Another room .. another valley ..How We View Death...
another existence is all part of life's way.
- ZenSu
Death is part of life .. something we cannot escape .. and so is it time for us to approach and develop a healthy and enlightened attitude to death! We humans easily kill fish, birds and animals without a thought .. but human deaths are an earth shattering "tragedy". Then why are fish .. bird and animal deaths not earth shattering tragedies?
I was nine years old when I had my first experience of "death".
Until I was nine I have no recollection nor awareness of death .. nor do I have any awareness of discussions of death or the meaning of death. The only recollection I have is an earlier awareness of maybe five years old when I did not like to eat meat.
Technically .. in our society .. we do not explain to children that fish .. chicken and meat are dead animals .. and yet I did not like to eat fish chicken and meat. I liked to eat vegetables but not meat. What I am saying right now is all related to death. Not all deaths are human!
As a child I would throw my meat away when my mother was not looking!
At nine years old I was told my grandfather had died. I remember how dark and heavy the feeling was being communicated from my parents like a deep heavy weight that felt like the end of the world. I recall the dark heavy feeling much more vividly than I recall the words...
I did not KNOW what death was .. no one had EXPLAINED to me that we humans are born on Earth and we DIE. When I was told that my grandfather [to whom I was very close] had died I instantly KNEW what that meant. But how did I know ?? I can tell you that I knew what death was .. and so let me show you what I saw!
Without knowing what death was and without any previous personal experience with death .. as a nine year old .. I instantly knew what death was. I totally understood the implications of my grandfather's death. He was gone .. he existed no more in physical life .. his body was left behind. He had left this world.
Then I did a very strange thing! I entered into a state of higher awareness where I could see beyond physical time and space. My mind became part of life and death as one. In this state of heightened awareness I received the message or information: Who has died? In that state I was shown an impossible to describe oneness of life where life and death are simply part of a unified process beyond life .. beyond death.
That experience changed my life!
Whether we live or whether we die .. we are affected by the process of death. Those who survive are also affected by the process of death. It is really simple: Death is part of life and life is part of death. The issue is not DEATH .. the issue is the state of your mind!
Next comes the most obvious truth in this whole process...
The issue of death has nothing to do with the people whose physical existence leaves the earth .. the issue is our minds and how we deal with death. It is not how we deal with DEATH .. the issue is how we deal with OURSELVES.
If people can kill fish .. birds and animals then DEATH is not an ISSUE.
I hope you are still with me...
It does not matter if this is death of a tree .. death of a bird .. death of a fish .. death of an animal .. insect .. grass .. weeds .. it is all death. Humans do not die alone. Humans do not live alone. Humans are not born alone. Perhaps it is time that we awaken to our connection to life and death in all its forms.
I recall one moment facing death where I felt totally betrayed by life. In that moment I stood on the edge of an abyss at the top of a plateau overlooking THE FUTURE. My psychic decision in that moment would decide not only my own personal future .. but how I effect and influence life around me. My artistic mind saw "The Abyss".
I became the ABYSS...
When facing death most people assume you either make the decision and JUMP into the FUTURE with an ATTITUDE .. or you step back from the abyss and live a normal life. Not really! Once you come face to face with that ABYSS .. it is like a primordial INITIATION .. nothing to do with rational thought.
When the change happens .. you don't even know what change is. THAT is death.
For some out of balance reason human societies do not have a problem killing weeds and insects .. fish .. birds and animals .. but human societies have a serious problem with human death. It is possible that we do not really face death of other creatures and plants .. and so we have difficulty facing death of our own species.
I care about the people I love... I also care about the weeds and dandelions.
There is something else more fundamental that humans do not want to face. How is it that I .. as a child .. totally understand death? No one explains it to me .. I have no personal experience .. I know nothing about birth and death .. but I know and I totally understand.
Humans kill more sharks in the world's oceans than they killed each other in all World Wars. Is that not death? How many animals die each year .. killed for human food? Is that not death? If one human is killed by a shark it causes world media drama.
Death is not the problem .. our mind and our state of mind is the problem.
On a higher level we humans are disconnected with the energies of life.
The inner disconnection to life is the problem and not death. When we are disconnected from life then we are also disconnected to death. Life is the fish you catch to eat. Life is the bird you kill to eat. Life is the animal you kill to eat. Life is the grass .. the weed .. the vegetable .. the tree.
In facing death .. you face yourself!
