In the wholeness of life, which you’re a fragment of, one node of an interconnected web of all that is alive – and in a leveled up higher stakes game – all that is conscious of itself being alive, each one without exception will at one point face the relentless, unapologetic, forceful, tragic finale of all we loved, wanted, remembered, held dear and valuable, of all our searches, hopes and dreams… death. We can’t even imagine this staggering apocalyptical notion of not being here, not being at all… the nothingness, the emptiness and antithesis of all you are is not a substitution by something -it’s just a void, blankness. As Jason Silva expressed his complete baffled awe and the need to be remembered by this notion: “There is an urge to carve one’s name on the tree, to say I was here and this meant something and it matters.. and it matters.”

When using the term “death” we mostly stick it onto the physical, the death of the body, cessation of all bodily functions, when all you were leaves (or just dies together with the body – depending on your stance on the immortal soul) the body, making it a shell, no more you than the teacup on the table. But the Mexican culture sees death as a threefold process, viewing it not a single event but a layered disappearance. The first death is the moment you first really realize your days here are limited, that you are mortal and that dying is inevitable. This is the first ripple that kicked you out of blissful ignorance. The second death is the the death of the body you’ll put in the ground. But the third one… Oh the third one is heart breaking – it is the last time someone says your name! This need to be a part of something and contribute is the root of all we do, of the need for expediency to achieve in our brief existence, because the sole idea of being given back to oblivion after being awoken for a few decades is so unbelievably painful. The only consolation is to be remembered or something along the lines “better to have loved and lost…”In the wonderful animated movie “Book of Life” exactly this principle is shown – dividing the underworld of the deceased into two parts – those who have died but are still living because they are remembered, and those who’ve died and are forgotten, who then truly vanish into nothing.

Your time is limited, use it well, be kind to all around you, chase your dream – because the all permeating tragedy of the third death can be postponed (although for most of us not completely eliminated) by who you decide to be in the world.