An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome.
Source: Bertrand Russell: How to grow old, 1951 [In: Portraits from Memory and Other Essays, 1956
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Bertrand Russell is one of the leading thinkers of Western rationalism, but the view of life and death expressed in "Today's Words of Russell" may resonate with many people in the East as well. Russell was an avid reader of classical Chinese texts, including those of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and he stayed in China from October 1920 to early July 1921. Furthermore, in July 1921, on his way back to his home country, the United Kingdom, he also stayed in Japan for about two weeks.
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