Death & Other Happy Thoughts
The ultimate elephant in the room
"Death is one of God's greatest ideas." - Sri Mooji
It is a conversation we really don't want to have. For some it looms over their heads. For others it is thought of as a remote possibility. And for many we just pretend "it can't happen to me".
But, of course, it will.
This immature regard of the ultimate end arises out a simple misunderstanding of what death actually is. Death is not a singular event that happens at the end of X number of years. It is a constant that is going on all the time. Huh? What?
Yes! The truth is life itself relies on death. Your body requires a constant replenishment of energy. We call that a good meal or afternoon snack, but what it really is is the body needing to make new cells to replace the ones that are dying off.
Life is brith AND death.
We have all been through phases of our lives. None of us play with the toys we did as children. We don't have the same interests or preferences we did 10 or 20 years ago. I remember my two sons as little boys and I really miss them. But I know they are gone forever. In a sense the child dies to become the teenager who in turn dies to become the adult. And who would want to stop that.
There's a time for seeking out shelter and warmth
There's a time to ride out the storm
There's a time for letting some part of you die
So that some other part can be born.
From the song "There's a Time"
Life is cycels within cycles within cycles, a fractal tapestry. Each cycle unique to itself and yet a intergral part of the whole. The microscopic organism in the ocean whose lifespan is a few hours, to the bristle cone pine, who's life span is a couple thousand years, to the mountain that stands for millions and the stars for billions. Considering all that is it not reasonable to conclude that the cycle goes on even when your particular body can no longer rejuvenate itself and all that makes it up goes back into the pool of energy from which all has arisen?
In the deepest sense there really is no death and no birth.
Just an endless cycle of transformation, a constant flow of beginnings and endings, comings and goings, arisings and subsidings that happen so smoothly and so quickly that it appears to our feeble senses to be a consistent form.
It is true that someday we will all have to let go of all of the things we hold dear. Like letting go of my young children, I will also have to let go of my now fully grown men.
But this is the wondrous mystery of life. It is its very impermanence that makes it so precious.
This moment is unique in all space and time. Recognizing deeply that everything you cherish will one day be gone, seek not to hold on to it. Instead appreciate it for the astounding miracle that it is, a cosmic event of such singularity that it is the textbook definition of rare, the very meaning of the word priceless.
Sri Mooji was right. Death IS one of God's greatest ideas. It sustains life, opens the door to growth beyond mere survival and makes every event in it sacred.
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