Quote 22
"Why not? Like I said, no one really believes they're going to die."
But everyone knows someone who has died, I said. Why is it so hard to think about dying?
"Because," Morrie continued, "most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half asleep, doing things we automatically thing we have to do." (13.21-23)
How ironic is it that although we exist as bundles of endless possibility, we walk around "half asleep"? Our experience is limited because we're lazy, doing only the things we have to do, instead of things that we could do.
Quote 23
"Yes. I look out that window every day. I notice the change in the trees, how strong the wind is blowing. It's as if I can see time actually passing through that windowpane. Because I know my time is almost done, I am drawn to nature like I'm seeing it for the first time." (13.43)
Because he's dying, Morrie can slow down and participate in the world around him. Nature is a beauty that is sometimes unappreciated because we're so used to it. If we try to make ourselves aware like Morrie, though, we can feel the wind almost for the first time.
Quote 24
"I know you think this is just about dying," he said, but it's like I keep telling you. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live." (15.37)
Here are some of Morrie's most famous words. He's been able to live a meaningful life with his illness, precisely because he knows that his days are numbered. It's like we said: The theme of living and existing is completely tied up with the theme of dying.