Jesus died at the hands of The Establishment embodied in the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas who saw Jesus as an enemy of the High Priestly way of doing things. The Buddha died from eating poorly cooked pork (How enlightened was that?). Both Buddha and Jesus were living their life as they thought their life needed to be lived–and would have lived out their lives without killing anyone they thought was interfering with them doing that. The Tao Te Ching precisely declares the destiny that awaits all of us: “Get in there and do your thing and don’t worry about the outcome!” (A paraphrase by Joseph Campbell).
Our truth is more important than our safety. How we see things is who we are. Regular retreats into the emptiness/stillness/silence enhance our chances at achieving clarity of vision. Being true to ourselves in serving that vision is “the secret cause” of our death according to James Joyce. Living in the service of clarity about who we are and what is ours to do in the time left for living is a cause worthy of us. With that in hand, we have what it takes to face every day all the way to the last one. May it be so said of all of us! A better epitaph I cannot imagine.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 