Ears of corn are connected to everything else in nature. If they could think, should they wish to never be harvested? That would be a curse — corn that's never harvested. The same goes for people. It's a curse not to die, just like it's a curse for corn never to ripen or be harvested. But here's the problem: we must die, and we know we must die, yet we get upset about it. Why? Because we don't know what we really are. We haven't studied human nature the way horse experts study horses.
for they are not separated from communion with other things. If then they had perception, ought they to wish never to be reaped? But this is a curse upon ears of corn to be never reaped. So we must know that in the case of men too it is a curse not to die, just the same as not to be ripened and not to be reaped. But since we must be reaped, and we also know that we are reaped, we are vexed at it; for we neither know what we are nor have we studied what belongs to man, as those who have studied horses know what belongs to horses.