Death Bed Reading
What will you have on your death stand? Whose thoughts will occupy your mind in your final moments in the dying of the light, as the breath comes short and the cancer cells conquer organ after organ? Speaking for myself, I'll take Plato over Putnam, Boethius over Butchvarov, Aquinas over Quine, the Psalms over Sartre. Reading Quine at a moment like that would like looking for bread among the dusty and jagged shards in a stone quarry.
It is not too soon to begin making a list.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Death Bed Reading
- Death Wish
Posted by William F. Vallicella on
Wednesday January 24, 2007 at 3:34pm
I often wonder, though, what music will be going through my mind during its — during my — last moments of consciousness. Choosing something ahead of time would be too contrived; I expect that whatever it is, it will be both unforeseeable and appropriate.
Addendum: I would make an exception for Plato. However, the good that is gotten from Plato does not lie in the pages of his dialogs. But perhaps this is the case for any good book; they leave their mark on the mind of the perceptive reader. In that sense alone will they be present in my final thoughts.
Your question is fair enough. I agree: either transformation or dissolution. If dissolution, then it doesn't matter what your last thoughts are. But if transformation, then the quality of your consciousness, the nature of your thoughts, at the moment of death may affect how the transformation will go and where you will end up.
How about: 101 Things to Do Before You Die.
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