How Facing Mortality Can Be a Source of Inspiration

What happens when we die?

That’s a common question most of us have heard from kids. We tend to answer with religious or vague replies like “to heaven, or God, or the stars.” Still, there’s an incredible opportunity to use our mortality as a source of inspiration and learning.

Recognizing that death is a guaranteed part of life highlights the importance of including it in our awareness and communication. This recognition can help us live each day fully and lead us to not take life for granted. More importantly, it can help illuminate how we’re in the same boat as other humans and living beings.

The alternative is often reacting unconsciously, where our death-related feelings like fear, anxiety, and anger affect how we treat other people and groups as an exaggerated danger rather than highlighting what we have in common.

The ongoing suppression of death leaves us in a state of unconscious fear, helplessness, confusion, and anger, making us vulnerable to believing that others are the source of threats to our life and well-being.

Recognizing and making a significant movement toward accepting your mortality is a monumental turning point. Facing this vulnerability with a sense of inspiration can lead to feelings of caring and protectiveness toward ourselves and others. In fact, it could also become a unitive force for our families, countries, and the vast majority of humankind.

Why do we need to recognize our mortality at all?

Recognizing our finite time on earth can inspire us to go for our deepest dreams and ironically wake up from what we’ve been conditioned to believe is most important. Life isn’t as simple as we were all raised to believe. The temporary nature of living in this body has made me reconsider what really are my top priorities — especially since I can see the interconnectedness of all life more clearly.

Facing death can be liberating as we learn to recognize our society’s emphasis on success, power, youthfulness, war, and violence. Instead, we can focus on cooperation, survival opportunities for everyone, global communication, and unification.

Acknowledging our mortality and our limited time on earth can inspire us to ask questions like:

• How balanced is my daily life in pursuing an inspired higher quality of life?
• Isn’t it clear that defining quality of life is the most important consideration?
• If we reach a quality of life that is deeply fulfilling, isn’t it clear that we want to share that with others and inspire others while we’re here and alive?
• How do we make our country and planet work so that all of us can feel inspired to live in safety, survival, and a greater chance for peace?

The fact that these are not questions we are inspired to ask is an inevitable consequence of not facing our universal vulnerability. Throughout history, I believe projecting these very challenging feelings has been the source of war, violence, and separation.

Realizing how little we know and how far we’ve got to go

No matter our beliefs about God or a higher power — no one can discount the incredulous miracle that we are here. That’s why it discourages complacency as we take a more steady and ongoing realization of this. Unfortunately, most of our lifestyles are fraught with denial, and virtually all of us have been told a compelling hypnotic fairy tale about what matters when living a fulfilling, inspired life.

One of my more recent clients said to me only half in jest, “Before I met you, I thought I was going to live forever; now I realize I’m not. Thanks a lot.”

We need to look deeply into this conditioning to set ourselves free from the bonding of our false standards. It becomes obvious that we can’t take our money with us, no matter how much we amass. We must let ourselves feel both: gratitude towards mysterious opportunities and a desire to help those less fortunate. The need to be self-sufficient is natural. However, the need for security is arbitrary, and addiction to wealth in our society has always been detrimental.

When we see that our life is finite in this body and lessen our denial of death, we will naturally join the human dilemma of all of us being mortal and realize the truth.

“I’m going to die too, and so are you. How do we make the best possible world by each doing what we can in our own small way? All while we still have a chance.”

Gaining empathy that we’re all alive yet mortal can inspire us to play the balancing role that is intuitively natural. This understanding could result in a life of great potential purpose and connectedness that can inspire inner and outer peace.

Robert Strock practiced psychotherapy for 45 years. He is a distinguished teacher, author, and humanitarian. His unique insights are shared through a comprehensive selection of online videos, blogs, and guided meditations at AwarenessThatHeals.org. Robert’s work resonates with anyone seeking inner peace and a compassionate engagement with the world. He co-founded a non-profit organization, TheGlobalBridge.org, to innovate, create alternatives for underprivileged communities, and develop initiatives to combat the climate crisis. For more information and media requests, visit www.RobertStrock.org.