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Death is
The opposite
Of time.
We give death metaphors. We cloak it in meaning and make up stories about what will happen to use, but we don't really know. When a person dies, we cannot see beyond the corps. We speculate on reincarnation or talk in terms of eternity. But death is opaque to us, a mystery. In its realm, time ceases to have meaning. All laws of physics become irrelevant. Death is the opposite of time.
What dies? Is anything actually destroyed? Certainly not the body, which falls into its constituent parts of water and chemicals. That is mere transformation, not destruction. What of the mind? Does it cease to function, or does it make a transition to another existence? We don't know for sure, and few can come up with anything conclusive.
What dies? Nothing of the person dies in the sense that the constituent parts are totally blasted from all existence. What dies is merely the identity, the identification of a collection of parts that we call a person. Each one of us is a role, like some shaman wearing layers of robes with innumerable fetishes of meaning. Only the clothes and decoration fall. What dies is only our human meaning. There is still someone naked underneath. Once we understand who that someone is, death no longer bothers us. Nor does time.
death
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Royal Procession Back to Seoul
Anonymous
Choson Dynasty, late 18th century
Colors on silk
156.5 cm x 65.3 cm
This painting depicts the spectacular procession of King Chong-jo returning from a visit to his father's tomb in Suwon. The painting differs from the picture of the same scene described in the preceding folding screen in various details as well as color scheme, suggesting that it was a part of another screen of identical theme. The royal retinue includes no fewer than 6,000 people and 1,400 horses, presented in a zigzag pattern that fades out in the far distance, demonstrating the artist's extraordinary perspective skill. Each of the figural, landscape, and topographical elements is expressed with prominent artistry, showing concern for the minutest of details. The picture undeniably surpasses the general standard of documentary painting.