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Find What You Love, and Let It Kill You

On living authentically, greeting death like an old friend, and leaving a meaningful legacy.

Adam Aushaf
The Apeiron Blog
7 min readApr 26, 2021

Photo by Luka Malic on Unsplash

Have you ever loved something so much, it hurts?

It could be a person, a place, an inanimate object, an activity — anything.

What do you do with it? Do you let it go so it stops hurting, thereby renouncing your love? Or do you hold on to it tightly and bear the pain?

Me? I chose the latter. Not because I’m a masochist (I don’t enjoy being hurt), but because some things are worth the pain.

Or, to go a step further: Some things are worth dying for — and if something is worth dying for, then it’s worth living for as well, isn’t it?

But I’m not here to romanticize mortality. Nor am I promoting suicidal behavior. There’s something important to be learned from the idea of a worthy death — you probably already know what it is, but I’m gonna put it into words for you anyway.

Let’s begin by reading a letter.

A False Message from Charles Bukowski

The title of this piece, “Find What You Love, and Let It Kill You,” is taken from a popular quote misattributed to Charles Bukowski, the renowned German-American…

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Published in The Apeiron Blog

An easy to read philosophical space that aims to elicit discussion and debate on matters of the universe.

Written by Adam Aushaf

No longer writing on Medium. Read my essays for free on Substack: aushaf.substack.com.

Responses (2)

What are your thoughts?

Whatever you expect will turn out to be different from what you expected. Even death and dying.
Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Tell him your plans.

"Find what you love and let it kill you." reminds me of "If you meet the Buddha on the road kill him." Both slogans are allegorical, mystical, and non-violent at heart. The Jewish admonition is to live for today, not for what may or may not come in…