Death and its relevance to Marketing

This week’s blog was about to become another blog on strategic marketing, advice on how to improve your business, improve your bottom line etc., but one of my morning emails changed all that.

It was from a good friend of mine – Dr Christine Ridal - to advise that a mutual aquaintance had died – and in her memory she wrote this article below. Apart from any connotations of reincarnation, the other facts in this story have all been scientifically proven. Think about it.

How does it relate to a blog on strategic marketing? One of the basics and oft repeated idioms is that when looking to attract new customers you should look at what benefits, you, your products/services can bring to that person? What’s in it for him/her?

In reading Dr Christine Ridal’s story you will come to realize that “meaningful objectives” do work better for you in every way – and any monetary rewards become an automatic consequence of working towards “meaningful objectives”. Try it and see the results for yourself.

"Death isn’t a subject we often think or talk about. However, death is an integral part of life. All organisms have parts that are evolving and renewing, and parts that are dying and decaying simultaneously; we are living and dying at the same time. You may be feeling perfectly healthy as you read this article, but millions of cells in your body are dying right now. Your body is made up of cells, and cells are made up of atoms, which in turn are made up of electrons, protons and neutrons. These subatomic particles, moving about at amazing speed, are zooming in and out of existence.

Simultaneously, these atoms or molecules vibrate, dance and reconfigure continuously. The same goes for our cells that break down incessantly, only to regenerate: 98% of atoms in your body are replaced annually. The stomach lining partly packs up whenever we eat food and rebuilds itself about every five days; the skin, nails and hair cells are dying all the time and are made afresh every month. These individual cells die and renew frequently so the whole (your body) can live on. Similarly, we are a part of a bigger whole (the universe), and we die and renew to keep the bigger whole alive.

The universe is totally fluid and there is no fixed solidity anywhere. Everything and every organism is constantly transforming. When you eat an apple, its essence doesn’t disappear, its nutritious elements just get transformed into energy inside your body.

An adult was once a child, and the child once a fertilized egg. Through all these forms, of an egg, child and adult, the only constant is the underlying consciousness. All external appearances are impermanent. The only thing eternal is the formless consciousness that manifests in different forms from time to time.

We tend to strongly identify with our physical form – our body, mind and senses. We fail to recognize that the physical form is not solid matter, even though it appears so. It is essentially made up of fluid energy – the same energy that runs the universe. This energy (or consciousness) is unborn and undying and irrespective of whether we are dead or alive in human form, we remain this consciousness.

While we may die in the physical plane, our essence or consciousness never dies. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human experience. As we become familiar with this thought, it gives us a perspective on the purpose of our existence. As we see the ephemeral nature of all our sensual experiences, we start to become less identified with our physical self. We realize the illusionary nature of our pursuits for titles, power, money and external objects.

The purpose of reflecting on death is not to fear it, but to live in the awareness of the fragility of our existence. Reflecting on death guides us towards focusing on how we want to dedicate our lives towards more meaningful objectives. Only when we begin to know about death do we actually start living and can appreciate life’s beauty.

Often this wisdom about death only dawns on us as we approach death through old age or illness. We realize the impermanence of our egotistic pursuits and acquisitions. As death draws near the attachment to possessions and form begins to fade. That’s when people become more compassionate and focused on serving others. If only we could start to live this way when we are young and healthy, then we could create a meaningful life for ourselves.

If you had just 24 hours to live what would you do? "