Life is a dream... And death is waking up.

On Death
by John Keats
I.
Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?
The transient pleasures as a vision seem,
And yet we think the greatest pain’s to die.

II.
How strange it is that man on earth should roam,
And lead a life of woe, but not forsake
His rugged path; nor dare he view alone
His future doom which is but to awake.

‘Death’ has always been a special topic for me. It is probably why this poem by John Keats is what I have chosen to reflect about.
Upon reading this, I remember 8^th issue of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Comics wherein Sandman (Dream) is visited by his sister, Death. It is impossible for me to forget what Dream said about death. He said:
“I find myself wondering about humanity. Their attitude to my sister’s (Death’s) gift is so strange. Why do they fear the sunless lands? It is natural to die as it is to be born. But they fear her. Dread her. Feebly attempt to placate her. They do not love her.”

(Dream and Death together in a park. Sandman Vol. 1, Issue #8)

Obviously, both Keats and Gaiman view death not as a punishment which is what everybody thinks of it; they see it, rather, as a beautiful thing, a blessing. I must say that I cannot agree more with both of them about their notion of death. I myself cannot fully comprehend why people fear death so much. I have talked openly to people, especially to my friends, about my views on death, and they have always reacted scared by the things I say. Of course, I would ask them how come they fear it so much, even when it is only talked about it, and they would tell me same reasons which I find not good enough to justify this fear. They would say that they fear it because they are too young, they still want to accomplish many things, they haven’t even met their ‘true love’ yet, they are worried about the people they will leave behind, they are afraid of what is ‘beyond’ this life, and many other reasons like so.

Then, it hits me why people act the way they do when they encounter the ‘death’ topic. Actually, I do not think it is death itself they fear. Based on the varying reasons people give me when I ask them the fear of death question, people are afraid of living in the present, in the NOW. All their reasons talk about not having done this, what would their family think after they die… They are all about the future but never about the ‘now’. In here walks my existentialist view. Martin Heidegger said that “The moment we are born, we are old enough to die.” And I agree. We never really know; death has never given us a promise on how much time we have or when it will come for us. My only solution is to live in the NOW. In that way, I will not regret anything even if I die right now. I will not have any ‘should-haves’. I would depart this world contented, happy, with no regrets. This, I think, is what everyone else must do.

Many people complain about life being difficult and full of sufferings, yet they fear it ending. Of course, I am not encouraging suicide here. Like what Keats said “And lead a life of woe, but not forsake His rugged path”, we must still live life. In fact, we must live it to the fullest. We must make the most of it. Yet, the only way we can do such things is if we accept that someday – in a few minutes, tomorrow, in a few weeks, years – we will die. That way, we know that we are going to end, so we will be able to live in our present instead of dwell in the past or hope for the future.

Death is a powerful Force we can never avoid. When it comes, it comes. There is no use avoiding it for we will never have the power to do so. So we might as well should welcome, embrace, and accept it whole-heartedly, just like when we welcome waking up from a good night’s dream.

“Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.” – Epicurus