Die at the right time!

This is either the most absurd statement than can be uttered or the most inescapable. The coincidence of a timed death, a departure from this life that harmonizes with one’s goals, purposes… I assume that you are aware of the goals which animate you? I mean those for which you have dedicated your heart, those days and hours of effort that become less, like sand flowing downward into the neck of an hourglass.

Martin Heidegger and Jean Paul Sartre write that we are “thrown” into this world. As if you and I materialized from nowhere, with no say about the timing, or the conditions, or the parents which were in charge of us for 20 years or so. Our arrival is a slow wake up to confusion, which gradually becomes less if we are lucky. So we were blasted into the world, ill or well timed as it was. And now I am advised to exercise control over the timing of my departure? Shall I laugh or cry now?

How many ways might a person die? I suppose infinitely many. I have witnessed several horrific departures and I suppose you have too. There are times when death surprises one, as a lightning strike on a sunny day. The opposite extreme is to hang on as the body and mind incrementally fails over some expanse of time. Time, as a presence, captures our attention. It’s as if “time” itself is a character in every departure event.

Even so, Nietzsche directly admonishes us to consider the possibility of a “right time” death. Nietzsche/Zarathustra is acutely aware of how absurd this sounds. Events with rare exception take their own course in time. If an exact, sweet-spot of timing is what you desire, well – perhaps you’d be better off not to have been born. Life is wild and woolly! To what extent is good timing a feature of how you live your life? That’s where Nietzsche would have us begin with this conundrum.

Many die too late,
and some die too early.
Yet strange sounds the precept:
“Die at the right time!

Die at the right time: so teaches Zarathustra.

To be sure, he who never lives at the right time,
how could he ever die at the right time?
Would that he might never be born!
— Thus do I advise
the superfluous ones.

Everyone thinks about death, more to the point, of one’s own death. (Though it’s never voiced to others) Even one who is manifestly not serious, in the quiet of night wonders about what is ultimately in store. The hollowest nut…

Rather than the pretense of secret, Zarathustra suggest we “turn into” our inevitable demise and have a grand party, a festival of celebration. Such events feature hors d’oeuvres, and plenty of libation, lots of story telling, reflecting upon a life-well-lived, and the promise which that holds for the living.

But even the superfluous ones
make much ado about their death,
and even the hollowest nut wants to be cracked.

Every one regards dying as a great matter:
but as yet death is not a festival.
Not yet have people learned
to inaugurate the finest festivals.
The consummating death I show to you,
which becomes a stimulus
and promise to the living.

We rightfully ignorant of the extent of our influence. Others who have served as role models for us usually were unaware of their importance to us. Why not die well, an example of the honor of a fulfilled life? Is not life a matter of promise-keeping, – especially those we make to ourselves? Nietzsche, mentions those who expend their quotient of life, to protect those they love. This was the ancient Greco-Roman ideal of a good death. Dying intentionally, with one’s sword in hand. One thing, only one is sure: you must die,

His death, dies the consummating one
triumphantly, surrounded by hoping and promising ones.
Thus should one learn to die;

and there should be no festival
at which such a dying one
does not consecrate the oaths of the living!
Thus to die is best;
the next best, however, is to die in battle,
and sacrifice a great soul.
But to the fighter
equally hateful as to the victor,
is your grinning death
which steals nigh like a thief,
–and yet comes as master.

Nietzsche did not believe that death itself was unnatural, alien to our humanity. He simply desired to choose the when and the where of his death. A timely death is about considered goals accomplished, about the “hand-off” to the up and coming ones, who will succeed us.

My death, praise I to you,
the voluntary death,
which comes to me because
I want it.

And when shall I want it? – He that has a goal and an heir,
wants death at the right time
for the goal and the heir.

And out of reverence for the goal and the heir,
he will hang up no more withered wreaths in the sanctuary of life.

Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Thomas Common, Voluntary Death No. 21

Yes. There is a song to inspire our spirits: And When I Die by Blood, Sweat and Tears. I wish I could have known Clayton Thomas! The lyric exudes love for this world…

More tomorrow.