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All of us must face it someday. It is usually one of the hardest and most devastating
life events we face when it happens to someone we know and love. Yet, strangely,
it is a subject we rarely discuss with others and often not until it is usually
too late. Such is the paradoxical nature of dying.
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The great cosmic cycle of life and death
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Everything in the universe from the smallest of atomic particles through to the
largest of galaxies follow their own cycle of life, death and rebirth. For hydro-carbon
life forms on Earth, the cycle of life and death also applies.
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Such scientific observations are proven and make sense. Yet no matter how many things
we see die, no matter how many people we see killed in movies, news or in real-life,
our own mortality, our own death is difficult to face.
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Maybe this is why many of the most famous of scientists expressed positive views
towards the concepts of faith, of religion and metaphysical concepts such as life
after death approaching their own death. While it is easy to reject such notions
of an afterlife when healthy and full of life, it would take an extraordinarily
confident mind to remain objective and rational during the actual process of dying.
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Historically a generally awful experience
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When you consider that all of us will face death, that unlike our birth it is an
event which we must ultimately face alone, it is extraordinary then that the process
of dying remains for most of us an awful experienced handled by our various societies
in a clinical, degrading and often cruel manner.
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If we do not die through some accident, through some random act of violence, through
some terminal disease or physical defect then we our death is more likely to occur
on a single plastic lined bed, wearing a smock, in a ward along with other dying
people, in the company of the unending buzz of neon lights.
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How did we come to this indignity? How did we allow our society to finally rationalize
the process of dying to endless batteries of tests and “experimental”
techniques until we lose all our hair, our self respect and any final ounce of happiness?
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Here a clear distinction needs to be made. There are many people when faced with
an aggressive usually fatal disease are prepared to do anything to stay alive. Such
people are to be commended for their drive to stay alive and to fight until the
end. Then, there is another large body of people, who if they had the chance to
think about the process of life and dying would probably choose to maximize quality
of life until it is no longer possible and seek to die with dignity.
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While the majority, they have become the sad and neglected in a case of moral treatment
and sustainment of life well beyond the point of quality, well beyond the bounds
of dignity, because technology allows it and because many people who claim the moral
authority over our lives dictate we cannot consider the question of dying with dignity
by their religion or our society.
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The same people who deny us the right to die with dignity just so happen to be the
same people who have ended many millions of lives over centuries in the name of
their religions through terrible circumstances, from torture to burning at the stake.
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So we suffer. Many of us suffer because a few refuse to allow us to properly prepare
for our deaths and steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that dying with dignity is
far from a sin, but a right. That there is no greater evil in the universe than
individuals who claim moral authority over our lives and deny us the right if we
choose, to pass peacefully and not as a shell and fragment of humanity.
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The process of dying
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All of this distracts us from the one thing we should talk about, even if we do
not know the time, nor circumstance of our death, that is preparing for the best
possible “death”.
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For the vast majority of people who discover they will die with a certain time period,
usually from some kind of disease or incurable defect, the news is greeted as a
curse. This is particularly so for people suffering from the group of diseases known
as “cancer”.
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In many respects quick deaths suddenly appear to be a blessing while slow deaths,
particularly those involved in the inhuman and cruel process of endless tests and
sanitized hospital rooms seem like hell.
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But dying and the process of dying need not be greeted as a curse, but an opportunity
to put our affairs in order and to seek to calm our mind of regrets of our busy
lives.
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It is a matter of life that as we live in communities, there will be those we have
hurt, those we have abused, those who have hurt and abused us, and those human beings
for which powerful emotions of love and hate exist.
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It cannot be overstated that how we live affects how we live in the afterlife. What
we learn, comes with us, just as what we have failed to learn, what we have failed
to resolve also comes with us. If we leave our bodies carrying too much baggage,
too many negative emotions and unresolved issues then we risk become immersed in
our own woes and pain and in a sense the creation of our own personal hell.
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Knowing you are going to defiantly die therefore gives many of us a chance to set
our affairs right. To seek out and resolve regrets. To try and leave a positive
impression. To try and reduce our baggage.
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Sadly, when we are distracted with endless tests and false hopes, we often do not
pay attention to the importance of getting our personal affairs of the soul in order.
This is one of the greatest tragedies of our modern world, that we have not only
robbed ourselves of the right to die with dignity, but we also have robber ourselves
of the focus of preparing our soul and leaving without a great burden of regrets.
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One last fear and control |
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If it is not enough to distract us from dying properly, many still have to face
the internal fears of an uncertain future in the afterlife.
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If I have killed someone, am I going to hell? What of the regrets of my life, how
can I find peace? Again, in a supremely perverse way, the same people that have
killed millions, the same people who deny us the right to die with dignity on moral
and religious grounds are happy to frighten us with the fear of hell if we do not
convert and seek their sacraments of forgiveness of sins.
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And so in one final act of bastardry, many people who die and are dying are condemned
for nothing other than power and profit. The seed of fear of the afterlife, when
at this very time those who are dying should be supported and reinforced of the
joy of their right to a happy and peaceful afterlife, regardless of their religion
or faith.
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For every human being that has ever lived, is living or will ever live has the immutable
right to citizenship and entry to One Heaven. That no priest, nor pope, nor organized
religion has any right to interpose itself and say otherwise.
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This is the promise of the new covenant, the final testament of the universe, of
God to humanity.
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It is hope then that in the years to come, we may find a better understanding of
dying and of a process of dignity, of cleansing ourselves of regrets and leaving
this world smiling rather than in terrible pain and anguish.
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About: Dying and death
