Felix the operative who was badly shot beseeches James during the emergency, ‘Just let me go. Let me go. You got this?’ Bond assures, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Felix continues urging him to go do what he should, ‘Make it worth it. James, it’s a good life, isn’t it?‘ Bond agrees, ‘The best. Felix. Felix!’ (He releases the lifeless Felix.)
Reflections… What should you let go now? How do you assure yourself that things are already alright, or are going to be alright? How do you make your life worth it? Are you living a good enough life? How do you live the best life in time?
With instalment #25 titled ‘No Time To Die’, we would assume that the vulnerable yet ‘invincible’ 007 lives to thrive on. After all, since the first instalment in 1962, no previous Bond manifestation was ever portrayed to die. Yet, this version does perish in the end… till the end credits reveal that ‘James Bond will return.’
But of course, the expected ‘irony’! Bond really has no time to die once and for all. He is just too much of a modern (lucrative) legend, too driven not to be ‘reborn’, through yet another manifestation. The audience has however, finally matured to expect a ‘real’ man, even in over-the-top fiction; not a super-man?
M(allory) pays a tribute by quoting Jack London, ‘The function of [wo]man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.’ This alludes to Bond (and Felix too?) having lived fully for the greater good, instead of simply being alive, taking life for granted.
Although a strong survivor, Bond did not seek to prolong his days to indulge. He lived at a suave yet measured pace, from moment to moment. Often seizing the moment to save in the nick of time, he had ‘no time to die’, because he was too busy being purposeful, with uncompromising focus to save the world.
As Billie Eilish sung in the theme song, ‘Now you’ll never see me cry, there’s just no time to die.’ Since he lived meaningfully right to the end, he was able to embrace his last moments graciously. Having done his best in each moment, there are no regrets in his last moments. Paradoxically, if one lives as if one has ‘no time to die’, one is also able to die well at any time.
The attitude of ‘no time to die’ becomes not clinging to life for dear life; but being able to live it fully, thus able to let it go fully when needed. Those who live like they will live forever have ‘no time to die’ too, in a desperate sense when it is time. They are those who lacked the urgency to accomplish the worthy, thus not ready to let go, even when it is time to go.
As Stonepeace put it, ‘The worth of your life is not measured by having much time, but by what you do with limited time.’ Also, ‘Never be busy with the wrong things. Only be busy with the right things. Never be lazy with the right things. Only be lazy with the wrong things.’
If we live each moment mindfully in the spiritual sense, like Bond does in the worldly sense, the truth is, there is actually plenty of time for most of us. As Louis Armstrong sings at the end, ‘We have all the time in the world. Time enough for life to unfold. All the precious things love has in store… We have all the love in the world. If that’s all we have, you will find we need nothing more. Every step of the way, will find us, with the cares of the world, far behind us. We have all the time in the world. Just for love. Nothing more, nothing less. Only love…’
Due to our tendency to squander it, we do have more than enough time, to let life unfold, and to (re)shape it as aspired. If we nurture and express loving-kindness and compassion for all, is this not kind of living with ‘all the love in the world’ too, with it radiating from us? With all the love in the world and for the world, as guided by wisdom, what else do we need to care for?
When it is time to depart, as Stonepeace further said, ‘It is a good life, if there is a good death. It is the best death, if there is the best rebirth [in Pure Land (净土)].’ Once in Pure Land, with great peace, bliss, ease and immeasurable life, without interruption of death, and while fruitfully focused on Dharma learning and practise, there is truly no time to die.
‘It is with reaching of Pure Land that we can truly live life fully, in the cosmic sense.’ (See ‘Why Is Āmítuófó’s Pure Land The Land Of All Lands, The Land Of Your Dreams?’ at https://purelanders.com/2021/09/07/why-is-amituofos-pure-land-the-land-of-your-dreams for more on this.)
Another way to have ‘no time to die’ is to be so wholeheartedly mindful of Āmítuófó (阿弥陀佛: Amitā[bha] Buddha), with the sincere aspiration to reach his Pure Land… that there is strong connection to him when well and alive, thus bridging across to the Pure Land, bypassing the time to die, in terms of the usual (short or long) dying process. There is thus direct attainment of immeasurable life.
The James Bond movies seem pretty ‘obsessed’ with mortal meditations on life and death. Just look at some of the titles… No Time To Die, Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies, Licence To Kill, The Living Daylights, A View To Kill, Live And Let Die, You Only Live Twice… (Of the seven Bond actors in real life, three have departed.)
As Ian Fleming wrote, ‘You only live twice. Once when you’re born, and once when you look death in the face.’ (But of course, there is rebirth, unless already liberated or in Pure Land.) You truly wonder about life once born and bewildered, and when it is about to end, also bewildered perhaps, on where the time went. If so, may we really live well, from moment to moment, now! ‘May all have no time to die, till time to die.’
Related Article:
If You Think YOLO, You Should Know YOLNO!
https://thedailyenlightenment.com/2015/01/if-you-think-yolo-you-should-know-yolno