The Gift:

We often say life is a gift.  One that is often taken for granted, unless we awaken to our purpose through spiritual lessons. We can appreciate this sentiment when life is going good for us.  We don’t seem to appreciate it when life is going wrong for us.  When loss strikes, and it will, how do we react?  After all, loss is something we cannot avoid in the human experience.  Death itself is the ultimate ‘loss’, and it's often culturally unacceptable to broach as a topic on various dimensions. I'd like to suggest to you that death is a gift; we inherently know this in that we fear death--see the loss. We know that life and death hold some deeper meaning; but more so, deeper purpose.  But we so often miss the gift, including our whole purpose for our lives.

Death and loss is something we will encounter our entire lives; loss of careers, of dreams, health and so on is so often viewed, culturally, as negative experience; stress producing, and definetely not invited.  Some deeply feel it is some kind of ‘punishment’ over our lives. And in the final analysis, God--this persona we have ‘blamed’ for thousands of years also hinders us from learning a new perspective of how to live, love, and enjoy life and death.  We miss the gift when we rely too heavily on old beliefs past down by tradition, blaming God ultimately for this ‘punishment’ in our lives. If a series of ‘bad’ events occur, than we wonder what is going on? Why has this, happened ‘to us’. 

But the truth is, in my humble discovery, is that each loss, each ‘death’, is a gift preparing us for the final one–it is inevitable.  Even with positive healing thoughts, a happy attitude which ensures a longer longevity; the proper lifestyle; technical advancements–we all must die nonetheless--one day...  How do we prepare for death, the ultimate?  Are our responses throughout our lives to the losses (losing a lover, a loved one to death, our nest egg and so on) we will incur naturally as a process deterministic of our paradigm of our final moments on Earth?

Rather, some ill and dying people have the opportunity to see the gift.  Some people with a year to live finally live that last year the way they’ve always wanted to live, on a deeper level.  But this isn’t the norm either, pending upon our normative’s our entire lives and the people around us. Children die despairing deaths, terminally ill, when they are surrounded by loved ones who cannot face death lovingly, and as a gift.  They teach fear of death. Ill people need more love and support, but rather it is often the opposite whcih occurs. To listen and love someone leaving this Earth is to give them the ‘gift that they had a purpose’ on this Earth. Some find their purpose through death and illness for the first time in their lives....

This is the gift.  To find our deeper purpose–to live life with meaning. And there are those which recover illness; even seemingly a miracle when discovering the gift of death while ill going on to live far more meaningful lives with true purpose.

But to find ‘life’ we must comprehend death in its deepest dimensions, not to fear it, or run.  Not find the daily distractions that keep us from this gift.  We must learn to accept loss gently–to let go.  Life is a process of birth, death, and rebirth.  But are we losing?  Or gaining? Do not see these events of loss as punishment, or a tragedy.  But embrace them–find the gift. WE than become stronger–rebirth many times throughout loss. And perhaps in the other wisdom of Christ this is embedded in Christ’s rebirth too.  But we have held on to religions so very long, refusing anything new. Why we do we criticize the religions of the world instead of seeing which beautiful truths they illuminate? Yet to be flexible to new truths. Everything is a paradox in this life, including the great religions and mysticisms.

For those wishing to discover them, they are instead rather than complaining. What was once interpreted years ago does not have to be the current authority, unless we choose tradition because it attempts to answer the questions for us by those in front of us rather than finding our own answers—authentic spirituality. To find our own answers is to know who we are, not what someone has told us thousands of years ago.  We can find our purpose, without sacrificing a faith, and without sacrificing ourselves for someone else’s faith.  We are all only here to point a way, but not the way.  In this it is meant that religion serves a purpose but not to be a ‘rut’ to stay in one’s whole life. We than move more and more into our own discoveries.  When Jesus had the ‘way’ it was truest because this is essentially what he was saying:  Stop following traditions so entrenched that you no longer think for yourself--seek for yourself.  He gave us a way in a way to find ourselves.....
There are more people becoming capable of rendering new interpretations, bridging the new with the old.

Jesus stated we die with him, everyday.  He also said there WILL be much tribulation in this world–we cannot escape it--no once can ultimately.  But from here we’ve trivilalized the peace available to us through our sufferings. But also, it is a journey for there are few who can lead the way for us and show us a different way rather than the reaction of despair our culture has taught us by and large. Buddhists have maintained the compassion aspect of our true divinities and purposes on Earth through many compassionate endeavors, like hospices.  It is like the story of the Father who took his son to a 3rd world community, in his eyes full of poverty.  But his son at the end replies with thank-you Father for showing me all the wonders and wealth of these people, and how poor we all are back at home in America.  Someone told me recently how in another small country across the world how those people had very little else but they had an abundance of compassion. And ironically, we tend to look down on this if we follow the cultural imperative. 

A very reoccurring theme for those who find themselves with a long term illness, or close to dying, is how their lives played out. It is what my life played out too, what a gift to see this.  We walk around ‘half-asleep’; life is always too busy; distractions; goals that have lost their meaning—we have taken life for granted, and so we learn about death, so we can learn about life. The life we want, the life we are destined for with purpose. It is tough to do these things, make a choice. It isn’t our ‘fault’ per se, it takes much courage in sight of all the paperwork piling up, the laundry piling up, the demanding career or job, and the things that life seems to beckon us to ‘do’ and to set aside the true calling in our hearts–a dream, a hobby, a better love life, deeper relationships and so on. Whatever we have found is our purpose(s).  WE take life for granted.  Life is not the seeking of pleasure alone–distractions run rampant with more of us with ADHD/ADD than ever before.  We don’t slow down, and see the beauty around us, especially in people.  We’re talking but not listening, always distracted; recovery brings on true communication for those willing. And overall, we have a lot of illness these days in general. I conclude with some paradox's in how death can teach us about the great gift:

Today we have bigger homes with smaller families; more conveniences but less time. We have more experts, but more problems. More medicine but less well-ness. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk to much, love too little and lie too often as a society. We have learned how to make a living, but not a life. We have added years to life, not life to years. We live in a time with more leisure and less fun; two incomes but more divorce; with fancier houses but broken homes. But through all of it life can be great, so don’t hesitate and live life like its yours. For me, this has changed what I wondered would be a full life for me, what I thought would bring me peace. Namaste.