A Buddhist Monk (of unknown identity) said to a friend once that "there is no life after death and no reincarnation, this is IT". This in spite of the more common belief of Buddhists in rebirth. Yet it is wise to note the difference between rebirth and reincarnation. Rebirth is simply believing that Energy in all individual forms is immortal and eternal, though personal identity (or ego) is lost this essence of Buddha Nature remains. With reincarnation, the Hindu faith in particular believes in a transmigration of individual souls, from one body and life experience to another, over countless lifetimes until the ultimate enlightenment and unity with God (Brahman) is reached.
The Sun represents and IS an Eternal Divine Spark of Life, a Universal Energy of Beingness that sustains all and "is the mighty breath in which all is bound up". This is the Star of our universe, and exists (as life essence) within *all of us*. Although eternal, it's message is NOW or TODAY, THIS IS IT, no second chances, no patchwork, no preparation for future events and definitely no putting off till tomorrow what can be done today. Right NOW is the only opportunity, the only shot I've got and it's right here on the spot.
Much has been said and written on living today, this day, as though it is your last... if I was certain to die any day now (or by tomorrow) then how vividly would I live this day? The issue is not what I would do.... limiting this further to circumstances of being alone and could not possibly visit or say goodbye nearly anyone (let alone everyone). How vivid would this day be? How much less I would be stuck up in my head and more living from my heart. How valuable life would be this moment if I knew it would pass any moment now... and at the same time how powerless I would be to grasp or hold on to it. Letting go and letting be, total surrender, would be the only option... however I choose to spend that day, it is the most alive, lucid and present I have ever felt.
Then as this body dies, rising above earthly existence into another realm (hopefully a heavenly realm, with angels), maybe the next step forward is simply a continuation elsewhere, where every moment is effortless in letting go into the cosmic heavenly flow. Maybe it is only in living this way, with the assumption that NOW is all I've got and all I ever have, that I begin to truly LIVE. Not ever thinking about what comes after, and not needing the reassurance that there is more... THIS IS IT, however temporal or eternal this moment is, the goal is to never once think about an end, only an eternity of new beginnings and a most vivid joyful presence of eternal life...
JDZ
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Many, including myself, have found comfort and assurance in believing that "I have all the time in the world". Looking for an insurance policy in the afterlife, or the belief that "if I don't get it right this lifetime, I will do so in the next". This in my experience has breeded a kind of complacency. If truly I believe that I have all the time in... See More the world then boy how I take life for granted! Why get started living today if I have a whole eternity? To believe in anything other than the urgency to live now is to devalue the very process of living. To die this moment to all such beliefs and speculations about an afterlife, and look to TODAY for all that is good and worth being present for, is valuing and loving life as it IS...
ReplyDeleteAs Americans especially we are so accustomed to asking "How much I am gonna get and how long will it last me... am I getting my money's worth??". This whole fixation on quantity, especially regarding "my time and money" and how this is measured as a determinant value of my personal existence must go. Quality is what counts most, this quality cannot be accumulated like objects, only lived right here and now.
ReplyDeleteAll things, people and events in life really happen only ONCE. Nothing ever repeats, only the comparative mind which categorizes and labels, sees and feels the same experiences repeatedly. Pleasure is simply the tendency of the mind to recollect and want to repeat indefinitely those experiences associated with joy and abundance. With this compulsion to repeat pleasurable experience, from the fondest memories of days past, comes the inevitable pain and disillusionment/disenchantment that is inseparable from this pursuit of pleasure.
ReplyDeleteMore important than evolution and the desire to grow (or accumulate spiritual/personal merit) is the will to live immediately, this moment, without any sense of being or becoming anything more nor of wanting anything more.
ReplyDeleteAlways I am more motivated and psyched to do something (i.e. a domestic project) when I have the least amount of time (today) to do it. It is having more time that breeds laziness and lack of initiative. To do and accomplish everything on my agenda as though I have no time to do it and still I must do it.... immediately!!!!
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