A wonderful scene in the movie Dead Poet’s Society. “If you lean in you can hear their legacy – Carpe… carpe diem – Seize the day boys…Make your lives extraordinary.”
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.”
I have some good news for you and some bad news for you. The bad news – you and I are going to die. The good news? We can truly live before we die. When do we live? How do we live? Start now. “This is the day…rejoice and be glad in it.” How do we do that? To live in awareness that today is a gift that won’t come again and to find pleasure and enjoyment even in the simplest of things. The Psalms say that we’re given about 80 or 90 years? But it could be tomorrow that our end comes? Who knows? We don’t like to think about all this, but this is a part of the truth that can set us free. Even Buddhism says that the greatest meditation of all is death – that life ends – which echoes what the Psalms also say, “Teach us to number our days so we may gain a heart of wisdom.” That they end, gives us an imperative to enjoy them all as we can. So live well this day! Gather ye rosebuds! Get perspective! Live in awareness! Seize this day, this night, this moment.
There is also a celtic expression – “Bas Sona” in which people greet one another daily in Ireland. It means – “May you have a happy death.” Well, that seems like a strange greeting, doesn’t it? But perhaps it’s one of the best – becuase it’s a constant reminder that in order to have a happy death, we perhaps must learn how to have a happy life.
So, to that end – Carpe Diem so that you may Bas Sona.
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