Death

It been a while and I thought it might be appropriate, at the end of the year to talk about death.  There are some ends that have happened  or will soon. First, is my friend Deb.  She is the first of my cancer friends to die.  First person that is close to me since my mother in 1996.  Also of cancer.  I know it is inevitable that others will.  As is said so often, death is a part of life.  It relieves our pain and starts us toward a new life.  It leaves the ones close to us behind.  So we grieve, I think more for ourselves being left without that spouse or friend,  or advisor.  After a while the deep pain we feel subsides and we think a little less often about them, but their spirit remains alive in us.  And it is that essence that we carry with us from life to life.  Ever feel like a person you just met is familiar?  That feeling is the spirit of our past spouses,  parents, children or friends.  It is  a constant cycle of spirit with no beginning and no end.  Maybe when we shed all Karma we can fade into the infinity of God universal.  
But until that happens we cope as best we can with life.  We try to evolve into better people and help where we can.  Guided by the spirit of those who are not physically with us.  I know that as I get older and people I know die, I will be finding spirits from my past,and new spirits, to guide me in the future as I will for them.  So, I know that we might feel left behind by those who die, but it is only temporary. We have a constant through all of this.  That constant is the faith that God/universe is always with us. We part a bit  from God as living beings some of us trying to rejoin in life.  Some can, most don't even think about it. It is a personal journey, God is unique for each of us.
I see the suffering and pain (sometimes drawn out way to long) that some go through. That part I have no explanation for.  That part is the worse for all experiencing it. But, what comforts me is that the suffering does end.  At that point we all accept the inevitable.  Death is not the finale.  It is part of that infinite cycle.  It is a new beginning.

Epitaph

This is a prayer I would like to share with you in honor of my friend Deb, who passed away on December 10th from ovarian cancer. I know she would like it.

Epitaph

When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men who wait to die
And if you need to cry
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.
I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.
Look for me
In the people
I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on in your eyes
And not in your mind.
You can love me most
By letting hands touch hands,
By letting bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
Who need to be free.
Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

Death in not the end, it is the beginning of.......