Starlight Journal, The Tsunami & Meeting Death

The Tsunami & Meeting Death
Christine Breese, D.D., Ph.D.

The terrible tragedy on December 26, 2005 has touched everyone at some level or another. It has brought up questions in everyone’s mind about suffering in the world, the forces at work in these times, and the horror of such an event. It makes us grateful to be alive and awakens compassion in our hearts. It helps us realize the frailty of life, and that it is fleeting with no guarantees.

We must treasure each other, and appreciate the gift that life is. We are in a cosmic dream together inside the mind of God. The characters that we are is the gift that we give to each other. We are sources of love for others, as well as teachers to each other in which our characters are caused to grow in self understanding and rise to the challenge of loving even when love is not given in return.

We can be here one moment but gone the next. There is no protection from the reality that a possible loss of a loved one can occur. As this is a sobering realization, it is also liberating. It can teach us to live each day as if it might be our last. If life is lived from this point of view, fear dissolves and life can be an exciting new adventure every day. Every day, every moment, is to be savored and enjoyed, even if it is an ordinary day with nothing to notice except that the fact that life is a miracle. Somehow it is here, even though no one can really explain this phenomenon.

Entire families were wiped out in a matter of minutes, children playing in the yard one moment, gone the next. Lone members, still alive, have been faced with the deepest pain that a human can barely endure. To imagine the horror of this is mind-boggling for most of us if we are to think but a moment about those we love possibly being lost in a sudden tragedy. The resulting despair is an abyss unimaginable.

The event of the Tsunami drives home the realization that we must use our time together wisely. There is no guarantee that there will be a “tomorrow” together. None of us is immune to death. It comes for each of us sooner or later, without exception. The question is…when? Will it be tomorrow? Will it be next week? Will it be next year? Will it be 10 years from now? And how would we live our lives if we knew the date that we would meet death of the physical body?

The elders in our communities are faced with these questions more directly than young people, for the mortality of the physical body looms ever closer for the elderly. The beauty of youth is that human mortality has not yet been realized. It seems to hit people somewhere in the 30s when they first see the lines of aging on the face, small as those signs might be. By the 40s, there is a realization that it is already half over, and if no action is taken soon to “make something of oneself,” or accomplish the task that each of us has come to do, then the opportunity of a lifetime might be lost. From the 50s on, the question must be given true attention.

If we could live each day as if that date was coming sooner than later, it would be a rich life indeed. Life would be lived more passionately, more courageously, more righteously, more lovingly. Attention would not be frittered away on petty grievances with the shortcomings of others. Not a moment would be lost on negative thoughts, or self criticism. If each of us only had one day left, a great allowingness would become the natural way of being. The most prominent change would be the fact that life would be lived in the fully awake state, and one would be grateful for it. Even the simplest things would suddenly become wondrous, including things that we take for granted in our daily lives, like the people we love.

How many people walk around in life hating the fact that they are here on Earth? We all know someone who is not happy to be here. Which one of us has not been in this state ourselves for some length of time or another? What we forget is that it is a gift to be here, that it is a lucky miracle we are participating in.

Suffering happens for those who have not remembered who they really are yet, who still identify themselves as the broken human condition they were “born” into. Suffering STOPS when we realize the eternal nature of our being, that we are only here for a “moment” when compared to eternity. When we realize this, life is no longer the burden we thought it was when we looked at it from a smaller perspective. Rather, it is perceived as a fortunate opportunity to “dream” in the third dimensional existence that physical reality is. That dream becomes more and more liquid and beautiful as we free our hearts and minds from suffering, and realize how fortunate we are to be here.

There is nothing that can wake a person up more quickly than a close brush with death. In Buddhism, there is a saying: “Die before you die.” What this means is to meet death now, RIGHT now, before it comes for your physical body. By meeting the reality of death, of yourself and others, you meet your mortality. It can be a terrifying experience. Ramana, a famous spiritual teacher from India, was lucky enough to meet his terror of death, his mortality, at the young age of 16 years old. What he found under this fear of death in the physical body was his immortality. Very few people wish to meet this fear of death, for it is a terrible place in the psyche indeed.

What Christ spoke of, when he referred to eternal life, was the immortality inside each of us. Being in touch with this immortality helps us realize that this life on Earth is but a fleeting experience, and knowing this makes us a “new person.” The born again concept refers to the human who is asleep, but then wakes up to find himself or herself to be a completely different identity than what he or she thought of the self before and the life is lived differently, more benevolently, from that point on. This is not a personality transformation. Rather, it is a sudden awareness of the eternal self and its already perfected state.

So let us realize our mortality, meet death now. Let us realize the great luck we have in this opportunity to be with each other, in this moment, in this virtual reality that is Earth. There is no guarantee that we get to stay for even a moment longer. We must let each other know how glad we are to be dreaming with one another in life, that we treasure the moments we have together.

Our hearts are connected to those directly effected by the Tsunami. They have experienced the great loss of loved ones and everything they have worked for. When we imagine it happening to ourselves, our hearts jump and our horror makes us turn quickly away from the idea of possibly experiencing the same thing. We must be present for those who need our help, whatever form that is for each of us. As we witness the loss that others experience, let us rise to the task of demonstrating our benevolent nature. Those who are suffering are our brother and sisters, our own selves. Let us take a moment to be grateful for the fortune we have in being able to treasure those we love, here in this moment. Let our love flow even to strangers as we realize them as beautiful beings in our dream. Let us be more aware of how beautiful our lives are, even with its challenges and obstacles. Let us awaken to the miracle that we are.

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