Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.

"Death may be the greatest of all human blessings!" by Socrates, the Greek philosopher (469 BC - 399 BC). Repeat it's 469 - 399 BC, i.e. >2,400 years ago when this statement was written and it's written by one of the earliest and greatest philosopher of human history.

 

Originally, I was writing today's posting when a friend of mine, Sally, sent me an email commenting on yesterday's posting, which I thought can be borrowed (with minor modifications) and quoted as below:

Death, really is just part of everyone's life.  It's not a lottery that would happen only to a very few people.  The life insurance agent once told me: Everybody will die once!  Even though I never did buy the life insurance policy from him, I have always remembered this very simple statement.  Everybody will die once.  This is the law of the nature.  This is how our God intends human life to be, like the four seasons, we all go through the cycle.  If life ends a bit earlier in the earlier stage, then one will not need to suffer the harshness of the winter, shoveling snow and fall and trip on ice and pay hefty bills for heat!  If one makes it all the way to winter, he/she could take the time and learn to appreciate the snow despite the cold. 

I have never been too fearful of this topic, and have come to realize the fragility of human life over the past so many years:  have heard of too many cases of sudden, or gradual death, of people at all ages.  I am so glad that you are so open minded about it, and I am learning from you:  so death can be handled this way, although not without pain and struggles, there can still be a lot of ease and grace in the face of death. 

With this attitude, death may decide that you're way too positive and calm to be on his team!  As many of my co-workers who had suffered cancer told me (they're still working years after their cancer's cured), pointing to their heads:  It is all up here, the whole game!

It is true, it is all up there.  Either way, I know for a fact that you're in good hand:  praise the Lord for everything in life, or death.

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Whether death is a blessing or not, whether death is the greatest blessing of humans or not, it's all up here, the whole game! Death really is just part of everyone's life. Everybody will die once. This is the law of nature! On the bright side, if we follow Socrates' thought and agree that "Death is the greatest of all human blessings!" then, almost instantly, we start to take Death positively as a blessing. You may have difficulty debating if it is THE greatest, but let's take it as one of the blessings anyway. Death is a human blessings!   

[Above picture is from Wikimedia Commons. It's now in Louvre Museum in Paris. It's possibly a copy (duplicate) of Lysippos' work, a Greek sculptor in 4th century BC, i.e. the same period as Socrates. Case-In-Point, life is so enjoyable if you can pay attention to the details: a) I am amazed by the wonderful collection of Louvre Museum, you would pass this exhibit easily there as there are so many other attractions in Louvre, but yet they are also significant in it's own terms. b) now, >2,400 years after Socrates, we can still SEE Socrates like in real, his natural curved hair, his half-opened mouth and bald fore-head!]