What you need to know
Approximately 150,000 human beings die every day, which means that more than 6,000 people are dying every hour, more than a hundred people are passing away every minute, and about two people are dying every second. During the time it took you to read this text about 20 people have already died. Some of them were run over by cars, others were just living on the edge, having driven off a cliff, some of them might have had a heart attack, and yet others die as we speak, of very old age.
It is one constant we share with absolutely everything on this planet: death. Now, death doesn’t care what color your skin is, what you believe in politically, where you were born, or how much money you have in the bank. You can’t get away from the incurable disease we’re all graced with at birth: life.
Interesting because after all (and this much we all know), we are all temporary — very few of us have internalized it. How often have any of you sat there eyes closed in an empty room imagining your funeral? And if you have, who would even be there? Who would come out of obligation and duty, and who would come because they wanted to be there? What would people say about you? What would they think of you? What would they remember you for?
Strange, because you would think that, if we all have the same terminal disease called life, we’d all be more compassionate and loving with each other. The one thing we all have in common is this life disease. Because before long, in 120 years, every single human being that is living on Earth at this moment will be deceased, and another set of brand new humans will be alive. And then, 120 years after that, another set of brand-new humans will be alive. Life moves on, and on, and on.
And then when you start looking at life like that, you realize that we’re all just on this ship together. And we’re all heading into the great unknown. And that this is the only life we get, and we better make it a good one. It also makes you look at how most humans interact with each other. You look at how angry so many people get with one another. You look at how many people argue. How many people fight with each other? Why do parents yell at children? Why do parents hit children? Why do so many spouses fight with one another? Why do siblings not speak to each other, when they were raised in the same home? Why do they hate each other today over something that happened 30 years ago? Why do best friends badmouth each other behind each other’s backs? Why are your kids Better when they’re with me and mine are? Why is life so difficult? Why are human beings like this?
I think part of it is because we have not sat down to really, really think about what is the meaning of life. And part of I think it, truly it, is most people have not come to grips that you’re not going to be living forever, OK? And I will also tell you I do not know what the meaning of life is, OK? I’ll be honest with you. I think it’s something that our human brain cannot, if you think of things logically, really comprehend. It’s like if we’re going to try to explain consciousness to a dog or a cat or something, they just cannot understand it. But what I will tell you are some things that I believe everyone should understand, and the first is to understand it you first must embrace the four truths of the universe.
The first truth is the truth of karma, of cause and effect, which means that, no matter what you do or say, it will invariably cause you and your world some sort of effect. For example, let’s say that you’re listening to this podcast, and it’s 2018, and you’re going to start listening maybe from the very beginning. I’m going to date myself because I’m not quite as young as I look. I mean, I play a character on Netflix, but we’re not going to focus on any of that stuff. Let’s say that about 10 years ago, years and years ago, in a lifetime, another life, you lost your temper on family, you lost your cool with a friend a loved one, or some random person on the street, not necessarily, but let’s just say that you lost it on someone right in front of your face one day. Whoever it was, 10 years ago you drove off that bridge and the whole world was looking at you, watching you go under, and you came back to the surface of the water, grimacing and cracking your neck, and some piece of you died that day. That person — right now, today — has an effect because of the time you pushed them into that leaf pile, the sled has been buried. It may not be the biggest effect in the world. It may be one of the smallest, most minute effects in the world, like imperceptible, barely tangible or anything like that, but the effects are always there. You can’t eat them, you can’t spit them out, you can’t run away from them. Nothing can ever undo that time that you pushed that person into that leaf pile, and the sled has been buried, and the dog has been dead for a long time, and that’s just the way life is. That’s one of the reasons why most human beings hate the idea of karma because it means that you are 100 percent in charge of everything that’s ever happened to you today. But I’m not saying that we can’t go forward and wallow in our bad karma and weep a river of crocodile tears. What it means is, that no person can ever again walk into this world and do and say every single thing that comes to their mind, in the hopes that they can become a free-thinking individual whose words and deeds have no consequence.
The second law of the universe is that everything is impermanent — everything is temporary. You, your head, your body, your hand, your phone, my hand, your loved one, your relationship, your life, your brain, this text, this video, your blood, your friends, your family — everything can go away at any second. Everything could be over in a second. This text might be gone tomorrow because the internet might be gone tomorrow, and in the space of a second, everything can be gone. And guess what? This is awesome. It shouldn’t make you feel bad or sad. It’s none of these things. What it should do instead is make you appreciate every second that you get. They don’t have to be special moments, big moments, significant moments. They can be any moment — that one time when you were laughing so hard at something someone said that tears were coming out of your eyes. Or maybe it was that time when you were just by yourself, and you were just staring at the sunset. All we have in this lifetime are these present moments.
The third truth is that of suffering and attachment. Any time you become attached to something or someone, what you’ve done in effect is a contract with yourself to be unhappy. Because, as we just said, nothing in this earthly world, nothing is guaranteed to be permanent, and as such you’re going to lose that loved one, you’re going to lose that watch, you’re going to lose that car, you’re going to lose that family member, even your own body, you are going to lose it.
And the fourth is, we’re all going to die one day. The death truth is the one people find the hardest to handle of all because so much of the time it makes people really sad. But death doesn’t have to be this terrible awful thing, or even sad. I don’t think people realize this but it doesn’t have to be. Without death, those moments with your friends or your family, they’re not really that special and they’re not that big and they’re not that deep. Without death, they don’t pop. And everything becomes sort of bland and beige and faint and grey and there would be no reason to love the moments you have with one another, there would be no reason to laugh deeply, there would be no reason to love at all. There would be no reason to just show up, and just be present for. And those are the things that make life rich and full and worth something.
And furthermore, death is that which is somehow binding upon us all, because death makes you realize that you and the seven billion people on this planet are all on the same team. This is our ride. This is our team. Let’s make this thing happen.
Therefore, the next time that you are tempted to scream at that loved one of yours, or at the person who cut you off in traffic, or to strike back at the person who demolished your reputation and social standing, or to chastise the person or persons responsible for the angst, resentment or hatred you feel, hold back and remember that you are free to choose, and that damn it, you choose love and peace.