...for some reason I am relieved not to see most people, even those I like--or once liked. I understand now why the old enjoy the obituaries of contemporaries. I used to put this down to play-acting in the face of momento mori; now I think it is a sense of relief in letting go for good of people one no longer needs. I recall something Santayana said as he led me into his cell at the convent. "As you see, I live as if I were already dead."
from Palimpsest
