To be a "Master of Death"

[Somerled32]

I recently had an interesting conversation with a fellow RFer who complemented me on my avatar (The Deathly Hallows, for those who might not know, and if I might change it later). I responded by saying, "Hey, aren't we all trying to become masters of death?" To which I received a reply that this person had been 'around' too long, and it reminded me that others interpret literature differently than I do (I know, how easily we get absorbed in our own opinions) no matter how obvious my interpretation appears to me.

Being a...fairly devoted... HP fan I derive a lot of meaning from the series, and I would like to hear from others what being a "master of death" means to you.

I'll start...to me, it means to be comfortable with your own mortality and accepting what happens after this life, come what may.

 

[Madhuri]

I do not tend to think about 'mastering' death. I would probably never use that term. I do think that we can overcome fear of death and attachment to physical life.

 

[Somerled32]

If I may clarify, by "mastering" death, I'm merely attempting to view popular literature through the scope of metaphor.
I don't see the term "mastering" as a metaphor for obtaining immortality (to me the immortality of the soul, or conservation of consciousness, is something I accept as a given) I see the term "master of death" a metaphor for ones capacity for the acceptance (and even welcoming) of one's own inevitable mortality.

 

[Renji]

No idea for now. Btw, I'm also a HP fan.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

There's a Zen story, that goes something like this: In Japan, there was a monastery where there lived an old Zen roshi. The town this monastery was in was being overrun by an opposing army, and all the townspeople ran for their lives, all except this roshi. When the general of the army went into the monastery, the roshi did not give him the common greetings and courtesies. The general, angered by this, said "do you realize that I am a man who can run you through with my sword, and not even bat an eye?" To which the roshi replied, "Do you realize that I am a man who can be ran through by a sword, and not bat an eye?" The general was amazed at the wisdom of the roshi, and became his disciple.

 

[Drax]

I recently had an interesting conversation with a fellow RFer who complemented me on my avatar (The Deathly Hallows, for those who might not know, and if I might change it later). I responded by saying, "Hey, aren't we all trying to become masters of death?" To which I received a reply that this person had been 'around' too long, and it reminded me that others interpret literature differently than I do (I know, how easily we get absorbed in our own opinions) no matter how obvious my interpretation appears to me.

Being a...fairly devoted... HP fan I derive a lot of meaning from the series, and I would like to hear from others what being a "master of death" means to you.

I'll start...to me, it means to be comfortable with your own mortality and accepting what happens after this life, come what may.

Some would say to not die . . .

Perhaps it could mean (personal) that you choose when/how to die (external) choose when/how others die?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

To be a master of death is to simply have experienced death.

A little quote from Tyler Durden: "Only after disaster can we be resurrected."


In the same sense, only after life can we experience death.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Masters of death remember the first time with little concern for the second, and then shrug it off as nothing special.

 

[Somerled32]

Masters of death remember the first time with little concern for the second, and then shrug it off as nothing special.

Quoi?

 

[Twilight Hue]

Quoi?

Straight skinny? OK.

Consider the conditions before conception. How we concern ourselves over the inevitably of death while living at present whereas upon realising that "returning" to essentially the same conditions is really nothing at all to be feared. Masters IMO who fully realise and understand this, happen to be relatively unconcerned about the matter as it stands.