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Article by Michael Finn
Copyright Michael Finn

Death, the final frontier, these are the voyages of us all.

Quote:

'When she died I was in despair as any man might well be. But soon, pondering on what had happened, I told myself that in death, no strange new fate befalls us. In the beginning we lack not life only, but form. Not form only, but spirit. We are blended in the one great featureless, indistinguishable mass. Then a time came when the mass evolved spirit, spirit evolved form, form evolved life. And now life, in its turn, has evolved death. For not nature only, but man's being has its seasons. Its sequence of spring and autumn, summer and winter. If someone is tired and has gone to lie down, we do not pursue him with shouting and bawling. She whom I have lost, has lain down to sleep for a while in the Great Inner Room. To break in upon her rest with the noise of lamentation would but show that I know nothing of nature's sovereign law.'

(Chuang Tzu)

'Death, the one sure bet - you can bank on it.'

Issues around death and dying now remain one of the last bastions of closeted reality, at least in the 'western' sphere. Given that it is a given and that it's the common denominator between all human beings, death's successful suppression has always mystified me. Recent years have witnessed the insidious evils of racism, sexism and abuse issues filtering to the surface for gradual public expose and airing. But death, no such celebrity.

Little wonder then, that euthanasia is probably even more controversial than cloning and other aspects of genetic manipulation. The latter at least is still an effort to create life, albeit, 'playing god'. The former is 'snuffing out the candle'.

As long as a culture cloaks its mortality awareness and secretes the evidence of our intrinsic mortality away, it can have no hope of productive, rational debate on the how, why and when of facilitated versus 'divinely' ordained time and manner of death; not to mention simply finding new ways to absorb the core-shaking effects of losing our loved ones and coming to terms with our ephemeral natures.

Ironically, it is illegal to commit suicide and a large number of folk (younger and younger these days, tragically), become criminals for the first time... with their final breath.

So, are we missing something in life, or does death hold so much anxiety for us that we have habitually taken to ignoring its daunting inevitability?

Recommended Reading:-

'The Penguin Book of Death' – Edited by Gabrielle Carey and Rosemary Sorensen. Penguin Books, 1997.

DEATH AWARENESS REFLECTION

• In what manner do you (if ever) envisage your death?
• When might this come to pass?
• How would you lead your life if you were privy to your use-by-date?
• What if your expiry is very close at hand? Would it alter your entire attitude to tomorrow?
• Imagine starting each day with the energy which is released when one reconsiders one's unknown timeline.

Take an appreciation for the preciousness of life into the rest of yours... ... ...

Healing Metaphysics Home > Archive> Life and Death