I found a short passage at the end of For Whom the Bell Tolls that sums up beautifully what I believe was Ernest Hemingway's philosophy.
The story is about a mission to blow up a bridge during the Spanish Civil War, and Robert Jordan, an American who is badly wounded, has elected to stay behind and try to delay the soldiers while the other guerrillas escape. It is morning and in the mountains. He knows he will be killed.
He is thinking about his own death:
"You have had much luck. There are many worse things than this. Everyone has to do this, one day or another. You are not afraid of it once you know you have to do it, are you? No, he said, truly. ... He looked down the hill slope again and he thought, I hate to leave it, is all. I hate to leave it very much and I hope I have done some good in it. I have tried with what talent I had." More...
See also: Reese: We live in our heads...
And also: Vilayanur Ramachandran: a journey to the centre of your mind...
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