The Art of Palliative Medicine - 2016 Semester 2
The piece is an original I have written over the last week. The arpeggios and suspended chords are supposed to reflect how the ideal life is joyful and bizarre respectively. The process of writing a short piece reflects the struggle against complacency in thinking and creating. The medium of piano represents gratitude, as my mother taught and encouraged my musical education.
I learnt that being faced with a terminal illness should not change your ideas about anything. I thought a diagnosis such as this would have precipitated an existential crisis, yet this gentleman was able to fall back on previous thinking.
It is therefore necessary to avoid complacency in this area and have the necessary thinking done before it is too late. I would like to be able to articulate a rudimentary philosophical position on life: Sarte tells us that 'man is condemned to be free'. There is no divine or universal morality, existence is fundamentally bizarre and the only authentic way to live is to create and adhere to your own personal morality. Don't take yourself too seriously, be grateful, and value human excellence.