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The Holistic Mystic: |
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Why Death
is Not a Problem |
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by Lonny Brown, Ph.D. |
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We're all terminal. No matter how long we live, our death is always immanent. Is this morbid? Hardly. Life is all the more precious for being temporary. But death is not what you think. True, your everyday identity dissolves at death, but consciousness continues right on, as sure as the universe does. Life is eternal, but - in death as in life - the quality of the experience is all determined by your mind-set.
There is an old Chinese story about a monk who fell asleep and dreamed he was a butterfly. When he awoke, he wondered whether he was indeed a man who had only dreamed about being a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming itself to be a man. Death is something like that.. waking up from a very convincing dream.
The truth is, this common experience we call "reality" is so engrossing we think it's all there is, and we've forgotten who we really are and where we come from. We're all amnesiacs who don't even know we've forgotten anything. Death stands for The End, or the Unknown, and we'd just as soon not get into it, thank you. I mean, I may be finite, but I'm all I've got, right??
Wrong. I'll tell you a secret. Life is but a dream (shaboom shaboom). When you finally wake up from this life, you'll suddenly realize that Death was just the punchline to a great joke told by your soul.
TO LIVE AGAIN
A good percentage of the world's population, particularly those living in India, Asia, and the Far East, routinely accept the idea of reincarnation. To understand this concept, it is important to know what is meant by incarnation in these traditions, in which the idea of the primacy of the non-corporal spirit/soul is fundamental. In these ancient cultures, a human being is seen as essentially an evolving soul-entity, taking on, or "generating" a physical form from time to time, for purposes of experiencing all the various lessons in the school of life, on the material plane, with all its inherent restrictions and opportunities. In other words, your body is all in your mind.
In Hinduism this kernel of life which passes through a long succession of physical forms is seen as an everlasting piece of Brahman, the Creator of the Universe. Hindus remind themselves not to take this life too seriously, through the doctrine of "Maya:" the divine play of God that creates the illusory nature of worldly appearances.
In Buddhism, the notion of an ultimately permanent, separate entity is refuted. Nothing lasts forever. But the patterns and propensities that define us and determine our behavior endure for lifetimes. The challenge is to become fully conscious mind-in-matter, an opportunity unique to humans, midway between the animals and the angels in the cosmic evolutionary journey of consciousness.
We have chosen to take on the karma of our roles, and life-in-time, in order to learn how to infuse dense matter with conscious spirit. The difficulty of this task constitutes the trial-and-error existence we know as life in the world.
GETTING OFF THE WHEEL
Death represents a singular opportunity to become enlightened, because it is then that we may look through the veil of our mortal illusions and glimpse how it all is from a more universal perspective. Death is the fast ride to Truth.
"Conscious dying" is no easy feat, however, due to the myriad attachments and fears we tend to accumulate as separate egos on the physical plane. It is said that in dying, the forces of our own confused mind are projected as terrifying fears and seductive distractions, preventing a potentially smooth ascent towards the Clear White Light of Self-Realization. For this reason, many in the East devote themselves to rehearsing their own departure from this life, through renunciation and meditation, particularly towards their later years. It is not uncommon in India for an elderly householder to cut the ties of family and friends, and retreat to seclusion in preparation for his or her ultimate transition to the beyond.
NEXT MONTH, PART II: Why Death is Not a Problem
Excerpt from "Enlightenment in Our Time - The Perennial Wisdom in the New Millennium" (www.BookLocker.com/LonnyBrown) by Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. (www.Holistic.com/Lonny)
- Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is the author of Self-Actuated Healing (Naturegraph, Publ.), Meditation - Beginners Questions & Answeres (WritersCloset.com/books/meditation.htm) and "Enlightenment In Our Time," (BookLocker.com/LonnyBrown). His writings on holistic health have Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum. Dr. Brown teaches holistic health, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US. His Web site also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources. www.holistic.com/lonny lonny@holistic.com lonnybrown@aol.com
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Lonny Brown,
Ph.D.
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Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is the author of "Self-Actuated Healing" (Naturegraph, Publ.), and "Enlightenment In Our Time," (BookLocker.com/
LonnyBrown).
His writings on holistic health have appeared on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum and in Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and many other progressive publications.
Dr. Brown teaches holistic health, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US. His Web site also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources.
Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D. is also the author of " ENLIGHTENMENT ONLINE - The Newsletter for Spiritual Cyberspace.
holistic.com/lonny
lonny@holistic.com
lonnybrown@aol.com
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