I enjoy your posts. When I was around six years old my family was in a cabin on a mountain lake. (Lake Arrowhead). I got a very high fever. I remember when I woke up – my mother came over and asked me if I knew how long I’d been out. I did not know – she told me a day and a half. She handed me my brother’s Red Rider comic book. I was thrilled to have it – though I couldn’t really read all of the words – just some.
Anyway here’s the interesting part. When I was under this incredibly high fever I entered a gray void – fog like place. I was floating and started moving through the void going faster and faster. As I was doing this my body became smaller and smaller. I was losing my body. The best part was that I was in a complete state of bliss. I remember that in this dream state I was very disappointed when it ended. I did not want it to end.
When I was nineteen I read the Tibetan Book of the Dead and it stated that the before entering the new existence there would be a gray void like place. I was only six years old, so I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about all of this.
Maybe because of this experience I am not afraid of death.
Clearly, everything we love will perish in transformation. But not yet! Right now we are still here together! That certainty of impermanence makes the whole world holy in this moment! Miraculous!
I have no problems with death. Maybe because I was aware of it as a child. Maybe because by age 10, I was exploring cemeteries with my father. (I still love cemeteries) By age 19, in 1985, I was loosing friends to AIDS and then my father in 1990. I spent many years working in HIV/AIDS and folks would often comment that it must be depressing. Instead, I always felt like I was helping people live until they shed their bodies - and - I was assisting people in dying with dignity and grace. These are beautiful things. As for myself, I have no fear. I have been willing to leave this world since I was a teenager - not suicidal, rather, a clear sense that this life isn't all there is. I no longer believe in heaven (as I did when I was young), but I still think there must be something beyond what I can imagine. And maybe that is nothing, who knows? It's a miracle to be here, to live every day, and at the same time I feel like whatever comes after this will probably be even better - if I have any consciousness to recognize it, but I may not. Did you ever read The Chronicles of Narnia? The last book has always stayed with me - the idea that this world is a dim copy of the other world. Who knows. As your title says, life is sacred. ALL life is sacred. There is nothing that is not sacred, nothing that is not divine. Which also reminds me of John Donne's Meditation 17 - no man is an island, we are all part of the whole - any man's death diminishes me - therefore do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. What we think of as "life" is so one-dimensional. With every cell of my body I am sure life is so much more.
I enjoy your posts. When I was around six years old my family was in a cabin on a mountain lake. (Lake Arrowhead). I got a very high fever. I remember when I woke up – my mother came over and asked me if I knew how long I’d been out. I did not know – she told me a day and a half. She handed me my brother’s Red Rider comic book. I was thrilled to have it – though I couldn’t really read all of the words – just some.
Anyway here’s the interesting part. When I was under this incredibly high fever I entered a gray void – fog like place. I was floating and started moving through the void going faster and faster. As I was doing this my body became smaller and smaller. I was losing my body. The best part was that I was in a complete state of bliss. I remember that in this dream state I was very disappointed when it ended. I did not want it to end.
When I was nineteen I read the Tibetan Book of the Dead and it stated that the before entering the new existence there would be a gray void like place. I was only six years old, so I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about all of this.
Maybe because of this experience I am not afraid of death.
Yes, I've pondered this and my "comment" is rather too long for this box. Here are the 18 things I've figured out: https://www.annmedlock.com/bread-crumbs
If you jump to #15 and keep going from there, you'll have my speculations on the matter. And thanks for posting yours. We are of a mind.
Clearly, everything we love will perish in transformation. But not yet! Right now we are still here together! That certainty of impermanence makes the whole world holy in this moment! Miraculous!
Thank you, Annabel!
I have no problems with death. Maybe because I was aware of it as a child. Maybe because by age 10, I was exploring cemeteries with my father. (I still love cemeteries) By age 19, in 1985, I was loosing friends to AIDS and then my father in 1990. I spent many years working in HIV/AIDS and folks would often comment that it must be depressing. Instead, I always felt like I was helping people live until they shed their bodies - and - I was assisting people in dying with dignity and grace. These are beautiful things. As for myself, I have no fear. I have been willing to leave this world since I was a teenager - not suicidal, rather, a clear sense that this life isn't all there is. I no longer believe in heaven (as I did when I was young), but I still think there must be something beyond what I can imagine. And maybe that is nothing, who knows? It's a miracle to be here, to live every day, and at the same time I feel like whatever comes after this will probably be even better - if I have any consciousness to recognize it, but I may not. Did you ever read The Chronicles of Narnia? The last book has always stayed with me - the idea that this world is a dim copy of the other world. Who knows. As your title says, life is sacred. ALL life is sacred. There is nothing that is not sacred, nothing that is not divine. Which also reminds me of John Donne's Meditation 17 - no man is an island, we are all part of the whole - any man's death diminishes me - therefore do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. What we think of as "life" is so one-dimensional. With every cell of my body I am sure life is so much more.
Blessings -