The Black Book - On Death

Death is so named, to describe the inescapable condition of being: that one day we will cease to be. This finite word brings a feeling of loss, and the pain and mourning that comes with it stirs up a disturbing connection to the finite. A cold, dark void that reminds us that nothing that is something, is to last forever. Once you have met it by being confronted with an ending of something that you did not want to let go of, the world will be forever changed. For you will have met the abyss of loss that makes you understand that one day you, too, shall be no more.

The Black Book – On Death is the 11th and final book in the series ‘Colour Spectrum of 11 Spaces’, which consists of 11 Calligraphic Manuscripts: handwritten books created between 2011 and 2015 on the current condition of life. As a whole, the Colour Spectrum addresses 11 Spaces that a life navigates and meets through its existence. We all know these Spaces, though we may understand them differently. In colour theory, black absorbs all other colours and is the absence of light, which corresponds to the theme of this book. The Black Book – On Death stands for everything that is difficult in life. It is the darkness that absorbs us once in a while, and can remove all the other colours when given too much attention and power. It is the hard space that deals with fear, anxiety, pain, grief, suffering and sorrow, but which, according to this book, is all just an indication of how much life means. Death is many times seen as taboo, something to be avoided, causing it to grow, often in destructive ways. This book encourages us to embrace the Space of Death and see it in a more constructive way. It underlines that the Spaceof Death, when made a conscious part of being, can make you see clearly when something is Genuinely over and needs to be released, whatever or whoever it may be.

The Space of Death reminds us that the more painful it is to let go, the more indicative it is of how much it meant, of how much love and life was there. Seen in this constructive light, The Black Book – On Death is a homage to Life that addresses why it truly matters, and offers us the inspiration to grasp all of it, when it is there. Not waiting, postponing, or suppressing it, but living and loving to the utmost extent of our capacity, only to let it go. Taking on whatever rituals of mourning we may need to truly release it, and embrace the feelings of sorrow, but only for as long as needed - for then we must leave this Black Space again, and allow life’s colours to unfold anew. For when Death has closed what is now over, Life offers a new Beginning, again and again, until the day the Genuine Finite Death com...