"The Triumph of Death"

Today we went to Dover and Canterbury and while the white cliffs were inspiring, the castle beautifully historic, and Canterbury Cathedral tragically refurbished the message I took away was from the tomb of an archbishop. Archbishop Henry Chichele while living built a tomb with a top layer of his body in all his regalia and then below there is a sculpture of his dead rotting body. The message is that you cannot take any of the power and prestige that you can with you on during your lifetime.

There is an equality in death which Pieter Bruegel the Elder (a Northern Renaissance artist) touched upon in his painting 'The Triumph of Death" which illustration draws Monty Python's comedic rendition of the Black Plague - complete with knights calling "bring out your dead, bring out your dead". In Bruegel's painting even the King dies in the left corner, death spares no one. I was reminded of this message twice today and I keep reflecting on that idea. Not the pessimistic concept that we will all die and nothing we can do to change that but the idea that we should focus on the important things that we can take with us. How we nurture our lives and our actions are the things that really matter.