I responded online yesterday to a New York Times article entitled A Dying Young Woman Reminds Us How To Live. It was a review written by Lori Gottlieb about a memoir left us posthumously by Julie Yip-Williams. a woman raging against her approaching death before ultimately surrendering. The book is called The Unwinding of the Miracle, and according to the reviewer it is a profoundly lovely reminder to all of us that life is precious and to be savored.
I have a unique view of "death", and when I wrote into the Times I did not believe for a moment they would publish my comments. But they did, which is a wonderful indication as to how far traditional mainstream media has come in its inclusion of what we once called "New Age" ideas.
In my comment I said that within my pantheon, "Death" is a misnomer. I do not believe in death, but I do believe in transition. I wrote that we all review the incarnation to come and we do so in order to select the best possible outcome for our spirit's growth. Therefore we choose the manner in which we will live. We choose whether we will live like royalty, or live in homelessness. We choose our gender, our religion and the culture into which we will be born. We choose our parents, our siblings, our lovers and our children because they are the ones that will provide us with our greatest lessons. We choose whether to be healthy or whether a disability or illness can provide us with the teachings we need to learn and then overcome. When we have accomplished all that we set out to do on Earth, we transition.
I said that I really believe that old age is not a measure of when death will approach us. I was working in Manhattan when the towers came down and all those that went to work that day, many of whom were quite young, did not have "Death" on their minds. They probably thought they had a lifetime ahead of them. "Death" can intervene at any time, for all of us, as it surely will. As nature is cyclical in her seasons, so are we. We are all interwoven into the great cycle of Life.
What is required of us, I believe, is that we live well. That we live and love exuberantly. That we live our truth as authentically as we can, and allow our voices to be heard. That we maximize the gifts and skills we have been given.
And, as much as possible, we do no harm to others.
I have a unique view of "death", and when I wrote into the Times I did not believe for a moment they would publish my comments. But they did, which is a wonderful indication as to how far traditional mainstream media has come in its inclusion of what we once called "New Age" ideas.
In my comment I said that within my pantheon, "Death" is a misnomer. I do not believe in death, but I do believe in transition. I wrote that we all review the incarnation to come and we do so in order to select the best possible outcome for our spirit's growth. Therefore we choose the manner in which we will live. We choose whether we will live like royalty, or live in homelessness. We choose our gender, our religion and the culture into which we will be born. We choose our parents, our siblings, our lovers and our children because they are the ones that will provide us with our greatest lessons. We choose whether to be healthy or whether a disability or illness can provide us with the teachings we need to learn and then overcome. When we have accomplished all that we set out to do on Earth, we transition.
I said that I really believe that old age is not a measure of when death will approach us. I was working in Manhattan when the towers came down and all those that went to work that day, many of whom were quite young, did not have "Death" on their minds. They probably thought they had a lifetime ahead of them. "Death" can intervene at any time, for all of us, as it surely will. As nature is cyclical in her seasons, so are we. We are all interwoven into the great cycle of Life.
What is required of us, I believe, is that we live well. That we live and love exuberantly. That we live our truth as authentically as we can, and allow our voices to be heard. That we maximize the gifts and skills we have been given.
And, as much as possible, we do no harm to others.