Serendipitous Moments

 

Arun Kumar

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.

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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!

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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 thereby, turn it into wisdom. A task, easier said than done.

Ciao.