Dying Into Life - by Oliver Sabot - Commonplace

You have already died a hundred times. And you will need to die hundreds more before you leave this world. As I reflected recently, one of the greatest casualties of the modern project to sanitize the world has been our understanding of death. There is much to say about our pathological relationship with our inevitable physical end—our “great death” we might call it—but I’ll save that for later reflections. Instead, I will focus here on the “little deaths” that define our lives and work and happiness. (La petite mort has referred to orgasmic experiences, sexual and otherwise, over the centuries but, no, they aren’t the focus today either). I ask many questions as a coach, as a friend, and as a seeker trying to understand my mind and this life we have all been called into. But perhaps the most important question I often ask is: what do you need to let die? Regardless of our worldview—atheist or Christian, Buddhist or Jedi—we all recognize that life is a constant cycle of death and rebir

You have already died a hundred times. And you will need to die hundreds more before you leave this world. As I reflected recently, one of the greatest casualties of the modern project to sanitize the world has been our understanding of death. There is much to say about our pathological relationship with our inevitable physical end—our “great death” we might call it—but I’ll save that for later reflections. Instead, I will focus here on the “little deaths” that define our lives and work and happiness. (La petite mort has referred to orgasmic experiences, sexual and otherwise, over the centurie