(Im)mortality 1
I see all human beings
Behind their masks
Those smiling, calm faces
Pale corpses, restlessly hurrying
Along the winding path,
Which leads to
The grave
(Edvard Munch)
Lord what was I? A worm dust vapour nothing
What was my life? A dream, a daily dying
What was my flesh? My soul's uneasy clothing
What was my time? A minute's ever flying.
My time, my flesh, my life and I
What were we Lord, but vanity?
(James Bell grave, Kensal Green cemetery)
This is what is sad when one contemplates human life, that so many live out their lives in quiet lostness . . . they live, as it were, away from themselves and vanish like shadows. Their immortal souls are blown away, and they are not disquieted by the question of its immortality, because they are already disintegrated before they die.
(Soren Kierkegaard)
Normally we do not like to think about death. We would rather think about life. Why reflect on death? When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life...and come to face the truth of your self. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.
(Sogyal Rinpoche)
If we see it as the role of art to strip away pretency, fantasy and falsehood then it must address death because in doing so it recognizes the condition of life.
(John Goto)
All photographs are memento mori.
(Susan Sontag)
Behind their masks
Those smiling, calm faces
Pale corpses, restlessly hurrying
Along the winding path,
Which leads to
The grave
(Edvard Munch)
Lord what was I? A worm dust vapour nothing
What was my life? A dream, a daily dying
What was my flesh? My soul's uneasy clothing
What was my time? A minute's ever flying.
My time, my flesh, my life and I
What were we Lord, but vanity?
(James Bell grave, Kensal Green cemetery)
This is what is sad when one contemplates human life, that so many live out their lives in quiet lostness . . . they live, as it were, away from themselves and vanish like shadows. Their immortal souls are blown away, and they are not disquieted by the question of its immortality, because they are already disintegrated before they die.
(Soren Kierkegaard)
Normally we do not like to think about death. We would rather think about life. Why reflect on death? When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life...and come to face the truth of your self. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.
(Sogyal Rinpoche)
If we see it as the role of art to strip away pretency, fantasy and falsehood then it must address death because in doing so it recognizes the condition of life.
(John Goto)
All photographs are memento mori.
(Susan Sontag)