AS A DYING PERSON, WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO THE LIVING

Opinion| We are all dying people. Death is an inevitable and more importantly, essential aspect of being alive. The advice to “the living” is also to everyone, for even those closer to death are fully alive till they leave this plane.

Most fear death as the antithesis of life. But death is our greatest gift – it makes life as we know it possible and worth living.

The short time we have is one of the most important limitations God placed on self-aware sentient beings, for without death there would no way to win in life, no point to living. Our purpose is to actively expand our awareness as far as we can in the limited time we have allotted; not to live forever.

What point to a game if there is no end to it? What difference the score if we never determine a victor? Death gives us a game clock on life, forcing us to learn, risk, choose and act to win before the game ends. Death gives life meaning.

We are also blessed to leave this existence while we still love life; before endless boredom can set in. Those who wish for eternal life in the flesh should be careful what they ask for, for I can imagine no greater hell than being consigned to experience the same things over and over again, a type of Groundhog’s Day without the ability to change ANYTHING with the start of each day. Death is not only “The Grim Reaper;” it is also the “The Angel of Death”. Eternal life, in the flesh, would be a curse. Death releases us from this terrible fate.

“I have absolutely no fear of death. From my near-death research and my personal experiences, death is, in my judgment, simply a transition into another kind of reality.” – Dr. Raymond Moody

Death allows the space for new life to be born; to experience this incredible universe again and again with each generation. The next generation can play the same three chords on their electric guitars for the first time and feel the power flow; God experiences the thrill too. We each get our turn to be our best, or fail trying.

Our fear of death is irrational in one sense; we do not know what will happen when that fateful moment comes. It is arrogance and shallow thinking on our part to believe the body generates the mind when the only certainty is that we are spiritual beings. Most likely, life continues.

“To fear death is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not. For it is to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not even turn out to be one of the greatest blessings of human beings. And yet people fear it as if they knew for certain it is the greatest evil.” – Socrates

We do not know what happens when we die. Though there are credible reports from people who have temporarily lost their lives and been resurrected, that testimony remains circumstantial evidence. Though we call the awareness within us by many names, including spirit and soul, it is God by any name. The Divine cannot be destroyed. But there are many compelling reasons to believe these minds we work so hard on are not wasted and go on to another reality.

My mother had such an afterlife experience when I was a child, having died during childbirth with my sister, left for dead and regained life without the doctor’s help. She told our family that death was not the end, but the greatest adventure. Her experience can be summarized as one of unconditional love that made coming back to life “the hardest thing I ever did”. My mother was one of the most honest loving people I have ever met. That may sound prejudiced, but it is true. She had no fear of death.

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” – Rabindranath Tagore

No matter what stage of life you are in, you are in the process of dying. This understanding should inform your life with the realization of the preciousness of this gift, of the opportunity to love, laugh, grow and glow in the dark in our short time in this universe. Appreciate your life, the people in it, this incredible universe and the opportunities to explore the unknown you have been granted.

As a dying person moving ever closer to that fateful day, I say be grateful for the past, plan for the future (but be open because you don’t know what will come), but most importantly live fully now in each and every moment. This is true for everyone, and will wring the most out of this marvelous experience we call life.