October 25: Death as Our Ally

Gregg’s Reflection

I remember first encountering Don Juan’s teaching through Carlos Castaneda’s writings: “Ask death to be your ally.” At first the words struck me as dark and unsettling. But over time, I began to see the wisdom in them. If we live as though time is endless, we risk squandering our days. If we live with the awareness that our time is limited, each moment becomes a gift to be cherished.

Saint Benedict told his monks to “daily keep your death before your eyes.” That practice is not meant to weigh us down in dread, but to awaken us to life’s true purpose. When we hold death close, we stop clinging to trivial things, resentments, or empty pursuits. Our mortality clarifies our values and sharpens our choices, reminding us to live in love, to forgive quickly, and to spend ourselves on what truly matters.

When I walk in the mountains, I often sense both the beauty of creation and the brevity of my days. The peaks have stood for millennia, while my life is but a breath. And yet, precisely because it is fleeting, each sunrise, each conversation, each act of kindness carries eternal significance. Death as an ally teaches me not to fear the end, but to embrace the sacredness of now.

To keep death before us is to recognize that we are held in God’s hands, in life and in death. It is to remember that our days are limited but filled with meaning, and that even our dying will one day be gathered up into God’s eternal love. Far from casting a shadow, death as our ally becomes the light that reveals the true contours of life.

Scripture

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Ancient Quotes

Daily keep your death before your eyes.

Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 4 

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long if you know how to use it.

Seneca, On the Shortness of Life, §1

Modern Quotes

If you hold a healthy awareness of your own mortality, your eyes will be opened to the glory and grandeur of life.

Parker Palmer

Journaling Prompts

• How do you usually respond to the thought of your mortality—avoidance, fear, or openness?
  
  
• What might change in your daily life if you kept death “before your eyes” as Benedict counsels?
  
  
• How does remembering your death help you live with more clarity and purpose today?
  
  
• What would it mean to embrace death as an ally rather than an enemy?

Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 43 Reflection: Suffering/ Death & Dying