Monday, October 18, 2010

Let Death lose its Sting...

They say that death is our ultimate fear and all other fears can be traced back to the idea of death. The word itself makes us recoil. It means something is devoid of life, inanimate, inert, ended and without power of any kind. Our ego screams at the thought of its annihilation, the idea that we end or no longer exist. This is the human reaction to the death of the body.

In Religious Science we believe very differently; that life never ends, we are not our bodies, we are our consciousness and as such a unique part of Spirit which is infinite and ever expanding. Depak Chopra gives an example to illustrate this idea; your TV until it is turned on is inert but the signal information is always there no matter how long the TV has been off. So too with people when they die in the physical, their energy still exists, its just not channeled in a visible body. For this reason we are never separate from those who have left this plane of existence, though our energy/consciousness still expresses through our bodies it is also connected with the whole, as a wave in the ocean of being. Therefore we can still commune with our loved ones in consciousness and they with us. What a comfort when we truly deeply know this.


As an old friend of mine used to say I'd still rather have someone with skin on!!! Yes we miss those who have left us. I live 6,000 miles from my family but at any time I still gain great comfort in writing a letter to my mother which is an action that I take separate from her. This year as part of my artistic expression I began making collage portraits of my family members. It is one very satisfying way of spending time with the individuals I miss and love. I also get to acknowledge their unique traits and qualities and how they express those in life. My art pieces represent my experience of another individual, what I see in them and the connection we enjoy.
In the Workshop "Remembering with Joy" that I designed with my friend Mary Hylan this is the core idea; we focus on the beauty of a relationship and how we have been enriched by another, knowing that we can still draw joy from it, that we have gained from it and that every situation in life including loss is an opportunity to know our spiritual interconnectedness more deeply.
For details www.GratitudeandGrace.com

“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”