BERTRAND RUSSELL on LIFE AND DEATH

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During our lives we need to widen our interests into a greater whole,
until, bit by bit, the walls of ego recede and
we become merged into a universal life.

("Many people, most maybe, die aged 25 and get buried at 75!")
(Benjamin Franklin)

Each indivual existence should be like a small river.
At first small and vulnerable, trickling through the earth,
then narrow and contained, rushing passionately between its banks.
Gradually it grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more softly
and, in the end, without any visible break, they become merged into the sea,
painlessly losing their individual status.

The person who can view life in this way need not fear death,
since all that he cares for will continue.

Yet
I do so hate to leave this world.