itchyarcsaw on Nostr: All suffering and conflict arise from the fear of death, which exists in the idea ...

All suffering and conflict arise from the fear of death, which exists in the idea that there is "someone" who lives: born in the past and will die in the future. Always from the past to the future — never in the present, for we are afraid to be in the present.

We watch a film, following a character's two-hour story, where at the end they tragically die. Do we feel sorry for the character, beyond a fleeting belief that what is happening is real? The character couldn't have died, because they never lived — they appeared in the first frame of the film with the face of a famous actor, and then vanished in the last, with the same face. The actor will live on after the film and then die. And we will see it. Our things, achievements, and loved ones live and then die. And we will see it.

Our body will die, but we will see it. Who then fears death, trembles over things, and weeps for past glory, if we see this "someone"?