More thoughts on dying to this world

In C.S. Lewis's book Out of the Silent Planet, an unsuspecting Englishman named Ransom is kidnapped (by other humans) and taken to a planet called Malacandra, where he meets and befriends its rational inhabitants. At one point they are preparing to hunt a dangerous water creature called a hnakra (plural hneraki), and one of the inhabitants of Malacandra is speaking with Ransom about the hneraki (for reference, Oyarsa is the ruler of Malacandra and Maleldil is God):

"'I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, not love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes. I will tell you a day in my life that has shaped me; such a day as comes only once, like love, or serving Oyarsa in Meldilorn. Then I was young, not much more than a cub, when I went far, far up the handramit to the land where stars shine at midday and even water is cold. A great waterfall I climbed. I stood on the shore of Balki the pool, which is the place of most awe in all worlds. The walls of it go up for ever and ever and huge and holy images are cut in them, the work of old times. There is the fall called the Mountain of Water. Because I have stood there alone, Maleldil and I, for even Oyarsa sent me no word, my heart has been higher, my song deeper, all my days. But do you think it would have been so unless I had known that in Balki hneraki dwelled? There I drank life because death was in the pool. That was the best of drinks save one.'
'What one?' asked Ransom.
'Death itself in the day I drink it and go to Maleldil.'"

Death itself is not a glorious thing, but it can be a precious and desired thing because of what it entails: because it can throw the piercing glory of life into stark reflection, preventing one from sinking back into the complacent stupor of pleasant and meaningless existence; and because it is the door through which we must pass to receive true and everlasting life and to be with God in a greater way than we yet can. It is not for us to try to thrust open that door before God calls us through it, but it is also not for us to shirk back in fear of the passing through. As Jesus Himself warned us, "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

So let us pursue what is right without regards to the risk. Let us seek what is good without compromising for our own security or comfort. Let us proclaim what is true without omission due to fear or embarrassment. Let us follow God with all of our being, so we may find that death is not the terrifying end of all good things, but is rather the pathway to glory and life.