In a world full of prestige TV, one small, tender series broke my film-geek defenses—and made me cry every single time. After Life (currently on Netflix) is the most personally moving TV series I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something....
Philosophy
Life is hard. The grind of obligations. The stresses. The frustrations. Sometimes it feels like we’re barely keeping our heads above water. So we ask ourselves: Why do we live? What's it all for? Why do we even bother? I believe we live for something so uniquely human that we often overlook it. I believe we live for the aesthetic experience of life.
I want to talk to you about a few reasons to live, and to love being alive. But first I want to talk about death, because death helps us appreciate life. It puts things in perspective. The first time this was really clear to me was when I was 17 years old and almost died.
Life is precious, but we often don’t think of it that way.We take life for granted because it has always been with us and we have never known a time without it.In reality, life—especially human life—is the most rare and precious of privileges.
I stand outside on one of those perfectly beautiful days, feeling the breeze on my face and on my arms. I look at the swaying trees and grasses around me, and at the sun and clouds in the sky above. I am filled with a sense of perfection and awe. What’s amazing to me is that the wonder-filled beauty of the world is not a dream.
For me, when choking from stress in life, it’s helpful if I can find a time and place away from everything where I can be alone with my thoughts and surround myself with nothing but reminders of the giftness of life. During such times, I can remember and appreciate again what is really important in life. The fact that I get to breathe air into my lungs. The fact that I get to....
