Lou Reed’s wide-awake death

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Lou Reed’s wide-awake death

It’s been a couple of weeks since I learned of Lou Reed’s death, the day after he died, as I returned to Paris after retreat in Portugal. And only now did I finally find what his wife, the great Laurie Anderson, had to say about his death, about him, about them. Here’s a beautiful excerpt:

« As meditators, we had prepared for this – how to move the energy up from the belly and into the heart and out through the head. I have never seen an expression as full of wonder as Lou’s as he died. His hands were doing the water-flowing 21-form of tai chi. His eyes were wide open. I was holding in my arms the person I loved the most in the world, and talking to him as he died. His heart stopped. He wasn’t afraid. I had gotten to walk with him to the end of the world. Life – so beautiful, painful and dazzling – does not get better than that. And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love. »

What a marvelous teaching.
You can read the whole thing here.

By | 2017-04-04T06:58:15+00:00 novembre 12th, 2013|Textes|6 Comments

About the Author:

Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste. The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.

6 Comments

  1. ana gonçalves 3 janvier 2014 at 16 h 00 min - Reply

    Thank you Amy,
    So happy to be able to read this beautiful inspiring words about these two persons two references of art poetry and life.
    My gratefullness
    ana

  2. tu es cela 21 novembre 2013 at 15 h 20 min - Reply

    Thank you very much for your comment, my dear Corinne.
    So happy to share these touching, inspiring, profound words with you.

  3. corinne 20 novembre 2013 at 8 h 57 min - Reply

    thank you Amy to have posted this text!
    I read the whole article by Laurie Anderson – whom I admire alot, but didn’t know, she was Lou Reed’s companion for 21 years! Shame on me 🙂
    Very touching, inspiring and profound words.
    Send you my love
    Corinne

  4. little lake 14 novembre 2013 at 0 h 16 min - Reply

    my father died in both my hands

    death is beyond words and concepts
    the heart of life itself

    if we can learn somewhere, it is there

  5. tu es cela 13 novembre 2013 at 9 h 47 min - Reply

    and it was, as Patti Smith noted, Sunday morning

  6. wild primula 12 novembre 2013 at 22 h 32 min - Reply

    it was such a perfect day

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