LIFE AND DEATH

My flabber has just been gasted.
Some cretin in the Vatican has just decreed
That funerals should not be a cause for celebration
But some kind of sombre dedication of the corpse to his church's version of God.
I thought the dinosaurs had all died!
Presumably this turkey would have you believe that, if the corpse (which is all that's left -- hello!!) isn't consigned to God in just the right way by those who remain "alive", the previous occupant of the body ain't gonna make it to Heaven!

The beliefs of ancient Egyptians with their pyramids and Chinese with their funeral rites are alive and well and festering in downtown Rome!

Think about it.
It's now the responsibility of my children and grandchildren
To toe a religious line,
Or I won't make it to the pearly gates??
The concept of original sin is dead --
I now declare man free.

I'm thinking of changing my will.
Please have an Imam chant his mumbo-jumbo over my just-morted remains --
I'd rather chance spending eternity honing my rusty romantic skills on a harem of vestal virgins,
Than what the tykes have got in mind for me.
In addition, please make sure it's one helluva knees-up!
80% of those who bother to turn up
Will have some reason to celebrate that I lived,
And the rest will want to celebrate that I'm gone.
Party time!
What happens between me and god eslewhere,
Is nobody's else's business.

===============

Seriously,
The Life-in-death,
And the Death-in-life
Are gateways
To possibilities.

If you are really living
(As distinct from serve-viving out an existence)
Death is no problem.
Death is nothing, but a mirror-cle of life;.
Death IS life - turned inside-out.
In order to fear death,
You have also to be afraid of life.
When you embrace life to the fullest
You embrace its other face -- death.

Death has become darkly entrenched in our culture
Through ignorance, superstition and manipulation.
Death, in all its forms, has been actively touted.
As the worst of all possible outcomes.
Which is a bit ironic, because we all experience some form or other of dying every day.... little griefs, disappointments, betrayals, embarrassments, guilts....
And we're still alive to tell the tale.
Spiritual power-mongers have always known that
1) We all know what it feels like for something inside us to die; and
2) If they can scare us sufficiently with the threat of an ETERNAL "death", then they've got us under control in life.


For what it's worth, here's my suggestion...
Embrace life and death to its fullest,
Moment by moment,
Day by day,
Breath by breath......
Breathing in -- living; breathing out -- dying.
Dying and Living are two aspects of the same thing:
We call it "living", but it's shorthand for both living and dying.
Dying is a consequence of living;
Living onward into forever is a consequence of dying --
Dying to the old and outworn in every moment,
Lets us go into Life.

Even as we are living, we are reaching a zenith
Where we  surrender to dying.
As we hurtle into dying, we are gathering impetus
To soar once more into Life.
It's like a rollercoaster ride.
You can either jump aboard and enjoy it,
Or lay down on the tracks in front of it.
Your choice.