In a conversation between Carlos Castaneda and his teacher Don Juan says, "Death is our eternal companion. . . . It has always been watching you. It always will until the day it taps you. . . . The thing to do when you're impatient is to turn to your left and ask advice from your death. An immense amount of pettiness is dropped if your death makes a gesture to you. . . . The issue of our death (is) never pressed far enough. Death is the only wise advisor we have."
— Rodney Smith, Lessons from the Dying