Death
Death makes life possible.
Death is not the opposite of life.
It is the opposite of birth.
And life is the continuum of birth and death,
which together create an eternal dance that
makes all of creation possible.
Right now, as you watch this, photons and
electrons on your screen are flashing on and
off.
Even though you might see an image on the
screen and some of these images seem to be
moving from one corner of the screen to the
other corner, there is no real movement.
In fact, photons and electrons are being born
and are dying literally at the speed of light.
Even though we experience perceptual continuity
when we look at the world, there is no such
thing.
The cosmos and everything in it is going on
and off.
Like that, the cells in your body similarly
die at different time scales.
Skin cells die once a month.
Stomach cells die every five days.
The entire liver renews itself every six weeks.
The DNA that makes the genetic material inside
those cells, that hold the memories of 13.8
billion years of cosmological time is not
the same that it was just a few weeks ago.
And even the raw material that make up your
DNA - the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen - comes
and goes every six weeks, like migratory birds.
But while, these organs and physical attributes
of your body recreate themselves in on-going
cycles - even though your stomach cells from
two weeks ago are dead and gone, the new ones
still have the memory of how to digest food
- there is a memory lurking behind, a ghost
in the machine that drives this reincarnation
of everything that happens in your body.
What is this elusive essence that hides inside
of us?
What stays constant as the infant dies and
the toddler is born?
Or as the child dies to its adolescence and
eventually the adult emerges?
This quality is the soul.
It is eternal, immeasurable and does not die.
It is spaceless, timeless, and dimensionless
– a transcendent non-local being having
a local adventure.
If you want to conquer your personal fear
of death, which is based on the delusional
idea of a stagnant body and stagnant universe,
then identify not with that which comes and
goes, but with that which never ends – your
soul.
Die to the past every day and every moment
because the past does not exist.
Step into the unknown and the unpredictable
in every moment as it unfolds before you.
Understand death as the discontinuity that
gives rise to new creation.
Understand death as the opportunity to recreate
your self.
Understand that you are neither the mind nor
the body, but the karmic cycle of memory and
desire that takes us on a cosmic adventure
through space and time.
