It seems to me that death is no mystery. The corpse decomposes and returns to the cradle of the earth. This is not an enigma; rather, it is a certainty. All the questions about death are related to what happens after one dies―about the ever-after and further incarnations of the soul, about the numinous energy of being that transcends the flesh. But these are not questions about death; they are questions about life. Do we live on after death? And if so, how exactly does this occur?
So it follows then that perhaps it is not actually death we fear. Consider for a moment all the casualties of our existence which are born out of fear, little deaths such as judgment, arrogance, avarice, hubris, hatred, prejudice, vice, dominion―all the things that separate us from each other and the wonders of the world around us―all the things which in turn separate us within ourselves. Could it be that what we fear is life? And when the end draws near, we are afraid of how we have not lived, of the chances we have not taken, of the dreams we have not pursued, of the prideful masks we have hidden behind, of the precious love we have shunned and the miracles we have failed to recognize and celebrate. We come face to face with the cowardice of fear and we are loath to recognize it, for it is us.
Indeed, it seems to me that life is the mystery, not death. Living is what we are afraid of and death merely serves to remind us of that poignant truth.
May we perceive such truth clearly then, in the perpetuity of each moment; that this grand mysterium tremendum of life beckons to us; our chances abound; our opportunities to embrace it are infinite. If we but listen, we will hear the orphans of love knocking at our doors―we have only to invite them in, warm them by the hearth of our spirit, and feed them the ambrosia of compassion. In this way, we fashion the final boundary as a place to rejoice in the eternity of giving, a destination of divinity and grace, a glimmering gateway where we may pass fearlessly into the land of evening.
©2018 by Shawn Quinlivan, C.Ht. & Cathexis Therapeutic Imagery. All rights reserved.
