“
When a person faces an absolutely extreme situation,
there is a possibility of a natural satori.
This is always the opportunity presented by death:
that if one can go into death with eyes open,
and have somebody help you if necessary,
to give up before your die,
this extraordinary thing can happen to you.
So that from your standpoint in that position at that time,
you would say:
“I wouldn’t have missed that opportunity for the world –
now I understand why we die.”
The reason we die is to give us the opportunity
to understand what life’s all about –
by letting go, because then we come to a situation
that the ego can’t deal with.
When we are no longer hypnotized by that,
then our natural consciousnesses can see clearly
what all this universe is for.
So therefore we have missed this golden opportunity
“
by institutionalizing death out of the way,
instead of having a socially understood acceptance of
and rejoicing in death.
ALAN WATTS
2 | ART OF DYING