I

People spend their lives chasing after money and fame;

they clutch at these straws,

thinking they are their only means of support,

as if by having them they could live on,

and they could be exempt from death.

But it’s only when they are about to die,

it’s only when they are about to die

that they realize how distant these things are from them,

how distant these things are from them,

and they realize how weak they are in the face of death,

how easily they shatter,

how lonely and helpless they are, with nowhere to turn, with nowhere to turn.

II

They realize that life cannot be bought with money or fame,

that no matter how wealthy a person may be,

no matter how lofty their status,

all are equally poor and insignificant in the face of death.

They realize that money cannot buy life, that fame cannot erase death,

that neither money nor fame can lengthen a person’s life

by a single minute, a single second.

The more people feel this way,

the more they yearn to keep on living, to keep on living;

the more people feel this way, the more they dread the approach of death,

the more they dread the approach of death.

Only at this point do they truly realize

that their lives do not belong to them, are not theirs to control,

and that one has no say over whether one lives or dies—

that all of this lies outside of one’s control,

that all of this lies outside of one’s control.

from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III