Fall is the season that brings out the dead. In nearly every culture across the globe we are called to remember and celebrate our departed loved ones and strive to be at peace with our own mortality. All humans, or all souls, experience or will experience dying and death. Even if we have nothing else in common, the fact of death is sufficient to give us a common bond with all of humanity and all of life here on our little yet magnificent planet.
How we feel about death can determine how we live. If we fear death, we fear living. Our time, energy, and the choices we make will likely be focused on prolonging our existence rather than enjoying life. We may deprive ourselves of close relationships because we fear the pain of losing someone we love. We may seek instant gratification rather than have the patience to invest our efforts into a long-term goal.
When we fear death, we will not likely take risks of any kind, and our moral sensibility can be more vulnerable and easily overruled by our fears. We may be reluctant to help others when we are afraid to take a risk of losing time or money or our health. When we are afraid of death, we may have a scarcity mentality, believing there is not enough to go around, so we become hoarders--of food, money, or anything we feel somehow makes us safer, gives us longevity or stops us from aging. Fear of death can be the underlying cause for egocentricity as we become self-absorbed or self-obsessed with self-preservation.
How we view death is so critical to how we live life, I am careful to cause no harm to anyone's faith that helps them to be at peace with it and free to love and live more fully. Whatever religious, spiritual or secular belief that helps people to live their best lives, as long as it causes no harm or is not imposed on others, I respect. After all, no one can prove one way or another whether we even have something as intangible and immeasurable as a soul, let alone where our souls or energy might end up or in what form they might take after death. Anyone who thinks they have all the answers to the mystery of life and death is only fooling themselves. From my own experience I have found that a little humility and compassion can go a long way toward creating more love and joy in this world. This is the only thing I know for certain.
My greatest wish is for all souls to find a way to live in peace, here on earth or wherever they might be. May we all have infinite and joyful adventures no matter where our souls might travel, and may we meet our loved ones again along the way. As my long-ago deceased mother had said to me in a dream, "When we meet again, oh, how we will laugh!" Naturally, I hope this will be true, and I look forward to it someday when my time comes to take that leap to another world.
Photo Credit:
eberhard-grossgasteiger-VHYB2v0NDfY-unsplash
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