Dying the Thousandth Death

Death - letting go. Participating in an end, sometimes The End.

What does it mean to die your thousandth death?

Perhaps even one thousand in a single lifetime. I feel as though I have just left my own four digit death scene, leaving behind a someone whom I no longer could be - becoming as I am, continuing to Be by letting go of what no longer Could Be.

Dying, in my experience, comes in many forms. I have found that death is a process of letting go and embracing what is. Most particularly poignantly felt when the future is a complete unknown and the present feels both painful and impossible to resolve.

Deaths occur with the distance of friends, the alienation of family, the transitions from old homes to new, old jobs to new ones, school to school, school to career - many thousands of endings occur without even touching on its most perfect sublime expression - biological Death: the irrevocable loss of family, loved ones and friends that we all must confront prior to our own expiration.

I have found in my experience that it is not so much Death that is painful, it is the holding on - the resistance - that hurts most. Struggling against a tidal wave of inevitability, we fight tooth and nail to retain every single last possibility that preceded Death, regardless of cost or consequence.

Grieving is something that we should be more adept at than any other human experience, and yet I have always felt it as an agony almost beyond imagining prior to the great final act of Acceptance. The mercy of Letting Go that releases neuro-chemicals, emotional blockages, psychological damage and petty little self-delusions that perpetuated a falseness of Being for what feels like (in the thick of it) an eternity. All boiling over to attain Release - release and transition/transformation into a new state, born again, clean and fresh and ready to rise to a new slate of challenges.

Sometimes almost playfully.

I have grieved many things in life - many losses. The death of both of my parents, of relationships that seemed as though they were destined to last forever, friendships, connections, careers, destinies, beliefs, homes - everything imaginable, really.

And yet ever act of grieving seems as hard as the first, and the much needed release when the end of the process comes an almost unexpected (and confusingly deserved) mercy.

And this is why I take note of my thousandth death, and honor it - even when I would never be able to truly know it from my ten thousandth, or millionth. Because it is a mercy, and a blessing, and a gift. And for it I am grateful.

- Three Feather

Life as a Sacred Gift

The Sacred on this world stems from the Power, the Medicine, of Nature. Nature's Power flows from Life. Life is the Sacred Dance that the flame, the spark of Consciousness, flickers for.

What makes Life sacred? Life not just in the sense of lifeforms - living entities - living energies, but the capacity for the experience of a life, of a lifetime. Life in the broadest, systematic sense. Capital 'L' Life as Gaia - the total interconnected biotic mass of any discreet place (planet, galaxy, universe, Reality).

Our capacities in this realm of existence, on this planet, stem from being alive - being pieces of Life - being part of a web formed by Nature: a web upon which we rely for every breath, every drink, every meal.

Without Life - there is no air to breathe, no food, no heart to feel beating in our chests. This experience of Being as we understand WOULD NOT BE.

"Living", or "Being Alive", offers an entity a capacity for engagement with Being in a way that consciously links the metaphysical with the physical. Both physics are part of the weave of the IS - Spirit, God, Reality, the Totality, the Oneness - but Life is the energetic state that allows us as entities to share both experiences simultaneously. It is a unique state - one filled with Power and the opportunity for Transformation.

Respect for Life is, in such a case, not merely a catch phrase or simply a platitude: it is a perspective that is aware of the beauty of the Power granted by Life, and in so doing informs our intention and actions towards it. The more we recognize this Power, the more we Respect, the more we strive to honor and preserve Life in the forms that it presents itself to us.

Love and Compassion towards Life, and towards the ability to sustain it where it is found (such as on this planet), are our way of completing the cycle that starts with awareness of that Power. For such Power is truly a gift, and possibly the greatest one we receive in our manifested existences as discreet entities. With that in mind, begin to account for your own perspectives (and actions) towards Life. Do you Respect the gift that is given - to you and to us all - and act with rightful reciprocity?

Remember: that which you give comes back to you - and giving the gifts of Love and Compassion to Life is a gift that you truly offer to yourself, as one of the integral parts of the Web of Life. How can it not return any less than sevenfold?