Death

[qos]

Death is so often conceptualized as an external force or being, someone or something that "comes for us." Death is an angel. Death is a cloaked man or skeleton with a scythe. Death is a beautiful goddess. Death is a cute goth chick with an ankh t-shirt.

But today I'm thinking of death as a seed, a tiny dark nugget placed into the body with the soul, nestling in the depths of our incarnate being until the body breaks somehow, freeing it to blossom.

We enter this life bound to exquisite, vulnerable, limited bodies. We enter this life without conscious memory of being immortal beings, fragments of divinity. We live life with no assurance that it's not the only game in town, with the stakes unutterably high because there are no second chances.

Then something happens: accident, disease, aging. . . and we break. Our bodies and brains crack and shatter like the shells they are. And in the midst of pain -- or so quickly that we don't have time to register what's happening -- death emerges from our depths: our escape hatch back into the transcendent reality of our immortal lives.

We leave behind the Game, the Work, the grand Adventure.
We escape back where we belong: home.

Comments

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

One other thing to keep in mind - Immortality in a way has limits. There's no evolutionary advantage to stagnation.

So not only can we die, perhaps it's good we can. Maybe humanity needs it so we can move on.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

I agree that there's no evolutionary advantage to stagnation -- and The Is ain't no swamp cookie (to quote Richard Bach) -- but can't there be change without death?

I find it interesting that humanity declares immortality a defining aspect of "god" and then has more than a few stories about the deaths of gods.

Maybe humanity needs it so we can move on.

That's entirely likely. I don't pretend to understand how the spiritual evolution process works. This entry was primarily a rebuttal of the way death is viewed by our culture.

[oakmouse]

I find it interesting that humanity declares immortality a defining aspect of "god" and then has more than a few stories about the deaths of gods.

That's rather a mixed bag, though. Some cultures with such stories do generally believe that gods are immortal, but many cultures with such stories DON'T believe that gods are immortal. Take the Norse myths, or the Japanese cosmology, for example. In both cases, gods are distinctly not immortal; they live a very long time by human standards, but that's not the same thing.

[morrigansword.livejournal.com]

"We escape back to where we belong: home.", what if both this mortal physical realm and the immortal spiritual/other realm are both home? With life here and there reflecting the natural seasons of Earth. Death here being the ultimate phase of Winter releasing us from this realm, into the Spring of the Other realm... perhaps there is a similar cycle there with Winter being a release from that side back into a new Spring here...

Just some odd thoughts to consider. Either way, no matter how Death may appear, I don't think it's something to be feared as many do.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

what if both this mortal physical realm and the immortal spiritual/other realm are both home?

Excelllent question, and I'm sure there are many who would agree with you. At the same time, I know there are many Christians who speak of "going home" to God after death, and I remember a particularly lovely funeral anthem called "Finally Home."

Personally, I've always felt a pull beyond life here, and it's gotten a lot stronger since LM's death, so that's a lot of what influenced this post.

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

"perhaps there is a similar cycle there with Winter being a release from that side back into a new Spring here..."

Ooo, lovely thought too. :)

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that thought.
It make so much beautiful sense. :)

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[dorjejaguar.livejournal.com]

:)

[oakmouse]

I've been pondering this since you posted it, looking for ways to express my response clearly. This is probably going to be long enough to require two comments, so I'm going to post it in two sections.

First, I think you're absolutely right that death isn't an external thing. We all have death within us, as we all have life within us. (When I say "we all", I mean all things, not just human beings.)

However, I would cavil with othering life by calling it not-home. That and the escape hatch metaphor show, I think, the residuals of your Christian upbringing, and skirt perilously close to medieval Gnosticism. I say perilously because I believe that the othering of incarnation is a profoundly unhealthy belief, and I think it's responsible for some of the most unbalanced aspects of the modern industrial world. I think it has led to industrial humanity's often-noted active contempt for and sense of privilege over the world we live in, which in turn makes exploitation of the planet look like a good idea in spite of its obvious downside. On a more individual level, it has led to the idea that heaven is our real home and life here is only a shadow, which for many people has led to a very real spiritual poverty when it comes to fully participating in their own lives. You've talked about how alien and uncongenial you find the lives lived by women in Regency England, and yet it's exactly that inertia and lack of participation that arise from the idea that whatever unpleasant happens here in life must be meekly endured because you'll be rewarded in heaven. To quote the old Wobbly anthem, "You'll get pie in the sky when you die. It's a lie!"

(to part 2)

[oakmouse]

I suggest you look toward the myths and cultural ideals of those cultures which believe in reincarnation and do not other incarnation. You'll find that in these cultures, the idea exists that life and death are both waystations, both part of the cycle, both home. Each is part of a natural and inevitable process, and each has its lessons to teach and its value to those who go through it. This is also the view of the magical tradition in which you're training. Frankly, if my experience is anything to judge by, it's a far more fruitful approach for the work you're doing than is looking toward death as your escape hatch from someplace that isn't home.

I would also quote another old saw, less in-your-face than the Wobs' challenge: home is where your heart is. I suspect that your view of how much "home" incarnation is to you is quite probably skewed right now. You can't do your work from the other side; you need to be here. Don't turn being here into a prison sentence. Don't other the vehicle for your work; look for ways to take joy in it. Do you think that either E or L wants you to view the rest of your life in the same way you view your day job? Do you think you would benefit from it?

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm certain that where my heart is has a lot to do with the way this came out -- and your points are valid and well taken.

I don't want to "other" this life or devalue it. What you wrote above, that Each is part of a natural and inevitable process, and each has its lessons to teach and its value to those who go through it actually does express my intellectual belief.

At the same time, it's not just L that motivates the thought of someplace else as home. For most of my life I've had a quiet feeling that life on this earth is not what I was made for. All my dreams took me away, to someplace else, because I never could reconcile what I felt I wanted and needed to be with what was presented to me. Some of my sense of limitation was, I'm sure, a product of who I was and where I was -- but I think some of that has stayed with me, and the situation with L intensifies it.

And I suppose sometimes, although I hadn't thought of it this way until you wrote it, I do view my life a bit like I do my day job: more full of responsibility than joy or satisfaction.

Damn. Typing that made me start to cry. We should probably finish this conversation on the phone.