tried to read this all day but it's been down...google cache version:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:http://www.post-gazette....
CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
31–35 of 35 posts
Re: CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
#32A few weeks ago, I was out to dinner with my parents and my grandparents. My grandfather is 90 years old and in relatively good health but he's slowed down a lot recently. My family has gotten much less religious over the years (we're Jewish) as it has come out that no one really believes in the religion, from my grandparents on down. The thought of my grandfather facing his own death with no faith really depressed m…
"The Wall" by Jean-Paul Sartre deals with these issues. I read it in some BS French Lit class, but "The Wall" was one that stuck with me. I'd recommend reading it (no long at all) as it gives a good depiction of what it's like facing death secularly.
Re: CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
#33A few weeks ago, I was out to dinner with my parents and my grandparents. My grandfather is 90 years old and in relatively good health but he's slowed down a lot recently. My family has gotten much less religious over the years (we're Jewish) as it has come out that no one really believes in the religion, from my grandparents on down. The thought of my grandfather facing his own death with no faith really depressed m…
Any happy living being will not find satisfaction in death. You just have to take the existential outlook that you may die or be immortal, in either case you have to define and strive for happiness. I remember as a child thinking "death will never happen to me." I also used to find refuge in belief, until I realized it was just a delusion.
I found that liberating, though. If life is here for a moment or forever, it is best not to let death define it. Just live.
Richard Carrier has a few essays on secular valuation of life; you might want to check those out. Keep striving...
Re: CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
#34It's sad that we have to be reminded of it, but this just reaffirms that the little bubble world of YC, TechCrunch, and Web 2.Oh really don't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of life. This guy wouldn't trade some extra time with his family for all the startups and VC cash in the world. It just puts things into perspective.
Better to live a day as a lion... you know the rest. Maybe I'm not old enough, maybe it's because I don't have a family, but I'd rather do something few others have done than just lay around with my family until they send me off to the retirement home. So, I disagree with your position 100%. Anyone have a link to video of the guy who rides on top of the high speed train shortly before he dies of cancer?
Re: CMU professor gives his last lesson on life
#35A few weeks ago, I was out to dinner with my parents and my grandparents. My grandfather is 90 years old and in relatively good health but he's slowed down a lot recently. My family has gotten much less religious over the years (we're Jewish) as it has come out that no one really believes in the religion, from my grandparents on down. The thought of my grandfather facing his own death with no faith really depressed m…
someone tried to give you an answer here