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Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich,

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and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life.

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Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye. 

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The intention behind these podcast episodes, my books, monthly emails, and online posts, 

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is to offer some food-for-thought so we can contemplate certain topics more deeply,

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and perhaps discuss more openly when social etiquette considers them uncomfortable

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or even taboo. This year alone, we've tackled insecurities, judgment, identity, 

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and forgiveness, among many other subjects, and now, as the year is coming to an end,

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I figured we can talk about The End. Regardless of race, gender, religion, age,

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political affiliation, or even species classification, what we all have in common

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is the very thing we've been raised to never discuss or even think about: Death.

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Any mention of it is often considered morbid, defined by the dictionary as an abnormal

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and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects. Isn't that exactly 

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what the Buddha's father tried to do? Shelter his young son from any mention of old age,

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sickness, and death? Our culture celebrates youth and vitality by efficiently filing

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the elderly and less-abled into retirement communities, practically out of sight.

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How are we supposed to develop a healthy relationship with these facts of life 

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and death if we don't even see or talk about them on a regular basis? In what

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used to be minority circles, interracial couples, for example, the rule of thumb has

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always been: Visibility leads to acceptance.

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The more often we encounter something, the more comfortable we become 

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with its existence; be it women in power, same-gender couples, or blue hair.

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So, the opposite must also be true: the less often we see something, the less prepared

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we are to deal with it. Even if you are one of the few people who've seen a corpse,

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it was probably in a coffin wearing makeup and dressed in fine apparel.

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This gives a whole new meaning to "Out of sight out of mind." If we don't see it, 

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we don't have to deal with it, which is wrong in this case because we do and WILL have 

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to deal with it. But if we're ill-prepared for death when it comes in whatever form 

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it chooses, either for someone else or for ourselves, then the experience can be 

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downright devastating when it doesn't have to be. So how is it that despite death being 

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all around us, we are still shocked by it the same way a lazy student is thrown off by

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a pop quiz? I mean, from a very young age, life has prepared us for death's inevitability

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by first taking our goldfish or dog away, for example, then our grandparents, parents,

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friends, often without any warning, and sometimes very early on. Yet, people still 

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claim to be devastated by the loss of a loved one who was taken "unexpectedly."

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How is that possible? Even if they mean the timing was unexpected, having an expectation

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that someone, anyone, would live to be a certain age before they die, is proof that

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we are not honest with ourselves about death's seemingly irrational timing.

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Somehow in our generally overly pessimistic society, we are unreasonably optimistic about

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how long everyone we know is going to live, including ourselves. I would love to see more

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of us honest with ourselves and our children about the fact that anyone's last breath could

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be taken at any moment. I think we would appreciate each other and life itself

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a whole lot more. We would save ourselves much devastation while significantly

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increasing our celebration of every living moment; don't you think? We are not

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helping ourselves or anyone else by avoiding the very topic that makes us uncomfortable.

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If you find value in this podcast and the work I do through the Prison Library Project,

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veteran support groups, or recovery and rehab clinics, show your support

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with just one dollar a month through Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp

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It's how these podcast episodes are available without commercials for car insurance or

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a mattress in a box. It's all thanks to listeners and readers just like you.

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Thank you for telling your friends about this podcast, and for having more open 

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conversations about some of these topics with the people in your life. 

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The more we talk about them, the less taboo or uncomfortable they will be for future

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generations. Just look at how open discussion and visibility has led to wider awareness 

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and acceptance of gender and sexual identity, for example, racism, women's rights, 

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animal cruelty, and so on. The first step to being the change we wish to see in the world 

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is bringing those topics into our daily conversations, instead of only discussing

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them in hushed voices. So, thank you for being the change. Namaste.

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Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless 

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and Buddhist Boot Camp.

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For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com,

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where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project, 

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watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode,

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and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions.

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Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏🏼