Sometimes we may feel we lose something. A job, a relationship, even a life. The greatest suffering for many people is someones death. But what is death? An ending? Of what? A form.
Physics tells us that energy is neither created nor destroyed. It simply changes form. What is life? Prana, chi, subtle energy. In other words, life does not end. It simply changes form.
Ultimately even energy is but an effect, the apparent consequence of silence moving within itself.
For some time now, we have been in a cycle where consciousness has been clouded, as if suppressed. Just as the sky is ever clear above the clouds, consciousness is never really masked. But seen through the small eyes of a person, the shadow covers the light we are.
In the vast eons of the life of a universe, only a small portion of time is ever in shadow. But it can feel a long time.
Yet we don’t have to wait. We can be deathless, immortal. Not the form, but what is behind that. The essence of life. The core of our being is already immortal, we only have to see we are that. And we become that which is eternal. The body may catch up later.
Davidya
PS – it’s funny where this stuff comes up. I was at a dance this evening when this arose. Perhaps all the expression of life surrounding…
Last Updated on November 11, 2017 by Davidya
In India, death is treated very differently. My grandmother passed away two years ago. There were rituals and preparation for the body, and it was all done in the house, openly, with children running around and family and guests visiting. There was mourning of course, but mostly there was the consensus that this was a happy time, as she was finally free of an ailing body. Indians mourn and fear death like most human beings, but the energy is different because death is never hidden. During the ride to the crematorium in a hearse-like bus, people in that part of India stop whatever they’re doing and momentary touch their fingers to their hearts, saying good-bye. It’s a nice tradition in that part of India. The pyre is outside and anyone, including children of all ages, can view the cremation.
Thanks for sharing that, Kaushik. In North America, there is more mind, so judgment. A number of emotions are considered “bad” and thus a mask is worn and the avenues of expression are limited.
This tendency to hide death, grief, and related feelings also means people don’t talk about them openly. Death thus becomes a dark thing, avoided and suppressed. Of course, that is a caricature but it is the tone.
Science also plays an unexpected role. By telling us we are an accident of our DNA, we remove meaning and purpose from life. This is “caustic” as one writer recently put it. Plus, it turns any sense of an afterlife into dust, along with the body. My step-father went to church most of his life. When he was dying, he took years to let go because for him, death was a void, it was over. In practice, fear trumped anything the church had said as he had no experience to go by. In the end, he simply lost enough of his mind to be afraid.