The Miracle of Death

[Stoner Shadow Wolf]

not at all what i was talking about, but good show! keeps ya sharp.

[iStaaHi]

death is the absense of life, no more no less, there is no death, just no life, death is part of life,



we need changes,

[Stoner Shadow Wolf]

we define life differently.

that which is, is life.


nothing disappears from reality, and if it did, that would be death.


reality is life, there is no absence of life, unless there is absence of existence.


only absolute nothingness can be labeled with the name death. and even nothingness is alive in my eyes.

[jdmarcus59]

How do you feel when you think of death? What does the word, the symbol, mean to you?

For years, when I thought of death, I felt fear. Fear of the unknown, yes, but even more so the fear of not existing. Fear that my reality, my life, my memories, would someday disappear and be forgotten. I was afraid of becoming nothing. Sometimes it was just a feeling of unease lingering in the back of my mind, a queasy feeling in my stomach. At others, it was overwhelming terror. But it was constantly there, a demon haunting me that seemed impossible to escape.

This demon I struggled with. I tried to find solace with god, I prayed that Jesus would save my soul, but faith seemed no match for this perceived abyss. It was always around the corner, waiting like some silent wraith for me to make some fatal mistake. It would steal into my thoughts at night, keeping me awake. I was a slave to this concept of death, to my fear.

Finally, I began to push these thoughts aside. I realized that they were only making me miserable, so even though I had found no real solution to my dilemma, I did my best to ignore them, to drown them with drugs and alcohol, to do whatever I could to suppress them. For a while, it worked.

But my perceptions were changing. The drugs I had once sought as an escape were now helping to alter my view of the things around me. I began to question reality, as most everyone does during adolescence. By the time I hit legal adulthood, I was looking at things very differently. I still feared death, the demon was not quick to relinquish its control. But I had begun to appreciate life in ways that I never had before. I began to see beauty in things I used to think of as unremarkable, to fight against the feelings of despair and apathy that had dominated much of my young life.

Not long ago, I began experimenting with certain psychoactive substances that continued to offer me shifts in perspective. My views changed even more drastically. The process of re-evaluation that I had started in adolescence intensified, and still continues, ever more persistently. Now I find symbols and definitions of the world around me crumbling more and more, giving way to the reality that they were initially meant to represent. I find myself breaking agreements I once made with myself about the nature of the universe. I see dualities coalescing into one -- light and dark. Something and nothing. Life and death.

All at once, I find that I was never fighting a demon at all, but myself. I had looked too long and hard at the symbols and words, until I imagined that they had some deeper significance than they were meant to. I realize that this nothingness that I had feared is no more than one of these symbols, because once I stopped looking at it and looked past it instead, I found that it never existed to begin with except in my mind.

With this change in perspective my feelings regarding death are shifting from fear, to love. My fear of death is not only fading, but being replaced by an incredible sense of reverence and appreciation, one that reflects my growing love and appreciation for life. Death isn't just the price we have to pay for living. It is just as much of a gift as life, because without death there would be no place for change and rebirth.

If life is a miracle, then I think death must be as well, for I feel they are one and the same.

:upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow :upsidedow

death was not Gods plan for man
man brought death upon him self
eternal life comes through jesus

[jdmarcus59]

Nice outlook, afghooey! Now, if I could only get past my fear of dying, lol. I do agree, tho. If life is a miracle then so must be death. I've always known that it was/is inevitable, but like you said in your opening, I can't bear the thought of nothingness. I haven't a clue as to what comes after, but like shadow suggested, energy doesn't just cease to be, so I'm certain we move onward into something else, if not to be reborn into the same world we leave.

I don't believe in heaven or hell, but reincarnation seems sensible to me for some reason. The thought of nothingness is far too heavy to become a valid view for me, so I'll choose a rebirth instead. I guess I'll find out when the time comes, eh? :thumbsup:


Love & peace!


Junk~

what if your ideas are wrong? what if the new testment
was right?????????????????????

[Stoner Shadow Wolf]

death was not Gods plan for man
man brought death upon him self
eternal life comes through jesus

what if your ideas are wrong? what if the new testment
was just full of shit?????????????????????



bah nevermind.

[JunkYard]

what if your ideas are wrong? what if the new testment
was right?????????????????????

I will not base my decisions on fear, JD...sorry! Inflicting fear was the wolvish attempt to control the masses. True freedom comes from Love, which was made manifest in Christ (Your Savior) the bridge has been built, and Love calls. Hell is a state of being, not a literal place. Don't let fear rule your life, as fear in and of itself is hell.


Junk~

[Erosea]

What a wonderful topic, and a wonderful post from the topic starter!

Without death, life would be meaningless (one of my many problems with the idea of an eternal heaven, but that's another story entirely). Death is as necessary, beautiful and natural and any other part of life. I think that death is merely a new beginning, in another life, another form, another journey.

As a nursing assistant, I've been with countless people during their final moments, and sharing such a sacred time with a person is amazing beyond words. When we die, all it means is that we've learned what we've needed to learn in this life, we've done what we came to do, and we're ready to move on to something else - hopefully something bigger and better.

I think the problem most people see with death is it's this ultimate finality, and people are understandably uncomfortable with that. But if we learn to look at death as just another step, or as part of a cycle, I think we can learn to be at peace with it, and even see the beauty in it.

[Stoner Shadow Wolf]

junky, i am not pagan per se, i am omnitheistic in my beliefs, so paganism has a strong part, but so does christianity, buddhism, and the tao.

haze... um... i am pretty certain energy cannot truly be removed from existence, or as you say, destroyed. fractured infinitely so far as to become unobservable to the most advanced science, but not utterly and completely destroyed. :\ . . . :/ although that is a possibility, not destroyed, cut changed, to void. and given that yes, but it most likely must be willingly done.

[RedRainDrop]

I get the same kinds of thoughts on things like mushrooms.....

Like one time i was on mushrooms, i swore i could see my dead friends spirit, and i felt like i was being filled up with all the knowledge of the world. I also felt like i was dead (hard to explain) but it felt like nothing mattered in my life, and gods eyes were staring right down on me.

I get a very large feeling of being watched while on mushrooms.