I think I mentioned a little bit the other day, would you like to die like that? Would you like to die saying, "I am not going to do this reflection, I am not going to do any of these reflections, Buddhism, etc., I've had it." Imagine dying that way?
Okay, now, the concept of Mara. Mara, is that ignorance part of our mind that is resisting. Our wisdom does not want to resist, it is only Mara that resists. So you have to be strong against Mara. At times you have got to tell Mara, "Get out of here, that is ridiculous, I can't do that, I can't afford not to do wise reflections." What if Mara told you, "let's resist eating, lets stop eating."? Are you going to buy that from Mara? There is no way you are going to buy that from Mara because you want life, you are not going to stop eating. What if Mara says let's resist sleeping. You won't buy that one from Mara, either, because you know sleep is important, if you don't sleep you are going to have problems. So there are certain things that even if Mara says it, you are not going to believe it.
So what if Mara says to you, "I don't want to do the meditation today, I don't want to do this, I'll skip it for a week."? You are not going to skip sleep for a week, you are not going to skip eating for a week (unless you're fasting). So don't buy into Mara's games. As a meditator, don't believe Mara just because Mara wants you to resist the reflection. Take a bit of pride in being a meditator. Take a bit of pride in being a Buddhist meditator, a Theravadin meditator.
Now, "pride" is a funny word, because when we were growing up the kids who kind of express their pride and proudness, they were mostly egotistical kids who were full of themselves. But this is a different type of pride, this is a type of pride that says, "Yes, I am so happy that I have this, I am so fortunate that I have this, I don't want to lose this. I want to be proud that I am a meditator, I want to be proud that I can sit down every day or almost every day twice a day, I can do some formal meditation, I can do retreats every year and be proud of it."
Be proud that is who you are. That is one of the biggest tools you can fight Mara with, because Mara does not want you to be happy about being a meditator. Mara is going to trick you any way possible to stop you doing meditation, because Mara knows it's going to be beaten up over time. According to Buddhism, the more you practice, the more you develop the 10 Paramis, eventually according to Buddhism you are going to get enlightened. Mara is finished!!! Mara does not like that. Mara does not like any of you sitting here. How often does your mind go blank during the Q&A, and you think, "What did Steve just say?" Who did that to you? Mara.
Have a bit of pride that you are a meditator, and that you want to continue and that you don't want to give in to Mara, that is important. So reflecting about death and that Mara doesn't want us to grow in the Dhamma can spark you up a bit when the mind is resisting.