"Sing in me Muse, and through me tell the story of one woman's quest to figure out just what the hell she is supposed to be doing here."
Oh, and Muse, if you could tell it BEFORE I have to report back to wherever I came from, I'd be much obliged.
I guess you could argue the older one gets, the more in touch with their mortality they become. You don't have a choice, really, I mean the clocking is ticking from day one, but most of us really don't have to worry about it through our immortal youth. But one day, it hits you, sometimes softly like a touch on the arm, sometimes it more like a duel-challenging face slap. You're not going to be here forever. Then what? Not only that, but what now?
I started my fascination with "then what?" when I got my first library card. I remember checking out everything I could about death ("Bridge to Terabithia" horrified and fascinated me), and from there progressing through the years into ghosts, near death experiences, past life regression, astral projection, spirituality, a variety of religious beliefs,etc. The more I read and expanded my search, the more I realized the commonalities in so many belief systems.
As an academic type person, I was never satisfied with the teachings of the religion I was born into. I always found church teachings to be shallow, judgmental and sexist, which seemed to me to be opposite of what Jesus was trying to get through to us. (Although, sometimes I wonder what he really said since so much of it has been edited and hidden and changed etc. BUT that's another rant entirely.) My point being that reading so many different texts and points of view has been a great comfort to me as it has shown me evidence that there is purpose to what we do here and that there is a bigger picture after we die.
So, what is common between Buddhists and Christians and Jews and Spiritualists and etc?
1. There is a universal being, source, universe, God (insert word here).
2. We ARE this universal being, source, universe, God (insert word here).
3. No matter what, when you die, you go back to the universal source.
4. Love is the predominant emotion of the universe.
5. If you accept your universal nature, you will have peace in your life.
I chose to share these five, (although I have found many, many more), because I feel these are the ones that offer us the most comfort. I have tried to present them free of religious terminology (because humans have used that kind of language to impose fear upon one another instead of love), but call them whatever works for you.
Life can be hard and death is scary to us in our mortal coils. If there is any truth to be had, I believe it to be found in the commonalities of those who have had some experience or knowledge and shared it with us. Read and listen with an open mind to everyone who has evidence to offer, regardless of whether their religious background jives with yours or not.
In this, may you find comfort in life... and death.
