Serendipitous Moments
Sometimes out of blue, words fly across the sky of our consciousness and express what we have been trying to say for a long time and say it so much better.
Such serendipitous moments can happen while reading a book, clicking an innocuous link in some article we have been glancing through.
They could also be epiphanies while taking a shower and suddenly a vague feeling we have been trying to put into words finds the magic combination of words.
It happened a few evenings ago while watching a movie by Woody Allen — Rifkin’s Festival. Towards the end of the movie, the protagonist Mort is having a conversation with Death and what appears below is the script of that conversation.
_____
Mort: Why are you here?
Death: To have our final chess game.
Mort: I don’t have a chess set.
Death: I never leave home without mine.
Mort: Why are you doing this?
Death: To give you a chance to get to know me. To come to terms with me.
Mort: I’ll never come in terms with you.
Death: Then you’ll never be able to relax and enjoy your life.
Mort: Why are you suddenly being so kind? You’re usually ruthless.
Death: I’m not ruthless, I’m indifferent. I just hate to see a poor schmuck ruin his life over the inevitable.
Mort: Well, the way I feel this morning, you could take me right now for all I care.
Death: What’s this morning?
Mort: I’ve had the chance to look at my life over the last few weeks and…I realized I’ve made a lot of bad decisions
Death: Like what?
Mort: Like… Maybe I really was a snob. A sort of pedantic ass who puts people off with my so-called high-brow taste. All I know is my wife and I have split and my life has come up empty.
Death: Your life isn’t empty, it’s meaningless. Don’t confuse those two. It has no meaning for anybody but that doesn’t mean it has to be empty. You are a human being. You can make it full.
Mort: How?
Death: There’s work, family, love — the usual bullshit, but it’s reasonably effective. Even if you strike out — trying is good for you. Have you ever read “Sisyphus” by Camus?
Mort: Yes, and it gave me a bad dream. I’m pushing that rock up the hill, over and over, and it keeps falling back, and then I finally get the rock up to the top of the hill, and then what the hell do I have? A rock on a hill!
Death: You’re starting to get me depressed.
Mort: Should I just chuck my book and go back to teaching movies?
Death: I would. Unless you want to end up with 500 pages of turgid whining.
Mort: And maybe I’m just not a book writer. Maybe I’m a book reader. Person who likes to think, a teacher. My movie class was fun. Only…Maybe I was a little too rigid in my approach.
Death: I have to go. A got a million house calls to make.
Mort: No, wait, wait.
Death: Don’t worry, I’ll be back one day and then you’ll think it’s too soon.
Mort: You’ll be back? When?
Death: Depends. Do you smoke?
Mort: No.
Death: The trick is to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and lay off the saturated fats.
Mort: I do. I’m very careful.
Death: Good. Good. Make sure to exercise. It doesn’t have to be intense as long as it’s every day.
Mort: You’re fading out.
Death: No processed foods and don’t forget your colonoscopy!
_____
Before starting to watch the movie, I had no idea that I would be privy to this conversation. The words just hit home. When the scene in the movie was over, all I could think and say was WOW.
A few sentences in that dialog sequence hit home — If we don’t come to understand and be at peace with our mortality, we will never be able to relax and enjoy our life; why ruin our life over the inevitable; life has no meaning for anybody but that doesn’t mean it has to be empty.
And at the end, the advice from Death — eat well, live well, and the probability that you will live longer will get better — also right on the mark.
Perhaps, my mind was in the right energy state and was primed to be resonant to receive those words. The universe delivered what I was ready to receive.
Those words of wisdom were also a validation of thoughts that have been percolating through my mind. The hard part now is to turn that knowledge, internalize it, live by it, and turn it into wisdom. Easier said than done.
Ciao.
