Death? No problem. We know each other well. Although my own close calls show me that this is one MahaDeva
not to be trifled with, I also know the role of such. Death serves under the 1st Aspect, the Destroyer. And unless certain of our limitations are destroyed, namely that which keeps us anchored to/within the physical plane, we shall NEVER accomplish our Purpose for being here.
Death is the greatest Deliverer there is. It is not that we can
almost reach enlightenment while here, but lack the hand of Death to finally tide us over. It is, rather, necessary for us to come to the NATURAL end of our stay in any given incarnation. This is something which the Buddha knew ... which the Christ knew. Both succumbed to Death. But the whole point of the natural end of physical plane living is so that we may accept the invitation from this great Angel, enter into the next phase of LIFE, and come one step closer to grasping and fulfilling our
raison d'etre.
Our relationship to Death should be a positive and pleasant one. Instead of fear and apprehension, for which we may in largest part thank the Christian and especially the Roman Catholic Churches ... there should be a welcoming attitude, and the warm feeling that comes when you know you're about to see a friend you haven't seen for many years. Although Death Itself is certainly such a friend (not directly known since your
last time around), I mean simply that in a more enlightened society, people will understand how important it is to prepare for their transition with Reason, positive anticipation and good sense.
In the future we will understand on much better footing just what it is that happens at the moment of death and in the days and weeks thereafter. We will have no
fundamental reason(s) to fear, because we will recognize Death, and we will have done away with this foolishness about an
eternity in an impossible `heaven.' People will stop groaning when someone reminds them that Earth is the schoolroom, and Life the great Teacher. They will understand that it is
necessary to return in order to complete their studies. Instead of denial, fear and apprehension, they will instead smile and look forward to the eventual completion of their every Goal ... knowing that the surest way to reach it/them, is to become lost in Service to the Greatest Good for the Greatest number. After all, the Greater ALWAYS includes the lesser.
Why is it that despite all this [which I know as True, far truer even than I know the back of my own hand], I do have certain apprehensions about death ... which I'm sure pretty much anyone in my shoes would, and does have? Because of the same reasons many of us feel apprehensive regarding other matters when it comes to God and religion/spirituality. What I know, is that I have not even BEGUN to fulfil my Purpose for being here, even in this one, short incarnation. I know my shortcomings, my weaknesses and also the opportunities missed. I know what it is that I could have accomlished even 10 yrs ago, had I devoted the necessary effort and maintained discipline. In short, I feel the burden of GUILT over what did not get DONE.
And in the last analysis, isn't this what all
god-fearing (!) Christians will speak of, if and when they begin to face the inevitable fact of their own death ... be it later in life, or perhaps due to an untimely and unexpected illness? Isn't it simply that we feel, recognize or believe that somehow we have failed, fallen short, or otherwise missed the mark, such that we aren't quite sure how we will be greeted on the other side? Or, in the most extreme cases, isn't it the fear of an impossible and eternal hell which backs us into a corner and rattles our teeth? Maybe just the fear of the unknown, and an uncertainty regarding what happens next, no matter what we've been brought up to believe, or come to mouth blithely each Saturday, each Sunday, or even daily, five times facing East?
This is all understandable. It is important, if you are at all like me in this last regard, to try and see things from another - somewhat more informed and enlightened - point of view. They exist; I assure you.
And what they'd rather we try to understand and accept is that yes, sure enough, there are many things that each of us will not accomplish in this one, short lifetime ... even out of that small set of objectives, or Purposes, for which our Soul has taken incarnation. If it all COULD be accomlished in one lifetime, it might be a disaster, a tragedy, that we have managed to do so little. Even a Mother Teresa, however, could not - did not - attain to that. Thus, we need to first of all,
cut ourselves a little slack. Or, to be clear, we need to learn to FORGIVE ourselves. Love ourselves, yes, but above all, FORGIVE OURSELVES.
If we can do that, the rest comes naturally and much more easily. I screwed up ... on numerous occasions, in numerous ways, yes. But let's stop trying to watch that portion of water flowing on & on, farther & farther downstream, long after it's passed under the proverbial bridge. I cannot gather it up again, and that wouldn't really help anything anyway. The more I lament my mistakes, or weep over my shortcomings, the less I'm focused on what I STILL can do to put things right. And this
putting things right, after all, doesn't consist of endless backpedaling; rather, it means moving FORWARD, and doing those things which I DO [still] feel need doing!
It doesn't matter if I'm 15 or 105 or 50. There is always something I can still do ... not so much to prepare for Death, although this too can be beneficial. It's just as well, perhaps far better, to instead focus on the very Purpose(s) for which I'm here to begin with ... and the best attitude I can imagine for doing that is one of complete Forgetfulness regarding the hangups. If my memory serves to remind me of the mistakes I've made, SO THAT I can avoid them as I walk on down the road, then Good. That's part of what the Memory is for. It's called Right Recollection or Right Memory on the Eightfold Noble Path, and a beautiful way to practice this is to try and focus on the Good in others, while being glad to forget any ways in which they may have wronged us. I think there's some jabber about that in the `Lord's Prayer,' too ... but hey, I don't expect many folks to pay attention to these similarities, or facts.
Still, we need to learn to Forgive ourselves, and accept that Death comes to greet us all - NOT because we have done anything wrong, not because it's time for punishment, and certainly NOT because it isn't the job of this MahaDeva to make it possible for us to move to the next stage. How backwards, how twisted, how mangled is our interpretation and understanding of the facts. How sad, very sad, then, for this Angel. What a thankless job, what a misunderstood role ... and what an unenlightened society that Angel serves. In the East, Death is much more understood, greatly appreciated and welcomed. The people in Buddhist and Hindu countries aren't exactly suicidal, they don't do stupid crap so they can shuffle off before their time, and they are much, much healthier when it comes to spiritual and religious matters. In the West, we have largely become poisoned, psychologically, regarding this matter. Dear God, what's it going to take for your `good followers' to begin to see?
Those who speak the loudest, do not know. Those who know best, are neither allowed nor desirous of speaking aloud. Somewhere in between are those who genuinely yearn, but are not always even willing to ask ... for they have been told, taught and scolded into believing that this is the greatest taboo. Even when a Library may contain thousands upon thousands of illuminative manuscripts, or careful, step-by-step GUIDES to this very topic - how to approach it, what happens during and immediately after, what to expect regarding x, y and z - even then, it has been deemed far more useful to maintain the
status quo, and to keep the MASSES in ignorance. This is done, of course, for the same reason that a corrupt political regime would prefer its citizens to remain fearful, easily-manipulable SHEEP.
No
Good Shepherd can avail those who give Him no allegiance, and who continue to pray to the wrong God. As Black Sabbath put it:
You turn to Me in all your worldly greed and pride
But will you turn to Me when it's your turn to die?
No, it's more lip service ... and perhaps a vain hoping that we have prepared for ourselves that little spot in Heaven which apparently is the only justification for some for the awful suffering and misery of life on earth. Why, people, oh
WHY do you think that SO many of us have now had out-of-body and near-death experiences, wherein about 99% of us that talk about it are glad to share that what we've seen is something exceedingly, tremendously positive - inspiring - wonderful - and Good?
I really do wish you-know-Who would start a few television spots, Outer Limits style, and make a few things known so that we could skip over the worst of it all ... before it's too late. You know, simple things, which many folks already know, but which the rest NEED TO ACCEPT. Stuff like:
- Yes, there are environmental problems. Fix them; you don't have long.
- Death is. Live your life so that your own conscience isn't guilty and you'll have nothing to fear. Otherwise, yes, it's lost time.
- What does that mean? Yes, it means you're coming back. Deal with it. Oh, you don't believe me? Sorry friend. You're no better than the next guy, and HE'S got to do it. Your Lord did it. How strange, that you feel you're beyond these Cosmic Laws that apply to every single atom, let alone man, woman and child. Oh well, we'll give you another seven or so - and see if it's begun to sink in by then!
- Meanwhile, yes, those who aren't living in denial, you can help. Same approach, pretty much: Teach and preach, but more of the former, and most importantly of all, LIVE what you believe and know. Even the Christian tries to do that. Just be ready to be "persecuted for My sake" - especially by those who rail on about Me the loudest, yet utterly fail to grasp what I taught, or why.
- Let go the martyr complex. It really makes people loathe you. The Christians are STILL finding this one out. What people really need, is help. They need self-forgetfulness on your part, however, in order to get it. The less that you're in the picture, the more that I can be. And that's Good for everyone (pretty much by definition).
- Ignore the tea-baggers and Republican'ts. Yes, they hold up progress, but their days are numbered. The world isn't big enough, or resilient enough, for their crap. Eventually, such small-mindedness and foolishness will do you all in. This goes back to #1 and #4. Yes, Earth corrects a lot of Humanity's mistakes, if the globe survives (and that's truly an IF). It's just a pity when so much needless suffering occurs in the meantime.
- Let's see: A greed/exploitation-based capitalistic society is still deemed acceptable by you folk, yet a COMMUNITY-based system of cooperation for a Greater Good is judged evil. Umm, no. You are some of the most stubborn people imaginable. Either fix it and fix it fast, or suffer the consequences. These, of course, are natural. Blame the heavens, blame each other or blame the spaghetti monster; no one cares. You did it to YOURSELVES. You have never had more help in getting out of this mess than now. The entire planet is bathed in Light and Love. Ignore those who are too narrow to grasp this, and don't lose a single breath arguing with those whose agenda is to screw each other into the ground. Their reward is coming.
Sadly, people devote themselves to trying to unfold something horrific and evil upon this planet ... and while most of us are way too aware of the facts to believe in such nonsense, there are actually entire religions that want to see our beautiful globe go up in smoke. I can't imagine a better forum and thread to address this than one on being AFRAID OF DEATH. I am not afraid of death. I
am afraid, however, that these sickos are going to succeed in killing our/my planet. I want them off of it. NOW.
If a great big spaceship landed and Jesus walked out, and said, "COME my children, COME, board this great ARK so that I may take you to the Promised Land," ahhhhh, I would praise God in Highest Heaven for this miracle. I would kiss his feet, my feet, your feet. I would celebrate for three months straight, and I would sing his praises forever. For I know what would happen next. He'd take these sorry, miserable lot, fly this wonderful Ark of Deliverance to the Moon - or nearest convenient asteroid - and land it. He'd extend that little atmosphere bubble long enough for these monsters to exit his ark ... and he'd leave.
Then we'd have a whole lot less hindrance. We'd be free of these freaks who want to actually DESTROY our beautiful world due to their sick, twisted interpretations of ... oh screw it, these people are just messed up.
I'd much rather know that all we have left is a few tyrants and runaway political nut jobs. The religious undertoe keeps us from dealing with the real threats to global annihilation. With them out of the picture, it's much easier to understand the power-plays and old-as-the-hills games which dictators enjoy. And the People are tired of this crap. We won't let ...
... oh wait, is this a rant? Is it about Death? Or that transition we call death?
It is, actually, about my own fears - less of death, certainly not of Death, but definitely of those who want to die
a litttttttle too much. These are those with the Martyr complex, spoken of in #5 above. And yes, they do exist ... perhaps in larger numbers than some of us realize. They are messed up in the head, far worse than you or I. Believe me. After all, I may be misunderstood. I don't, however, desire ON ANY LEVEL, planetocide. The most I hope for, is that a suitable rock for these BACKWARDS types really can be found ... so that the rest of us can get on with the show.
And for those who STILL can't grasp the standards, or appreciate the fact that Objective ones DO exist, I would remind you: I didn't make them up. I don't know them all. I really am just an egg. If you think that Chaos, however, is meant to reign supreme ... if you believe that we'll eventually figure it all out by just killing enough of each other, in enough new and exciting ways, with a zillion permutations on hate and death and war ... ahhh, well, I'll bet on my odds over yours, any day.
Thank you, and have a nice life.
