Something to Think About

Death

My sister-in-law’s mother, Betty, made her transition yesterday. It got me to thinking about death and what it means. I remember the first couple of times death struck close to me. I just didn’t get it (I still don’t get it, for that matter).  What was the point? Why do people have to die? Why can’t we just live forever?

There’s nothing about death to like.  It can happen very quickly, which is tremendously hard on family and friends.  It can happen slowly, which is very hard on the person dying.  If I had to pick out the best way to die, I can’t come up with any choices I like.  It seems like a painful process for all concerned.  Why is it necessary?

I hope I’ve grown a bit through the years, though I sometimes still ask similar questions.  I guess I’ve just begun to accept it.  It’s one of the universal experiences of living.  We all have an experience of it.  In some ways, our questioning can tie us together, and bring us closer together.  For that period of time, we realize that we’re all in this together, and that all we have here for support is each other.  The period of mourning is comforting in that way.  People pull together.  People tell you of love that remains unexpressed at other times.  People go out of their way to extend niceties.  Perhaps it’s a way of reminding us who and what we love, and reminding us that we can extend that love at all times.

To me though, the question is:  What purpose does life have, if “life” really ends at death?  Life makes sense if this is some type of learning ground, but I can’t really put my arms around all of the daily miracles we experience if it doesn’t have a purpose (See Everyday Miracles for more information).  Why would the thousands of Everyday Miracles exist?  The thought that all of these Everyday Miracles are just the result of some cosmic accident just doesn’t make sense to me.  It seems to me that there has to be a higher reason for this experience, and I suppose I will have to wait for a while longer before I get to know for sure what that purpose is.

It occurs to me that life is more than just this body we inhabit.  When my father died, I remember thinking that Dad was more than just his body.  The thing that made him the person I knew was the life force that inhabited his body.  After death, that life force was gone, it wasn’t there.  What was left was a shell that used to be inhabited by the energy called Dad.

The laws of physics tell us that energy never dies.  It simply changes form, from one form of expression to another.  I think that is what happened to Dad and Betty.  Their life force / energy left the body, leaving it behind – since the body was no longer strong enough to support their journey.  I expect they continued on their journey as another form of energy.  That gives me comfort.

I suppose I may have more on this later, but for now, it remains

Something to think about…..

Betty Rogers – February 8, 1935 to October 24, 2009

October 25, 2009 - Posted by Mark | Death, Love, Spirituality | Death, Love, Spirituality