We humans are both miracles and catastrophes. We must, he demanded, acknowledge both death and joy, horror and awe. It is an astonishment to be alive, and life calls on you to be astonished; but lifelong astonishment will take iron-willed discipline.
Wake, his writing tells us, over and over. Weep for this world and gasp for it. Wake, and pay attention to our mortality, to the precise ways in which beauty cuts through us. Pay attention to the softness of skin and the majesty of hands and feet. Attention — real, sustained, unflinching attention — is what this life, with its disasters and delights, demands of you.
And if a skeleton in the hall helps, well then: Bring on the skeletons.
- What John Donne Knew About Death Can Teach Us a Lot About Life adapted from Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell
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