Daily Excerpt: Passing On; Preparing for the Afterlife (Romer) - Meet Joe Black


Excerpt from Passing On: Preparing for the Afterlife by Joanna Romer

Meet Joe Black

 At the beginning of the film Meet Joe Black, Anthony Hopkins’ 65-year-old character is awakened from his sleep one night by a voice saying, “Yes…yes…” He continues hearing the strange voice as time goes on, telling him odd things like: “I want you to get swept away”—until he meets the Angel of Death, played by Brad Pitt. The angel stays with Hopkins’ character, preparing him for death (and also, evidently, learning a thing or two about life for himself).

Do we have people in our lives—perhaps angels—who come to us as the time grows nearer to help prepare us for what is to come? This is an interesting thought (and if such beings look like Brad Pitt, we may not mind too much). In Meet Joe Black, the angel helps Hopkins’ character make peace with his family and himself before he passes on. I believe that’s what our angel encounters are for: to help us find peace. The world is constantly pulling the rug out from under us: unexpected bills, health ailments, relationship problems. Yet underneath, if we are lucky, we begin to sense a “self” that has been with us consistently since our youth. It is a self that has often been relegated to the shadows, while our big “public” self does other things, starring in any number of life-roles: student, career achiever, lover, husband or wife, parent, perhaps even a philanthropist of one type or another. These roles are very important to us, but as we grow older, their importance seems to fade, and the “self” behind all the drama emerges as the real hero or heroine.

Who is this self? It is different for everyone, of course, but for me, it is a peaceful soul, and it is unaccountably happy. I say unaccountably because, in my various life-roles, there was usually a lot of worry—maybe that’s true for everyone. And maybe everyone’s true self becomes happier and more peaceful as they grow older.

The question is, once we find this happy, peaceful self, can we just ride that on into the afterlife? How is this done? Anthony Hopkins’ character in Meet Joe Black walked up some steps, angel in tow, with a smile on his face. He’d had some warning; he’d gotten his head together before it was time to go on. Will the rest of us get that same opportunity?


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