RE: Does one need to go through traumatic experience to truly appreciate living?
May 14, 2018 at 10:05 am
(This post was last modified: May 14, 2018 at 10:11 am by Whateverist.)
(May 13, 2018 at 10:09 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: I think it depends on the individual.
There are those who go through a traumatic event and get a better appreciation for life. And there are those who live every day that way without ever having anything bad happen to them (bastards!).
Then there's me. I had a very bad motorcycle accident in my early 20s, and my heart stopped for nearly 20 minutes. And I'm still the same miserable, somewhat psychotic individual I've always been. Except, perhaps, that I have a death wish (according to my parents).
Whoa! You had an actual NDE. What kept you from going into the light? See any dead relatives there? Did some old codger tell you "nope, not yet"?
Personally I find every death-day, both the actual and the day it is commemorated, to have a similar effect. Those and the adrenaline rush of my own close calls make me more deeply aware of life's transience and preciousness. Hell, I can even get that from certain books and movies.
I was just hearing about some culture in which people try to remind themselves several times a day of their mortality. They're supposed to some of the happiest people on earth. Can anyone remember what group of people that would be?
