In the previous posting i informed you that an uncle 'gave up the ghost'. Death is such an interesting and often times challenging subject to discuss, particularly in American culture where robust youthfulness is highly praised. Not only is it challenging to talk about, it is dreadfully feared as though it were some rare freak accident waiting to happen. Life in this phenomenal world is ever changing and the human experience is not an exception to this 'way of nature'. Change is a birth and death process. We are born into this world with only one guarantee and that is we will die. This is the only certainty in this life that i know of. This coming and going of life appears to be the trend in the natural world 'internal' and 'external' to the human experience. It is also true to every moment. Each moment of experience comes to life and dissolves over to the next moment. If the natural world around and within us reflects this coming and going of life and our very experience of life is a coming and going, then why is death and dying so challenging to talk about? Why is the only guaranteed thing in this life feared? Does it have anything to do with our perspective of death?
Let's entertain a perspective of death. To die is to expire from physical life. It can also mean to end, to let go of, to decease, to depart etc. When a leaf on a tree dies it falls to the ground. It's life as a leaf ends and departs from this world of experience. What happens to it? It falls to the ground and decays to become sustenance for other life. Even cells and/or organelles in our own bodies die and give over their essence to the subsequent birth of other cells/organelles to support our existence. Each moment comes to life and dies/departs as another moment comes into existence. Each moment becomes sustenance for subsequent moments. This is the story of life in this phenomenal world. There is something remarkable about this process. When something dies it is transformed into something else that lives. So what really dies? The experience of being a green leaf departs. The experience of a cell or organelle dies. The experience of each moment departs. The experience dies.
I suggest that death is a gift. There is no point in fighting it. It can inspire one to live fully. Without death we could not live. Life is this beautiful dance of birth and death. The union of birth and death is in the experience of life. Peace, love, happiness, heaven, Yoga is found in the very moment of experience...the union of Shiva and Shakti. The moment of experience is the only thing that is happening. When we are not experiencing the present moment, the union of life and death, we are clinging to a partially projected and remembered past and to a projected future with a relative past.
What about that which is having the experience? Does that which has the experience die? It is a question that does not have an easy answer. Though the answer to this question should be contemplated and reasoned, the answer lies in the experience itself. It is a knowing that can be supported with the intellect but can only be known fully by way of experience. The only way to find out is to face death. To face death is to enter the forever burning fire of change. Change is inescapable. Death is inescapable. Life is inescapable. If you are interested in being truly happy, i invite you embark on the path of embracing change, embracing life and death. There are many spiritual/wisdom traditions that encourage this self-liberating and self-empowering journey. It is a journey! It is challenging and it is liberating. Seek and ye shall find. Ask questions and you will get answers. Be diligent and steadfast and you shall realize peace. Meditative and contemplative practices are highly recommended.
A suggested exercise to cultivate the experiencer consciousness:
Take a moment to observe your breath. Close your eyes and observe 5 complete inhales and exhales. Do you experience a myriad of thoughts in the process? Who is doing the observing? Who is witnessing this process. Are you the thoughts? Who is experiencing this exercise of watching the breath? Are you the experiencer/observer or the experience/observed.
Om Shanti
I personally have found a lot of comfort out of volunteering with Hospice and visiting terminally ill people. I have met very inspiring people though this work. A meditation I like is to sit on the ground (beneath a tree is nice) and visualize your body as the same earth or dirt you are sitting on. Visualize your death and the earth returning to earth. I find it very calming.
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