As another New Year begins, people again make plans to better themselves. The whole idea of one year ending and another beginning, as well as the images often used to depict this (a hunched old man at the end of the year, a baby wrapped in the next years banner) suggest what existentialists attempt to convey about life.
Every year people reflect on how quickly the year passed, how many things they could have done but didn't, how much happier their life might be if they had done a few things differently. The end of life is similar. Realizing how quickly life has slipped away, many look at what might have been had they spent more time doing the things that now, at the end of life, seem to matter most.
The way we approach the passing of the year offers a glimpse to what lies ahead. Eventually, your life will end. If you know you only have a little bit of time left, you might drastically alter your life and finish it in a more fulfilling manner. This is often the case with the terminally ill. But think for a second, how many stopped in August to think, "My goodness, the year is slipping away and there were so many goals I set that I haven't focused on. Let me focus on them now"? Instead, the end of the year has come and gone. Many, realizing another opportunity is upon them, will repeat the pattern they have done for years, setting goals for change they may or may not accomplish.
Unfortunately, in the same way the reality of death is ignored, in a few weeks or a month the old routine returns, old priorities are slipped back into, the plans made to improve oneself and one's life are forgotten. And again, before you know it, another year has slipped away. Eventually, like the years, so will your life.
A solution is to take a more existentialist view: realize the years are passing quickly. Realize your life is also passing. Think of your death now, and what you want to accomplish, what would make life joyful, before actualizing it becomes less of a possibility. Then, unlike haughty New Year's resolutions that fall by the wayside by late January, begin a pattern of change that brings you more in line with the life you want to look back on with pride in your dying days.
Many might respond to this article feeling it morbid and depressing. Some will wonder how they can be happy thinking of death. This is understandable, dying is a topic associated with sadness. The point is to embrace the sadness, understand it, accept it, and use the information to create a more fulfilling life. Existentialists believe the avoidance of the topic of impermanence is what leads to a less fulfilling life. Those who ignore their mortality live as if life never ends; indefinitely postponing what really matters. They believe there is plenty of time. But before they know it time has expired and they are left wanting.
In some Buddhist meditations the focus is on the death and decomposition of one's body. The goal of this meditation is twofold: first, it gets one in touch with the reality of death and impermanence. Second, it allows one to focus on what is more important in life, not sweating the small stuff, as the saying goes. Simply put, coming to terms with the reality of one's own death opens the door for a more fulfilling life. Beginning this New Year, while looking at the year passing and the promise of new one, remember how this mirrors life. Realize how in a future that seems distant now, but when confronted with it will seem as if time flew by, you will be faced with death. Face your inevitable death now, and use the knowledge to live the life you want to live.
Copyright William Berry, 2012
