How many Zen Masters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
The plum tree in the garden.
Anyway. Tipping points. I don't know where the point of no return is in my boat, and I suspect she can go pretty far. But haven't really worked with it to know. There's something to be said for knowing the edge by playing near it. Also something to be said for just letting it know itself.
Two beloved friends are experiencing identity crises, of sorts.
One feels as though she should be doing more with her life - not satisfied with how she might be remembered, should she die tomorrow. Inspired to become the people she admires.
The other is learning to find balance, but feels imbalanced, in part because work isn't fun. We watched a sunset last night, on top of a parking garage, climbing from my car onto a pier for a better vantage, took photos of ourselves, the changing sky. It's humbling to be able to enter with a friend into moments of truly free living, and to be told that such things need to happen more often.
Is it unusual to look at the possibility of death and feel like nothing's been left undone?
3 comments:
There is no death, only the illusion of death. Something continues on. You feel it within you now. That never dies. Only the mind and body die, but they've been dying since you took your first breath. None of that is a problem. Everything passes. Nothing lasts in this world as the eons grind on, but nothing of value is ever lost. It continues on in spirit, perhaps to arise anew in this world, this reality.
Great post, Julie. You have the freedom to 'say who you are', and beyond that to truly be with others-- an extravagant form of love.
"Is it unusual to look at the possibility of death and feel like nothing's been left undone?"
No, Julie. Jane Adams was in the hospital facing a serious operation (that actually proved fatal). They came to her to tell it it would be in a half hour. "Good," she said, "I'll have time to finish this book".
" So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." (Thanatopsis)
And then of course we have what St. Paul said in Philippians:
" 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
1:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
1:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;"
J.B.Moore is right: death is 'nothing' or at least a very small thing, except for those left behind.
John; today's first reading:
Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.
Larry; thank you so much for sharing these thoughts. The Thanatopsis is especially wonderful; but for you I'd never have seen it. Thank you!
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