https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=V0hmBCAFOV4
I’ve worked in emergency medicine for 11 years and I’ve seen a lot of death yet I’m so afraid of dying any advice on how I can be at peace with dying and mortality. Well I don’t know if anybody’s ever really at peace with that. I mean I think what you can take away read Socrates apology there’s two versions of it there’s Plato’s version and there’s his name Aristophanes there’s another version don’t think that’s right anyways there’s two versions of Socrates apology it’s very short it’s only a few pages long 15 pages or something read them both why well because Socrates puts together puts forward a very interesting proposition and I don’t know really what to make of it so I asked my parents once if they could take a drug that would return them to being 18 physically but they contain they had all the wisdom that they’d have crude over the years they wouldn’t lose that if they would do it and they didn’t say yes right away you know and and I don’t know if they ever did tell me what they had decided but was interesting to me that they didn’t say they didn’t say no right away either you know it’s interesting that they had to think about it because you’d think that if you were offered something approximating immortality and health you’d take it and maybe you would but but then here’s an alternative proposition and I don’t know it’s not like I’m not trying to maintain myself you know if I could extract out an extra decade or an extra 20 years keeping myself healthy that seems like a good thing would I want to live 500 years whoo that’s a long time man thousand years I don’t know it’s a long time but the alternative is you know truncated existence with death and that’s also not particularly palatable and so is there a medicament for mortality well Socrates but implicit in Socrates apology is the following idea imagine you lived your life fully now would mean that you you said what you had to say when you had to say it you did what you needed to do when you needed to do it and you availed yourself of every opportunity that came your way right so you’d exhaust yourself in the service of your life let’s say maybe by the time you were old you’d have had enough you know and you could just let go and you know you do see this with people is that and we kind of know this even when we grieve you know maybe you have a relative who’s 95 and they die and and people are sad but you say well you know they lived a full life and the fuller the life the less in some ways the less catastrophic the demise appears to be and so it might be that if you fully exhausted yourself that your life would be enough so I know you know people I said that you mentioned this already people who are old and they look back in their life they’re often sorrowful and regretful for the things they didn’t do you know the things they left undone and maybe now can’t do you know you could imagine those of you who’ve been parents maybe have grown kids now you think well if you could have children again would you and maybe the answer is yes but but another answer is well you know I had kids already already did that and and me and if you did that well maybe that’s enough you know we have grandkids now and that’s not exactly the same as having kids it’s sort of it’s kids light right and and it’s wonderful but you made a joke about that when you were on stage you know you said they have all the advantages of children grandchildren with none of the disadvantages and that’s a joke but everybody laughs because everybody gets that and it’s great to have grandchildren and like would we return to our youth and do it again well that’s a very difficult question to answer right because you just well you just don’t have the you can’t tell what you decide unless that option was actually available to you and maybe the answer is yes and maybe the answer is no because you know being there done that on to whatever the next thing is and so I would say if you’re afraid of death take a look at how you’re living and see if if you’re all in and maybe if you’re all in enough that’s good enough I think that’s right I think that’s right and then I think also if you’re all in and death visits and you know it’s impending you could say to yourself I did everything that I was here to do at least then you’re not going to torture yourself with that as you’re facing death that’s something to