Varanasi

Varanasi is a mythic and chaotic kaleidoscope of holy men, pilgrims, foraging animals, color and, of course, the Ganges River (the most sacred river to Hindus). Ancient roots and modern artifacts mix with touts, ritual, art and sweltering heat. We met scholars, artists, street hustlers, guides, merchants, boatman, Swami's and holy cows. Varanasi is a beautiful and timeless place.

The arc that bridges birth and death is present in this ancient city and visibly seen. Walking among the burning Ghats, where I could not only see human skulls, legs and other body parts being consumed by fire one foot away from my own, but actually inhale the smoke of the incinerating flesh, was one of the most primal and profound experiences I've ever had.

American culture has a very different relationship to death: it’s not seen.  It stays hidden on the margins. In funeral homes, cemeteries and the obituaries. Yet it walks like a specter among us.

Socrates said that no one knows whether death may be one of our greatest blessings yet we fear it as if was the greatest evil. It’s obvious our culture has an obsession with youth and an aversion to aging and mortality. But sequestering old age, disease and death from the heartbeat of society only increases the likelihood that when it does come knocking, it will probably look like the grim reaper. According to Socrates this kind of personification is a projection of our fears.

Walking amid the burning Ghats of Varanasi I could feel a fear and trembling upwelling from my core. Yet all around me people treated death like what it was: an everyday thing.  Encountering death in this way, while intense, granted me a powerful sense of vitality. I was alive in the midst of death. When would my time be up? While the date might be uncertain its underlying reality is not. Close encounters with death provide a powerful way of clarifying the awareness and intentions of the living. Under the guidance of Socratic questioning the fear of death may be found unwarranted. If one was not afraid of death, how would one live? The words of Helen Keller come to mind, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”