we begin our journey to death from the day…

we begin our journey to death from the day we are born. But when we are reminded of our final destination, we react with the same kind of shock express at a doctors office. A coffin was displayed prominently in a synagogue to the outsider. It might appear morbid, but those who understand its message is a profound statement with a demand for introspection by its viewers.

— from The Landing (Death) · Hope, Not Fear by Rabbi Benjamin Blech

In the book

None of us truly want to believe we are mortal; we fly along as though we will be airborne forever, because we cannot picture our own absence, and so we quietly deny that the descent is coming at all. We begin our approach to the ground from the very day we are born, and yet when we are finally reminded of where we are headed, we react with the same shock a man feels at the doctor's office — I once saw a coffin set out at the front of a synagogue to make exactly that point, and watched a whole room flinch. Every one of us knows full well that a child we bring into the world will one day die; we simply refuse to keep the knowledge in the cockpit with us. — The Landing (Death)

Also belongs to

Related