FEBRUARY 15
Spirituality is that place where the utterly intimate and the
vastly infinite meet.
—RICK FIELDSAmong the occasions in human life where such a meeting
might take place, surely the experience of death must be
high on the list. At one moment the person is there, breath-
ing, alive, and the next moment the body remains, an empty
shell, but the person who laughed and cried, who spoke,
who loved, is gone.
Where?
People have told of sensing—even seeing—the spirit of
the dead standing close. People who report near-death ex-
periences tell of hovering above their body, watching all the
frantic goings-on to resuscitate them. People hundreds of
miles away at the time of another’s death report experiencing
a sudden symptom—a flash of pain, perhaps—which later
correlates with the time and cause of death of a loved one.
Perhaps our experience with such mysteries is a clue that
we know only a small fraction of the Creator’s good intention
for us. It doesn’t take the pain of separation away. But if we
can think of it as temporary separation and not perman-
ent—well, that makes all the difference in the world!
I will try to be open to all avenues of wisdom and hope.