"When death finds you may it find you alive"

The following quotes are from excerpts from Untimely Meditations by Fredrich Nietzche that appeared in the Sun magazine's November 2011 edition.

"There exists in the world a single path along which no one can go except you.  Whither does it lead? Do not ask, go along it. Who was it who said, "A man never rises higher than when he does not know whither his path can still lead him."


"But how can we find ourselves again? How can man know himself? He is a thing dark and veiled.."


"This is the means by which an inquiry into the most important aspect can be initiated; let the youthful soul look back on life with the question "What have you truly loved up to now; what has drawn your soul aloft; what has mastered it and at the same time blessed it?"  Set up these revered objects before you, and perhaps their nature and their sequence will give you a law, the fundamental law of your own true self.  Compare these objects one with another; see how one completes, expands , surpasses, transfigures another, how they constitute a stepladder upon which you have clambered up to yourself as you are now; for your true nature lies not concealed deep within you, but immeasurably high above you, or at  at least above that which you usually take yourself to be."

In the same edition of the Sun there is an extended interview with Michael Meade entitled "Your Own Damn Life" which also focuses on the importance of knowing yourself.."finding ourselves again."

He quotes an African proverb "When death finds you, may it find you alive"  and writes "Alive means living you own damn life, not the life that you parents wanted, or the life some cultural group or political party wanted, but the life that your own soul wants to live."

As the regular reader(s) of this blog know(s) this goes to the heart of my post retirement angst...what is "the life my own soul wants to live"?. Since retiring in May of last year I've been struggling trying to figure this out.  I, unfortunately, feel like I've made very little progress.   I was, however, energized and encouraged by both of these Sun articles, especially the sentiment expressed in the line...


"A man never rises higher than when he does not know whither his path can still lead him."


I'm not quite sure what that means but it inspired me enough to write this blog entry.  The first one in months.  That's something. 


I think in my next blog entry I'll try the exercise suggested by Nietzxche...


"What have you truly loved up to now; what has drawn you soul aloft; what has mastered it and at the same time blessed it?"  Set up these revered objects before you, and perhaps their nature and their sequence will give you a law, the fundamental law of your own true self. "


Stay tuned!

Post Script - I just reread some of my earlier blogs and came across one from 2010 which  I quote extensively from East Coker, one of the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. If the ideas above interest you at all I think you'll find Mr. Eliot's poetry worth reading.  Here's the link. to the blog.