Requiescat in pace
In the year 1111, Imam Al Ghazali, when he died, left under his head a poem he had written some time earlier:
"I am a bird
This body was my cage
And I flew away
Leaving it as a sign."
On August 23, 2022, a dead man was found in the Amazon rainforest, lying in his hammock, covered with macaw feathers. He showed no signs of violence, on the contrary, his face expressed great serenity. It was the man of the hole, the last survivor of an indigenous tribe. Since the massacre of his tribe, he had fled from man and lived totally alone in the jungle for over thirty years.
It is likely that the man felt death approaching and peacefully prepared to welcome it. Perhaps he flew away with it. Do the hermits of Mount Athos feel the breath of death on their neck when they weaken? Would they welcome it with as much delicacy, as much consideration? What should we think of a world where the wise man prefers the company of death to that of men?