Death
The Buddha taught that death is certain, natural, and inseparable from life. Rather than an end, it is a transition in the continuous cycle of rebirth (samsara). He advised accepting impermanence (anicca) to live mindfully and without fear.
When I had my spiritual awakening I walked through what Death had to teach me when I was going through my father’s impending death. I learned that I was very fearful of death and I was especially fearful of his death. It actually made me start to think of how I felt of death. It was actually a teacher of what it meant to live.
From a Shamanic view, death is an ending but also a beginning. There is always life and death. Death is just another transition to another form out of the physical body. Perhaps a celebration of a life well lived is a way to honour the deceased but the deceased can also transition to celebrate a relatively short life lived on earth to their next or new beginning.
What I am also understanding from a Shamanic standpoint is that a life that is not well lived is a death that may not be well done. Sometimes the transition isn’t as it should be to the light, it’s a hanging on to what is on this earth.
I am not sure how we, as a society, became so afraid of death. But it’s like the old saying “Death and Taxes”…. These are things we all can not avoid. It is inevitable. So how do we become unafraid of death or without fear as Buddha has taught us?
Living on a farm gives you great insights and understandings around death. The natural cycle of life and death is very evident in the farm animals that are either the hobbyist’s pets or the farm to table life of farm animals. I have a Border Collie named Moon and she has a high instinctual protection and predator instinct. This has been very hard for me to come to terms with when I see that she is on the job keeping the farm clear of rats, mice, marmots, birds, even barn cats. It was something that I really had to work on her with. To not kill the chickens because she could. But what is the line? Do I condemn her to a life of inside the house because of her natural instincts? Or do I accept that this is her innate nature? Death is always teaching us.
For me, I came to understand, it is how to view how well we are living our lives now, in the present, that defines how well we can die.
Death also has other meanings such as death of a way of being, or a pattern, or a the little deaths that we experience in our spiritual ascension. It certainly is part of what we do as humans, when we change a habit or heal our emotions, we are essentially killing that part of ourselves that was there before. Are we afraid of that? Do we celebrate the new beginning of the part of ourselves that we evolve? Can we deepen our faith so much that we can become like Buddha and be fearless about death? I think we can. I think we are meant to. I think it is the healthiest way to live a meaningful life.
Just as a side note, I do want to touch on murder and taking a life for a human or Sentient Being. Without getting into the discussion about abortion or assisted death, I would like to talk about actual murder as an intent or perhaps revenge or for some kind of ill intent. There is a cost on the soul that must be taken into consideration. Cause and Effect. We are not meant to cause harm to one another. And it is interesting how we as a human species have normalized murder and war as a norm in our society. It isn’t normal. It isn’t acceptable and anyone that has gone through past life regression and is in touch with their emotions knows that this isn’t what God has intended for us. We are meant to love one another. We are meant to take care of one another. We are meant to accept and respect one another. There are so many values that I could go on about, but let’s just say that although death happens for all of us, it isn’t meant for us to cause it to happen with ill intent. That accumulates over lifetimes and you have to work it out in your karma.
I think the the state of our society and how school shootings, gun violence and violence of all kinds has risen over the years just goes to show how what we are doing now is not the answer. It just isn’t, we are going in the wrong direction. We need to begin to learn to love ourselves so that we can have the capacity to love one another. Work through our trauma and then be of service. We can only do that with God/Creator/Source/Jesus/Buddha, the Divine. We are too human, we are only these small beings with limited capacity to really know everything there is to know about this world, universe and everything in it. We need to humble ourselves in service to something greater than ourselves. So let the death of our ego, our old selves, our mistakes, our bad behaviours, our traumas, and reach for the light. Reach for the love. Extend ourselves as we are meant to and join the wheel of life. Turn the spiral, let death bring an ending to what is no longer serving and let the birth of a new chapter be the guiding light. Let yourself evolve so that others may also evolve, but you must let something die. For me the first thing to die was control. What is it that you could let die?
As you allow death to come in whatever form you are experiencing, be gentle and forgiving with yourself and others. And if you don’t know how to do that, pray on it. You will be shown, guided and unconditionally loved. You already are, we just need to stick with it. Let the death of the old pattern of unconsciousness be replaced with the beginning of consciousness. Let love and light lead the way.
Jackie Gutknecht