death and your spiritual life

Question:  I know you have gone into this question many times before but I wanted to ask you myself.  What is death?

Adonis:  I do not know if you have ever been to the beach.   When you are there and if you are at all sensitive it can be a wonderful experience.  If you are open and receptive to the surroundings you may hear the sound of the cool wind blowing softly across your skin.  There is a certain radiance about you that makes you just glow.  In fact, it is rather refreshing.  As you listen closely, there is the exquisite sound of the waves and the glorious sight of the seagulls soaring high in the bluish skies.  And as you pay attention to the sound of those waves moving to and from the sea shore, you let yourself go completely into this moment.  You can see the shimmering light of the sun flickering across the ocean’s surface reflecting its ambiguity.  And as you watch, quietly, you may notice your breathing and the gentle warmth of the sunlight all over your flesh.   There is that feel of deep warmth and a feeling of being totally at ease relaxing in the midday sun.  And the more you breathe and feel the beating of your own heart, the more you relax.  Now, with me, you may open up completely.

I do not know if you have ever given much thought about life, about this existence.  Perhaps, you have gone into it vaguely and did not get very far and so I am wondering if you will go into it with me now.  As anyone may look at the state of the whole world with all its brutality, hatred and endless suffering, I wonder if there is an answer to it all.  For there is no love in the world.  As you may speculate, none of the religions or philosophies has solved this great dilemma.  With all the sorrow that afflicts mankind, what is the ultimate answer that solves all our problems?  Not an escape or a belief that one can hide and mask oneself.  What I am asking, does this life have any meaning?  I wonder if you have ever really gone into such a question.  Ones everyday life is filled with constant preoccupation, turmoil and various pursuits.  And in the midst of all this, we are asking, what is this thing called life?  Not just its contents or its activities.  One is asking overall, what is this existence and what is its purpose? 

As human beings, we are born and then we die.  Irrespectively of what happens in-between, death is the fate of us all.  Someday you will die!  And death is the ultimate fear, which haunts our thoughts, consciously and unconsciously.  Death is forever lurking around the corner.  So, one is asking, can I discover what death is?  Come face to face with it now while one is living.  You understand?  If I can taste it now, perhaps it will not taint my daily living if I had the full understanding of it.  Perhaps then I can live my life in abundance without the burden of death in abeyance.  See what it consists of now, while I am living so that it would not be such a torturous thing to avoid.  Because it may not be what I think it is.  If I should face death now, discover the truth of it, not at the end of my existence, what becomes of my life?  Do you understand? 

So I ask, are we genuinely afraid of death or is it the idea of death that has a hold over us?  The fact is, the body being a physical thing that was born, must die.  That is a fact.  So I wonder; does that cause fear?  Does the thought of it cause fear?  In the full realization of the fact, there is understanding.  In the fact, there is freedom.  When we fully realize this fact of the body coming to an end, we are free of it.  The death of the flesh is not the problem but our psychological attachment and identifying with the body that is at the root of the fear.  Is it the self, the me, the ego, which has become so entangled and associated with the body, that one thinks death is the finale?  After all, it is my thoughts, beliefs and preoccupations with death that is the fear.  Do you see this? 

So, we must probe deeper into this to uncover the truth.  Now we must ask, is there the fear of death without thought, without the thinker?  Stay with that question and listen to it deeply within you.  Can you do that?  Can you hold a question within you, without the slightest desire to move away from it?  Let the question burn within and see what comes of it.  Then perhaps one may discover the truth and falseness of death in the fullness of life.

Adonis Alexander
(Author of Secret Sayings of Adonis)  

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