Steve Jobs thoughts on death
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:35 pm
I am reading Steve Jobs' biography. He was certainly no saint. People call him a genius, and in some ways he was. He could also be an incredibly huge asshole. As I read, I alternate between admiring him greatly, and hating him. He knew he had serious flaws, and when he asked Walter Isaacson to research and write his biography, he told him not to hold back because he would never read it. So we get the warts and all life of Steve Jobs, which is far more interesting than any watered down biography would be. He tried religion in his life, but wasn't overly religious. His spirituality was influenced by buddhism. He often questioned whether there was a god. He once said he was 50/50 on it. He seemed agnostic to me. Anyway, he gave a commencement at Stanford University in 2005, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. For anyone who wonders how someone can find happiness and meaning in life without the gospel, I think these quotes sum it up quite nicely.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life.
"It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."