Naked Came I

Naked Came I

My Singaporean colleague Alex and I would ocassionally joke about our prolonged state of bachelorhood. He is older than me, already in his forties, but has so far chosen to remain single.

He once commented that everyone would ultimately need to get married because no one wants to die alone. I replied to him: "Everyone dies alone".

When I said that I was reminded of the title of a book I had read as a teenager about the life of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin called Naked Came I. I was then crazy about painters and sculptors and perhaps even dreamt of becoming one. Rodin is most famous for his masterpiece called The Thinker.

The title, if my memory is not playing tricks on me, is taken from a line from Cervantes' Don Quixote which goes: "Naked came I into this world and naked must I go out".

That line has lingered in my mind ever since. It somehow expresses starkly the existential reality everyone has to face: Ultimately we--stripped of our material trappings, our comfortable cushion of family and friends--take responsibility for the lives we lead and would have to face the consequences of our actions alone. We all will have to face God alone.

Family and friends could be there on our deathbed; but they do not take responsibility for the decisions and actions that we have made throughout our lives. We alone, choose the path that brings us for better or for worse to that Final Confrontation with God.

I am a spiritual person as opposed to a religious one. My liberal use of the word "God" does not imply that I am affiliated to any religious persuasion. I am a student of religions and I take every opportunity to learn from friends who are more knowledgeable than me in the various faiths that they have commited themselves to.

Throughout our lives, we will always need the support of our family and friends. As the cliche goes: No one is an island. I myself will bend over backwards to help a friend in need. But I will try not to inconvenience a friend as far as possible.

To me self-reliance and independence are good virtues. I came naked into this world; I make do with whatever that is given me; I try to practise whatever talents that have been bestowed upon me and pursue them with a sincere and selfless honesty; and in the end, I will still have to leave all the material fruits of my labour behind.

One day I shall go with the peace of mind of a man who knows that he has done his best. I shall go grateful to all the people who have helped me along the way. And I shall go without any grudges or regrets.

Naked came I into this world, and naked must I go out. That is how I choose to live my life.