Death … And Life

NOV. 25, 1980, 9:23 AM
NAT’S KITCHEN, ARLINGTON HTS

“… if you’ll teach me of dying, I will teach you to live.” That central message from the song that you do well, o son, points to one of the truths of My world. It is a truth accepted, really, by only a relative few in your culture… and that is unfortunate. One of the reasons you are in the teaching area of death education is to bring more to the awareness and appreciation of this truth: life is continuous and death is one of the major events to be lived in any earth incarnation. The most fundamental importance of death is how you live it… to what extent can you be selfless, caring, sharing, and forgiving?

Given this affirmation, you can see that some current medical procedures deny the dying person the chance to exhibit these aspects of self as life shifts realms. Pain has some value, but it is good to relieve severe, distracting pain. It is possible to do this for those of well-developed spirit without compromising the exercise of that spirit until the final unconsciousness. Good medical practice should come more in line with good spiritual practice and be sure that the dying person has maximum consciousness AND opportunities to relate with others in ways that exercise the spirit.

It is true that when a spirit is undeveloped or negatively developed medications may mask the acting out of selfishness and, in that sense, could be considered preventive of harm. That is too conservative a view. The great leaps forward toward spiritual maturity are achieved in situations where failure is truly possible. It is like not investing your talents and reaping profits vs burying them in the ground to avoid the risk of loss. That final breakthrough of spirit must always be encouraged.

Peter was angry as his accident occurred, but as his life left the body he joyfully anticipated this next scene. The expression on his face as you saw him was rather accurate. His anger was gone, and he was looking ahead. He had no opportunity to interact with anyone there, but if he had it would have been a display of spirit you would have loved.

You think, occasionally, of expected deaths that will occur in your family… sometime. There is no particular preparation for this necessary… other than to exhibit and encourage the living of life more fully, in ways more sharing, while life continues here. That means… more letters, cards, tapes, phone calls… means of sharing ongoing life events with those who know not when they shall pass on or over, but just that the time here will not be long. Put this into practice yourself, and encourage your students to do it, also. Devise a way to give credit for doing it. Renew your resolve with postcards. Photographs also have much value. You wanted to know what to do and what to recommend. Here is a good answer. Give them the flowers now.

Death is a beautifully mixed experience. For the person dying it is a time of giving up a hold on this rather circumscribed experience here in the earth and passing into awareness of what growth of spirit has taken place and what learnings are now appropriate. Those who are truly enlightened and those close to it find it a lovely experience, one in which there often is more gained than lost. Even for young people there can be more gain than loss… certainly for folks of your parents’ age the move can be a very satisfying one.

For those surviving and living on, experiences are also mixed. There are feelings of sorrow at the loss of a loved one, but this may include quite a portion of self-centeredness… “poor me!” It is not callous or unspiritual to admit that death, any death of one close, brings opportunities. The funeral itself will offer opportunities for gathering and renewing relationships. Any person who has been important to you usually has also posed some restrictions on you… verbalized, admitted… or not. These are now gone, and there may be opportunities for some blooming held in check. Changed relationships with others may turn out to be better. There is a certain wondrous quality to variety, even if the former routine was valued highly.

Yes, the dying experience is a time for learning more about living… for all involved. And death should bring a renewal to the appreciation of life… here in the earth.

Be My servant this day, in the opportunities I offer.

Shalom
10:22 AM