in your mind that there will be no more tomorrow for yourself, you hold in yourself a discipline to think about what is important to you, do what must be done, and to not waste time on more trivial matters. “Live for the Day” is a phrase that aptly can be remembered and remind you that you might not have a chance to rectify your mistakes tomorrow. It can be interpreted as living for today rather than tomorrow, spurring yourself on to more indulgent excesses. It is just a valid approach to life to make sure that you enjoy each day knowing that it will be your last but unfortunately, it is more often than not used as an excuse for hedonistic enjoyment. But if you’ve truly thought about each day being your last, and have come to this conclusion to be hedonistic then all power to you.
For me, knowing that each day is an opportunity to live your last day, distills your values and forces you to think about your priorities. How much time do you spend in front of the TV? How much time do you spend idling away on things that have no real meaning for you as a person? Do you fight with family or loved ones on issues that are trivial? Do you hold a grudge against someone, knowing that deep down inside the reason that you even bother to hold any feelings against that person is because they have hurt you, and you still have a positive need for them in your life? Wouldn’t indifference be more apt for someone that you dislike?
A close friend of mine asked me just last week what would I do if I had 15 minutes left to live. My first reaction, without any forethought although it doesn’t make it any less valid, was to go to that person who I have strong feelings for and to express my love for them. However, on a moments more reflection, something that is more important in my life came to mind. Knowing that I had only 15 minutes left to live, I would spend that time telling my parents how much I loved them and how much I cared for them. I would spend the time expressing my gratitude to them for raising me, caring for me, and making me into the person that I am today. This was perhaps more important to me than to indulge in a whim of fantasy that I had at that moment in time. I am not demeaning the initial thought but I am sorry, for me expressing my love to my family was more of a priority. Knowing that I wouldn’t have a chance to do so again reminds me of how important that is to me. Tomorrow I couldn’t express that love to them in this theoretical situation.
And that is where the mindshift occurs. When you establish a definite time in your mind that you will no longer be able to do anything anymore, then you will be spurred on to take life more seriously for yourself. I’m not advocating that we all become somberly serious or rush to call our parents now (although if you haven’t done so for a while, you might want to stop reading and do so), I’m advocating as the book does that you need to remember what your priorities are. If your top priorities in life are being neglected because you believe that you have tomorrow, or the next day, or the next month, or the next year to do them in, then you may never have the chance to achieve them. The book says that you will have failed your parents or employer if you die prematurely over trivial matters. I believe more that you have failed yourself if you do not live your life for what you feel is important and waste your time on trivial matters.
Plan for the future, by all means, but striving to accomplish today what you want to achieve will, I believe lead to a more fulfilling and meaningful existence. Organized religion, whether it likes it or not, has instilled this more in people than they would perhaps realize. The knowledge of an afterlife drives us to believe that what we do in the present life will bring us to a better existence in the hereafter. Mankind finds some of its greatest advancements of technology, civilization and social change on the battlefield, where the danger of death is evermore present and imminent. The fabric of rigid social heirarchy in Britain first started during the World War I, when the prospect of death for it’s troops on the field in France, spurred the government to employ women in the functions that were normally dominated by men. Battlefield lessons taught the working class that the upper classes did not inheritantly have the right to lead. While the war was won, the ever present fear of death and the insight it brings helped spur the enlightened thought processes to a more egalitarian society.
I hope never to know the horror of war in my lifetime, and in line with the principles of the book, I do not suggest that we recklessly try to find death or preoccupy ourselves with it. But the lessons that were formed in those crucibles of thought, are something that we can learn from. Holding in your head that each day is your last, you might experience a mindshift that you can find a disciplined strength within.
Knowing that you only had today to live, how many of you would spend your time in needless arguement? Pointless fights? Engaging in fruitless relationships?
Also knowing that each time you meet someone, whether it be a friend or a relative, it might be your last time that you see each other, I think you can fill your time with them on a more meaningful basis.
If you make yourself believe that you will be around tomorrow, then you become less focused on doing things the right way the first time you do it. If you do something with the knowledge that you won’t have a second chance to accomplish it or rectify the mistakes in the first time, then you will be more likely to get it right the first time.
