Where is Thy Sting

All beings tremble before violence.

All fear death.

All love life.

See yourself in others.

Then whom can you hurt?

What harm can you do?

Dhammapada 129-130

&

As I write today the sun is rising. Reflections about death might seem morbid to anyone whose practice is a New Age, feel-good, spirituality. Because death is feared, it is associated with negativity… the opposite of life. I usually avoid the subject in these meditations if I can because I consider these posts to be directed towards the uninitiated… those whose understanding hasn’t yet grasped the unavoidable. However, the passing of my father has forced the topic directly on my lap. Honestly speaking, I am as much in the woods about death as anyone else but I do have a few observations that are helpful to me on a very personal level and this venue seems the best place to put them down for others to read.

            I can’t help but to think about the near-eternity before I was conceived when I think about the eternity after life is extruded out of my corpse. It is a fact that every living being was awakened to this world and whatever was going on before that is a void. I know… I know, there are some who can supposedly ignite the memory of a past-life experience just as there are those who have had some sort of after-life experience. I don’t get into that because I haven’t experienced any such thing in spite of a few close brushes with death. I do have opinions about death but, obviously, I have no direct experience with it.

            I do have memory of much of what goes on after birth but have only a vague perception of what went on before I was conceived. It is a void… remarkably, an unknown for even a couple of years afterwards. This awareness isn't a source of much concern or fear for me because it is in the past… I’m over it, so why worry myself about it. But death looms before me as an inevitable… more than a stop sign it is appropriately labeled a dead end. 

          Does this knowledge encourage me to make the best of the interlude between the bookends we call life? It should if I can look into the eyes of a newborn babe and ask; “where have you been?” The more I am conscious of this the better able I become to allow others to live out their lives any way they choose as long as they cause no harm. Death loses its sting once I can understand that it is possible to let go of expectations and find the power of living in the now… a space and a place where there is nothing to fear. It is none of my business where I was before, or where I’ll be after, if I am living as best as I can here and now. I can then say to my father, “Thank you and welcome home.”

geo 5,544