FOR THE LIVING
"I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead - and not then until we have been dead years and years. People ought to start dead,
and they would be honest so much earlier."
-Mark Twain-
http://www.twainquotes.com/
ON IMMORTALITY
"Thomas Edison did not believe in the soul in 1910"
from an Article posted in the Rumpus by David Friedman
http://www.slate.com/id/
As I Approach This Topic
--brought on by learning of David Foster Wallace's recent suicide--
I remember other great thinkers & writers who chose death
purposefully, or by fatal miscalculation.
Why?
Perhaps because living is such an arduous assignment,
rather than wait for it to choose them,
they made that move themselves.
My heart aches like a sympathetic bruise, and I do not consider suicide
is anything more than a viable option for the end of living,
do not accept that it cancels the positive,
or negative traces of any one's life.
I am convinced that life is, self is, other selves are, each,
an empty room, a space within which one experiences,
gains a certain degree of skill- perhaps, understanding-perhaps.
None the less, I persist in finding all three both intriguing. and rewarding, and, am still quite fond of, if not entirely attached to,
this ageing body, strong morning coffee, butter, people,
creatures other than humans, seasons of our earth,
the universe, poems and other forms of artistic expression,
and the Internet option-discovered a scant two years ago.
Oh. multi-faceted illusion, you are such a delicious flirt.
You are the Maya of my delight, the short, sharp, false, constant diversion in this wandering way of my numbered days.
At sixty eight, the issue of death and dying is more than theoretical.
So, which came first, the discomfort in my heart region,
or my interest in this inquiry.
I lean toward a conclusion--they are simultaneous events,
synchronous, and inseparable.
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
LISTEN TO A ONE HOUR MEMORIAL BROADCAST FROM NPR
ON IMMORTALITY
"Thomas Edison did not believe in the soul in 1910"
from an Article posted in the Rumpus by David Friedman
http://www.slate.com/id/
As I Approach This Topic
--brought on by learning of David Foster Wallace's recent suicide--
I remember other great thinkers & writers who chose death
purposefully, or by fatal miscalculation.
Why?
Perhaps because living is such an arduous assignment,
rather than wait for it to choose them,
they made that move themselves.
My heart aches like a sympathetic bruise, and I do not consider suicide
is anything more than a viable option for the end of living,
do not accept that it cancels the positive,
or negative traces of any one's life.
I am convinced that life is, self is, other selves are, each,
an empty room, a space within which one experiences,
gains a certain degree of skill- perhaps, understanding-perhaps.
None the less, I persist in finding all three both intriguing. and rewarding, and, am still quite fond of, if not entirely attached to,
this ageing body, strong morning coffee, butter, people,
creatures other than humans, seasons of our earth,
the universe, poems and other forms of artistic expression,
and the Internet option-discovered a scant two years ago.
Oh. multi-faceted illusion, you are such a delicious flirt.
You are the Maya of my delight, the short, sharp, false, constant diversion in this wandering way of my numbered days.
At sixty eight, the issue of death and dying is more than theoretical.
So, which came first, the discomfort in my heart region,
or my interest in this inquiry.
I lean toward a conclusion--they are simultaneous events,
synchronous, and inseparable.
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
LISTEN TO A ONE HOUR MEMORIAL BROADCAST FROM NPR
including an illuminating interview with him
&
a reading from
THE PALE KING
http://www.wpr.org/book/
A FINE REVIEW
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
&
a reading from
THE PALE KING
http://www.wpr.org/book/
A FINE REVIEW
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
THIS IS WATER
His Brilliant Commencement Speech
Part One
10 minutes
Part 2
13 minutes
.
THE LAST NOVEL
Released Posthumously
A Smart Review
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
WALLACE ARCHIVES
http://thisrecording.com/
INSIDE
D.F.W's
PRIVATE SELF HELP LIBRARY
by Maria Bustillos
"Humility—the acceptance that being human is good enough—is the embrace of ordinariness." —underlined by David Foster Wallace in his copy of Ernest Kurtz's The Spirituality of Imperfection.
http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/
Related
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEADnarrated by Leonard Cohen
Death is real, it comes without warning and it cannot be escaped. An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.
Trailer
Trailer
Clips
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
References
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
The Encyclopedia of Death & Dying
Post Script
The Conversation Continues
6.8.2011
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