The Essentials of Spirituality | Page 5

Yet, as a rule,
we are not much affected by such reflections. When one of our friends
has met with a painless death we are apt to solace ourselves with the
hope that perhaps we shall be as lucky as he; at all events, we know
that when our time comes we must take our turn. Even those who look
forward with apprehension to the last moment, and who when it
approaches, cling desperately to life, are prudent enough to hold their
peace. There is a general understanding that those who go shall not mar
the composure of those who stay, and that public decorum shall not be
disturbed by outcries.
This is the baldly secular view of the matter, and this view, though
based on low considerations, in some respects is sound enough. And
yet I reiterate the opinion that to live as if this hour were our last--in
other words, to frankly face the idea of death--is most conducive to the
spiritual life. It is for the sake of the reflex action upon life that the
practice of coming to a right understanding with death is so valuable.
Take the case of a man who calls on his physician, and there
unexpectedly discovers that he is afflicted with a fatal malady, and is
told that he may have only a few months longer to live. This visit to the
physician has changed the whole complexion of life for him. What will

be the effect upon him? If he be a sane, strong, morally high-bred man,
the effect will be ennobling; it will certainly not darken the face of
nature for him. Matthew Arnold wished that when he died he might be
placed at the open window, that he might see the sun shining on the
landscape, and catch at evening the gleam of the rising star. Everything
that is beautiful in the world will still be beautiful; he will thankfully
accept the last draught of the joy which nature has poured into his
goblet. Everything that is really uplifting in human life will have a
more exquisite and tender message for him. The gayety of children will
thrill him as never before, interpreted as a sign of the invincible
buoyancy of the human race, of that race which will go on battling its
way after he has ceased to live. If he be a man of large business
connections, he will still, and more than ever, be interested in planning
how what he has begun may be safely continued. If he be the father of a
family, he will provide with a wise solicitude, as far as possible, for
every contingency. He will dispose of matters now, as if he could see
what will happen after his departure. On the other hand, all that is vain
or frivolous, every vile pleasure, gambling, cruelty, harsh language to
wife or child, trickery in business, social snobbishness, all the base
traits that disfigure human conduct, he will now recoil from with horror,
as being incongruous with the solemn realization of his condition. The
frank facing of death, therefore, has the effect of sifting out the true
values of life from the false, the things that are worth while from the
things that are not worth while, the things that are related to the highest
end from those related to the lower partial ends. The precept, "Live as
if this hour were thy last," is enjoined as a touchstone; not for the
purpose of dampening the healthy relish of life, but as a means of
enhancing the relish for real living, the kind of living that is devoted to
things really worth while. As such a test it is invaluable. The question,
"Should I care to be surprised by death in what I am doing now?"--put
it to the dissipated young man in his cups, put it to the respectable
rogue--nay, put it to each one of us, and it will often bring the blush of
shame to our cheeks. When, therefore, I commend the thought of death,
I think of death not as a grim, grisly skeleton, a King of Terrors, but
rather as a mighty angel, holding with averted face a wondrous lamp.
By that lamp--hold it still nearer, O Death--I would read the scripture of
my life, and what I read in that searching light, that would I take to

heart.
Finally, there is a third condition of the spiritual life which I would
mention, and which comes nearer to the heart of the matter than
anything that has yet been said. Learn to look upon any pains and
injuries which you may have to endure as you would upon the same
pains and injuries endured by someone else. If sick and suffering,
remember what you would say to someone else