Brian- I can't thank you enough for this entry. It speaks to my heart and feels divinely timed. I too feel that death is a sacred part of the life cycle that is unfortunately misunderstood and feared by so many. You have such a beautiful way with words and sharing profound insight with your readers.
My six month old niece unexpectly passed away this month and it has been a very difficult time for our family. While I am deeply saddened by the physical loss of my niece, I am comforted the divine presence of her eternal spirit and have been inspired to pursue a new path as an end of life doula. I believe that the physical departure of our loved ones is never the end. Memories will live in our hearts, new ones can be created, and our spirits are always connected. I am grateful for the guidance, protection, support, love, and continued relationship I have with my niece and others who have transitioned from life on Earth.
I sense that you have a beautiful eternal relationship with your dear father and other who have passed on, as you are bonded by profound love and spiritual connection. Your commitment to helping others and doing good on Earth are dearly appreciated and admired. Many blessings and happy new year to you and your family.
Thank you for sharing this, Katie. I so sorry to hear about the loss of your niece. Being an end of life doula is a sacred task, one that is so needed. Yes, I feel the presence of my father and others that have passed on who have shaped my life quite profoundly every day.
Happy New Year, and thanks as always for your engagement with my writing and steady encouragement. It means so much. Blessings to you and your family, especially as you grieve this loss.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this magnificent poem, and the invitation to think and feel along with you.
Arguably for most, death means the death of the self; our identification of ourselves with a world of form which makes death so difficult to accept. Living becomes the struggle to cling to what feels good and avoid all we deem bad. This dualism keeps us separate from world.
Alternatively, human beings can learn to practice selflessness, shedding the egoic mind through conscious awareness. Imagine being able to accept each moment just as it is without attachment to the past or constantly distracted by the next moment and how it may be better than the present one. This acceptance of what is, along with its non attachment and equanimity, leads to joyful liberation.
So interesting that you bring up selflessness. I'm in a small book study group in which we are reading a book by Robert Sardello entitled The Power of Soul: Living the Twelve Virtues. We are currently studying the chapter on Selflessness (an exceedingly tricky practice to undertake!), and the next chapter is about Compassion. In the Compassion chapter Sardello spends several pages summing of the path and life of the Buddha, followed by several more pages doing the same for St. Francis. I think there is a nexus of practice there that utilizes both eastern and western modalities and insights leading to a practice of selflessness (never really attained, always a practice!) that can lead to joy, yes!
Recently I’ve been thinking about the Creator, Sustainer & Destroyer. Destroyer isn’t a concept that is familiar to me- Creator and Sustainer, yes, but Destroyer... Birth and Death, Creation and Destruction and in between striving and growth.
Destruction is certainly part of the dying process. . . de-construction or dissembling of the physical forms that life takes. But I think it's important to conceive of this loss of form and vitality as a return of spiritual forces that were, for a time, enmeshed with material form. It helps to amend a possible misunderstanding about destruction that it is only a ruining of what was a living form. . .the living form itself was borrowing from the limitless vitality of the universe for a time, and then upon death returns what was borrowed.
The allegory of daisy-ness is so clarifying! Thank you! This spoke to me.
I may not be able to read music, but I can read words!!🤪
Thank you Ruth! We all have our various "literacies" don't we?
It's our job to embrace them.
Totally!!!!
Brian- I can't thank you enough for this entry. It speaks to my heart and feels divinely timed. I too feel that death is a sacred part of the life cycle that is unfortunately misunderstood and feared by so many. You have such a beautiful way with words and sharing profound insight with your readers.
My six month old niece unexpectly passed away this month and it has been a very difficult time for our family. While I am deeply saddened by the physical loss of my niece, I am comforted the divine presence of her eternal spirit and have been inspired to pursue a new path as an end of life doula. I believe that the physical departure of our loved ones is never the end. Memories will live in our hearts, new ones can be created, and our spirits are always connected. I am grateful for the guidance, protection, support, love, and continued relationship I have with my niece and others who have transitioned from life on Earth.
I sense that you have a beautiful eternal relationship with your dear father and other who have passed on, as you are bonded by profound love and spiritual connection. Your commitment to helping others and doing good on Earth are dearly appreciated and admired. Many blessings and happy new year to you and your family.
Thank you for sharing this, Katie. I so sorry to hear about the loss of your niece. Being an end of life doula is a sacred task, one that is so needed. Yes, I feel the presence of my father and others that have passed on who have shaped my life quite profoundly every day.
Happy New Year, and thanks as always for your engagement with my writing and steady encouragement. It means so much. Blessings to you and your family, especially as you grieve this loss.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this magnificent poem, and the invitation to think and feel along with you.
Arguably for most, death means the death of the self; our identification of ourselves with a world of form which makes death so difficult to accept. Living becomes the struggle to cling to what feels good and avoid all we deem bad. This dualism keeps us separate from world.
Alternatively, human beings can learn to practice selflessness, shedding the egoic mind through conscious awareness. Imagine being able to accept each moment just as it is without attachment to the past or constantly distracted by the next moment and how it may be better than the present one. This acceptance of what is, along with its non attachment and equanimity, leads to joyful liberation.
So interesting that you bring up selflessness. I'm in a small book study group in which we are reading a book by Robert Sardello entitled The Power of Soul: Living the Twelve Virtues. We are currently studying the chapter on Selflessness (an exceedingly tricky practice to undertake!), and the next chapter is about Compassion. In the Compassion chapter Sardello spends several pages summing of the path and life of the Buddha, followed by several more pages doing the same for St. Francis. I think there is a nexus of practice there that utilizes both eastern and western modalities and insights leading to a practice of selflessness (never really attained, always a practice!) that can lead to joy, yes!
Recently I’ve been thinking about the Creator, Sustainer & Destroyer. Destroyer isn’t a concept that is familiar to me- Creator and Sustainer, yes, but Destroyer... Birth and Death, Creation and Destruction and in between striving and growth.
Destruction is certainly part of the dying process. . . de-construction or dissembling of the physical forms that life takes. But I think it's important to conceive of this loss of form and vitality as a return of spiritual forces that were, for a time, enmeshed with material form. It helps to amend a possible misunderstanding about destruction that it is only a ruining of what was a living form. . .the living form itself was borrowing from the limitless vitality of the universe for a time, and then upon death returns what was borrowed.