NOVEMBER 10
For when is death not within ourselves?...Living and dead
are the same, and so are awake and asleep, young and old.
—HERACLITUSWhen we lose a loved one, we feel such a fracturing of our
lives, a sense of being separated—as though our experience
and the loved one’s are now forever different.
Perhaps it is a strange comfort to remember that we are
all part of the same human adventure, that our loved one
has gone on ahead, on a path that we shall follow.
But this may be a source of anxiety and fear, too. We are
reminded of our own mortality. How will death be for us?
We hear stories that affirm a life after death beautiful beyond
imagining, and we turn to these stories as a thirsty person
craves water.
On the other hand...while life has its hard moments, it is
also wonderful. We have others we love; we are in no hurry.
So all our apprehensions as well as our hopes for life
beyond death are brought into focus by the death of a loved
one. To be close to another’s journey enlarges our own view
of life and death, and hopefully, death becomes a door, not
a wall.
As I think of my loved one, I know that the same stream of creation
embraces us all.