We hold immortality inside of us. Although our bodies age, break down and die as part of our life cycle, we actually hold the keys to being immortal from the moment of conception, over and over again.
Recently in just a few short days I have experienced the ULTIMATE version of challenge and support. The perfect balance of opposite ends of the larger scale of Yin and Yang. Death – the coming end of my grandma’s life. And birth – the beginning of new lives of some dear friends’ bubs (and coming bub). What an emotional roller coaster it is.
When it comes to death, Western culture seriously lacks a deep understanding and ritualistic sense of celebrating and understanding the end of a life – it’s sad and terrifying that this is not a celebrated part of life. Talking about someone dying is a little hush-hush and ‘death’ is almost like a weird dirty word, anchored to being painful and full of grief, sadness and loss.
I found myself asking – does it have to be this way? It’s horrible – all the supposed emotions, dragging up the past, the regrets, and projecting into the future, the loss, its painful to experience and to watch it happen in others. What if I want to be HAPPY and make this a peaceful happy experience, for myself and my loved ones? Should I feel guilty for being happy and full of love? Most people look at you like your a weirdo if you are not overcome with grief…
After all it is just a part of the process and cycle of our lives, that we are mostly in denial of or ignore until someone dear to us dies. “Man’s greatest downfall is not realising he is going to die” I think Carlos Castenada said this at some point (fiction or non-fiction, point made). I know this is a touchy subject and it has the potential to trigger a lot of pain in those who have lost loved ones to tragedy, so here I am only speaking of natural death from age and sickness taking hold, death after a full life.
I really am feeling the lack of a western mainstream framework around seeing the end of a life preparing to pass over. We are never really ready for it, our culture doesn’t openly talk about the deep layers of the experience unless you seek it out, or are very present, aware and open. We can all be in a bit of a daze when it actually comes to fully honouring and opening to someone dying. There are no guidelines or cultural teachings for us to follow… we just float through it the best we can, often not being present to such an experience. Well I want to fully experience it in pleasure! And WHY NOT?!
It is as much of an honour to witness death as it is to witness the birth of a child, to be able to really look through the eyes into the soul and see… existence, pure essence, whether it is coming or going from our realm and to be in full acceptance. How freeing it could be to let it all go and just be really present to the moment, that is where the magic is… It still scares me shitless, the thought of my loved ones dying, but I want to be present, and I want the support to remain present.
To see it as a transformation into the formless, the end of a holiday in human form back to the infinite. The time to go home where we all may meet again at some point, time and space doesn’t exist and everything just is. Nothing really ever ends, it’s just a giant fractal of cycles, yin and yang in nature for ever and ever. Ineffable, unfathomable and damn right fucking magical.
When it comes to being human though, did you know we are immortal? We have a sacred immortality inside of us… This is explained in Part 2 – LIFE, coming soon.
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