Reflection on Death: A Means of Self-Correction

Someone who has adopted the path of worldliness, of worship of the world, is busy, at every moment, trying to earn worldly wealth. This is made possible for him because through this busyness of his he derives a certain sort of pleasure. Through his busyness he thinks he is going to construct a magnificent worldly future for himself. But if he knew that one day he will have to leave all his worldly acquisitions behind and depart from this world, he would no longer have any interest left in his occupation. This realization would become a means for a new thinking to develop in him. He will now think: “If nothing of the worldly wealth that I have earned will accompany me, I need to change the direction of my activities.” In this way, if you get angry with someone and want to take revenge on him, remembrance of death can change the direction of your life. You will think: “When my taking revenge cannot harm anyone in the eternal sense, why should I waste my time doing that?” Awareness of death serves as a reminder for us. It helps us reform our behaviour. It can take us away from negative actions and make us busy doing good actions. This thinking is a powerful means of self-correction. Awareness of death makes us serious about life and realistic in our approach. Death reminds us that one day we will have to depart from this world of humans and enter the world of God.