The Final Supper with Death’s Angel

I hate to break this to you, but we’re all going to die. Not now… but one day… sooner or later we’ll all be dead. This isn’t a newsflash. Or a sudden revelation. It’s really going to happen. At some future time… everyone reading this article will be dead.

Sad but true, Death’s Angel will claim all our friends and loved ones. He will claim you and me for sure. The beauty and justice of it all is that Death’s Angel is non-discriminatory and does not keep a “Do Not Kill” list.

And what happens after we die? I don’t know. All of us have our views and beliefs on this topic, but none us have proof of life yonder. Therefore we are rationally left with one sagacious option – the choice of ‘Free Will’ in our current form of existence.

We can choose to believe in the eternal void, or we can choose to believe in permanence. If we ourselves are temporary, then our lives will be filled only with transience. We will exist only for survival, a chore at which we will ultimately fail. But if we live for that which is permanent, then even this fleeting existence will be permeated with immortality. If our existence has a purpose, then that purpose must come from the part of us that is permanent. The choice is whether we live for what is temporary, or do we choose to live for that which is permanent?

Someday our bodies will decay and die. Our houses will crumble. Our loved ones will weep over our remains. Our life stories and picture albums will come to a permanent full stop. If we live for dust, then dust we must become. But when we choose to believe in our own eternalness, we discover our reason of existence. We realize our purpose. And we finally begin to live as the mighty and fearless spirits we are meant to be instead of the fragile moulds which encase them. We evolve to comprehending that nothing fleeting gives our life any meaning. Only the enduring remains eternal, forever.

So what is eternal? Enduring? That lasts beyond the existence of our frail bodies? It is that which echoes most deeply within the great spirits that reside inside us. Faith. Courage. Hope. Compassion. Peace. Kindness. Truth. Freedom. Justice. Honor. Mercy. Humility. And above all, Love.

This is what gives meaning to our lives, helping us to refrain from being tempted by that which is impermanent. Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of Peace & Non Violence endures forever. Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci’s art lives evermore. Gaudi’s architecture continues to awe and inspire. The melodies of Bach and Mozart last for eternity. Mother Teresa’s gift of compassion will continue to enthuse many new generations going forward.

How many of you have embraced your own unique greatness and spent your precious ticking minutes actualizing your destiny? Or would I get a greater response to the question of how many of you are obsessed with the accumulation of dust?

We spend our entire life calculating our material gain and personal glory, or worrying about refuge for our golden years, conniving and accumulating up until the point we don’t even know how much is enough. We forget our pure childhood dreams, our hearts become smaller, and finally we lose our souls in this entire futile process. How many of us have actually paused for a moment and asked ourselves a simple question of “What am I selflessly doing for others?”

We spend an eternity searching for the truth....looking for happiness...seeking the meaning of our lives. But it’s so simple. Our life has no meaning until it has no impact on others. Our life, the values we represent, and the gifts we offer is the message....and the reason why we are put here. Our gift to the world could be a melody, a painting, a child, a piece of literature, an organization, or the expression of an idea whose time has come. Each of these gifts carries within it a slice of our own eternalness. And through these gifts we become immortal.

Live for that which is real. Let your inner spirit express its greatness. At least when it’s time for your final supper with Death’s Angel, the moment will not be pervaded with the stench of dread but rather with a sense of harmony and peace. Only because you know in the depths of your heart that you have dedicated a lifetime to the most heroic labour, committed to your ideals forged in the purity of your conscience, and devoted yourself to the creation of permanent legacies for the world that you leave behind. Your final supper will be a moment of celebration... a peaceful transformation instead of a tragic realization.