In fact, most of the time it is not. We suffer, as I said, a thousand little deaths before the big one, but we do not seem to learn anything from them. We fail to see that when we do finally, let go of that which we were holding, we move on. We are resurrected. We are liberated into a new situation.
Life is mad eof such stages.
The life of which we are currently conscious, this one we are living right now, if you are more than two months old, has seen thousands of little deaths, and, if you are living a life of striving, a few major ones. But we go on. And if we have the wisdom to let go of that which we had, let go of the identification with it, we grow from the experience. The Thinker, compared such tests with the tempering of a blade. He knew that only by the alternate application of heat and cold could indestructible strength be forged.