There seems to be a lot of dying happening lately. A friend of mine died in December, another friend’s mom died last week. Several people I know appear to be on the verge of death. It sounds depressing, but I’m not mourning, I’m celebrating.
What’s really happening is a whole lot more Life in our lives. A friend I spoke with today shared about her visions and creative projects, how they were unfolding and manifesting and how, along the way, she’s experienced a lot of fear shedding. We laughed about how we die every day by shedding our old fearful limited self for the bigger, brighter, unlimited Self. Each day we choose Life–that which is Unlimited, All-Giving and Eternal–we let what appears to limit the un-limitable die in order to experience more of who we really are. It was never really alive to begin with, but we fed it with our minds and made it seem so. Aren’t we funny? As we let the old energy die out, we make space for what is birthing from within us: our creativity, our Joy, our dreams and visions, our purpose, our Awareness. Our Life.
I’ve experienced this increase in dying within myself lately as well. While people I know may be dying here and there, I know that who they are never dies, and that each day we must be prepared to die in order to truly live. My teacher and friend, Michael Tamura, who also died recently and lived to tell about it, taught that if we could live each day knowing that “It’s a good day to die,” we could truly have life. We can’t have life without death. We can’t have anything if we are resisting its opposite, for we become what we resist. It reminds me of an Osho quote I saw recently: “The real question isn’t whether life exists after death. The real question is whether you are alive before death.” If we are constantly resisting or trying to avoid death, we can never truly live.
How often in a day do we resist death? I don’t just mean death of the body or thoughts of our physical passing. More than that, how often do we resist letting go of any thoughts, emotions, fears, pain, “good” experiences or “bad” experiences. How much of our energy do we invest in trying to keep things the same? How much of our life force goes into resisting change? While we may be wanting or trying to change some things about our life or circumstances, we are usually also trying to avoid other inevitable changes. What if we let go of all that effort to make this change and make that stay the same, and instead celebrated the Life that Is, eternally, amidst the passing of life and death, birth and dying?
Jesus said, “Be passersby”. Like the Buddhist teaching of non-attachment, Jesus taught us to move through life with neutrality. To move through this world knowing that “this too shall pass” is to have certainty in Divinity, in That which Is without beginning or end: Life. When we live as passersby, we know that Life exists eternally no matter what appears to be happening in this world, to our bodies or our thoughts. When we live as passersby we are not attached to things being a certain way in order for us to feel safe, be happy or have peace and freedom. As passersby, we let all thoughts of fear, guilt, limitation, anger, judgement, blame or shame die the moment they appear to be born. We continue on our steady, certain path of Truth in celebration of Life.
As we celebrate Life more and more, all that has limited our experience of its Joy, Peace and Freedom falls away. This can be experienced as dying in many ways. We may physically feel like we’re dying, experience pain emotionally, or notice more fear in our minds. This is all cause for celebration. The old is dying to make wake for the new, both personally and globally. Humanity’s old models and systems are dying. Hurray! We are opening the space for more Life to be expressed and experienced in our world. Say Yes! to dying and make way for peace, joy and plenty!
Life has no limits. As more and more limits meet their death, stand by and watch the death march while Life parades in a new era for humanity. Rise up singing and dancing in celebration of Life!
