Reflection on Death: A Means of Self-Correction
Every person will have to face death some day or the other. After death, we can no longer act but can only face the consequences of our actions.
Man is an intensely sensitive being. He cannot easily tolerate any difficulty, no matter how small. Therefore, people need to reflect on how they will manage to live amidst very difficult conditions after they die, if that is what is going to happen with them. If we ponder over this issue seriously, it can create a revolution in our lives.
The Quran says that when the inhabitants of Paradise enter Paradise, they will say: “Praise be to God who has taken away all sorrow from us.” (35:34). A life of pain is the most intolerable thing for a human being. A life free of pain is the most desirable thing for a person. If we reflect on this matter with the attention it deserves, death will become our greatest concern. We will think more about death than about life.
The realization that we all have to die can work as a ‘masterstroke’. In the game of caroms, a ‘masterstroke’ is a stroke that causes all the coins on the board to shift from their present position. In the same way, if we develop the awareness of our eventual death, every corner of our minds will be shaken up. Our whole life will be completely transformed. A revolution will happen in our lives that will make us totally new people.
Ignoring the reality of our death makes us unaware of our own reality. In contrast, remembrance of our death makes us fully aware and alert.
Awareness of death makes a person very serious about life. The greatest concern for such a person becomes to realize who he is and what his future is. “What is my life?” he asks. “What is my death? What do I need to do in the phase of life before death? What is going to happen with me in the phase after death?”
Remembrance of death makes a person serious about the affairs of life. He begins to take stock of his life at every moment. If a person seriously thinks about death, it would change the entire focus of his life. His life would become Hereafter-oriented from being solely present world-oriented.
Someone who has adopted the path of worldliness, of worship of the world, is busy, at every moment, trying to earn worldly wealth. This is made possible for him because through this busyness of his he derives a certain sort of pleasure. Through his busyness he thinks he is going to construct a magnificent worldly future for himself. But if he knew that one day he will have to leave all his worldly acquisitions behind and depart from this world, he would no longer have any interest left in his occupation. This realization would become a means for a new thinking to develop in him. He will now think: “If nothing of the worldly wealth that I have earned will accompany me, I need to change the direction of my activities.”
In this way, if you get angry with someone and want to take revenge on him, remembrance of death can change the direction of your life. You will think: “When my taking revenge cannot harm anyone in the eternal sense, why should I waste my time doing that?”
Awareness of death serves as a reminder for us. It helps us reform our behaviour. It can take us away from negative actions and make us busy doing good actions. This thinking is a powerful means of self-correction. Awareness of death makes us serious about life and realistic in our approach. Death reminds us that one day we will have to depart from this world of humans and enter the world of God.
