Holistic-Personal-Development.com

Life and death are so connected that the understanding of one is not complete without the understanding of the other. The synergy of the two leads to heightened awareness.

I remember hearing the following words of advice on a cold January night in India: “Live your spiritual life as if you aren’t going to live to see the sun rise tomorrow morning.” That was a wake up call.

Death has a way of making life more meaningful. But all too often we take life for granted, as if we are going to live for a thousand years, that death is of no concern.

I remember a period of my life when I was extremely ill. One night I was convinced I wouldn’t see the sun rise the next morning. That night was the most alive I have ever felt. And the sun did rise for me that next morning. It was wonderful to be alive. I remember going outside and marveling at the dew on the blossoms of flowers. Life becomes more precious when we know it can be taken away. The tug of war between life and death fosters awareness.

The life and death synergy is also a theme in the Peter Weir film, Dead Poets Society , starring Robin Williams. You may remember the scene where he first meets the class he’s teaching. He has them follow him down the hallway to the trophy case where there are photos of the school’s athletic teams from perhaps seventy years earlier. He has one student read a verse from Walt Whitman: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.”

Robin Williams plays an unorthodox teacher named Mr. Keating who understands deeply the tension, meaning and connection of life and death. He tells them that the Latin sentiment for this is Carpe Diem – Seize the Day. He has them look closely at the old photographs:

They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils.

Having the realization that life is but a moment, and that the moment is an opportunity, can be the insight that enables us to live life fully. Life becomes filled with passion, emotion, feeling and sensitivity.

Stephen Levine, in his book, Who Dies? recounts the story of a student approaching a well-known Thai meditation teacher and asking,

“In this world where everything changes, where nothing remains the same, where loss and grief are inherent in our very coming into existence, how can there be any happiness? How can we find security when we see that we can’t count on anything being the way we want it to be?”

The teacher, with a look of compassion on his face, holds up a drinking glass and answers: “You see this goblet? For me, this glass is already broken. I enjoy it. I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on a shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ But when I understand that this glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious. Every moment is just as it is and nothing need be otherwise.”

And so it is with life and death, and with grief. When we can perceive like the meditation teacher, that we all are already broken, then each moment becomes precious. Love awakens with a new intensity. We hear a voice like Mr. Keating, whispering in our ears, “Carpe Diem.” We no longer walk through life unconsciously. Realizing that we are already dead, we become truly alive. We become aware.

To be free of life’s suffering is to understand all in the physical realm is transitory. Clinging to it only invites suffering. It’s an awakening to love. This was the essence of Buddha’s message.

You may have heard the story of Buddha giving a silent sermon. He once held up a flower when his monks were gathered around him. He simply gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. Mahakasyapa smiled because he penetrated the mystery of the transitory. He became enlightened right then and there. The flower, so delicate, so beautiful, and so transitory, represents the same meaning as the meditation teacher’s drinking glass. Enjoyable, yet already broken. Every moment with it is precious.

If you could go back in time to spend a day with someone whom you deeply loved, who has since died, how would you spend that borrowed day? Would your heart be more alive to their presence, knowing you had but only a day? Would your ears hang on every word? Would your eyes take in every nuance, every gesture, every smile? Such is love in the aliveness of the moment. It touches each of us at the core of our being. The intensity amounts to compressing a lifetime of love into a single day.

That is awakened living. Awakened to the transitory nature of life. Awakened to the special uniqueness of each moment. Awakened to love. Life and death are then seen only as stepping-stones to the realization of who we are.