Finding Meaning in Music: A Short Documentary on How a Young Tech Pioneer, Confronting His Mortality, Prepared for His Final Violin Performance

The doctor breaks the news. You have terminal cancer, and you might have only a few months to live. How would you spend those final days? That’s a question that Eric Sun had to confront when doctors told him he had a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2016. Only 32 years old, Sun had studied computer science and economics at Stanford, then went to work at Facebook in 2008. Everything was on track. Until it wasn’t. Then big decisions had to be made.

Last month, the New Yorker published a poignant profile on Sun, documenting how, facing mortality, he found refuge–and maybe some kind of deeper meaning–in music. The related video above, “Finding Meaning in Music,” lets you see Sun returning to his lifelong passion–playing violin–and getting ready for his final performance. In the end, it’s art that nourishes the soul.

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