Certainty of Death

According to the famous quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin in 1789: “Nothing is certain except death and taxes”. To a degree, paying taxes is voluntary or, in some countries, not required. There may be unpleasant consequences from not paying taxes, but that does not mean everyone pays them, as evidenced by the number of tax evaders that are prosecuted. On the other hand, everyone knows that death is completely unavoidable. Denial of this fact is simply illogical.

Regardless of the various reasons given as the cause of death, in essence, there is only one fundamental cause of death: Birth. Being born into the physical world of matter begins the process of dying.

A wise man once told me that there are “only two things you must do in life: die, and live until you die. Everything else is a choice”.

Why then do so many people avoid the subject of death and become uncomfortable if it is brought up in conversation? If death is inevitable, why do people often attempt to postpone death by any means possible? Should we not simply embrace the fact that our physical life will end and focus on how we are currently living? For example, the country of Bhutan … has made it part of their national curriculum to think about death anywhere from one to three times daily. The understanding that we’re all going to die is hammered in Bhutan’s collective conscience. As such, “Death is part of everyday life”. Ashes of the dead are mixed with clay and molded into small pyramids and placed in visible public areas. Bhutanese art often centers around death. Yet, all this focus on death is no buzzkill for the Bhutanese. Despite being ranked 134 on the list of most-developed nations on earth, extensive studies have found that Bhutan is among the world’s 20 happiest countries.

What is still an enigma to most people is how the Bhutanese’s morbid interest in death contributes to their feelings of happiness.”[1] Perhaps an insight may be gleaned from the following statement by the Bhutan’s Secretary of Happiness, “Death cannot just be a matter of hospitals and funeral homes and insurance and money transactions. You need some sort of education about the phenomenon. In Bhutan we learn that to see ourselves as not always a living person, but also a dying person is a very important part of the education of life. Death, here, is part of the culture and communication.”

Could we, if we followed the example of the Bhutanese, be more accepting of the inevitability of death, rather than fearfully denying it? If so, what might one think about death, daily? If a person believes that they will cease to exist after physical death, could there be anything for them to consider daily, or ever, about dying?

For those who do believe in an afterlife, there is a great deal to think about. For example:

• Who or what aspect of our being continues to exist after the physical body stops functioning?

• Will we be aware that we have died and “been born into a different existence in the beyond”?

• Where will this extracorporeal being, essence, soul or Spirit go?

• Is there actually a hell, a purgatory, or a heaven as vividly described by some books and religious teachings?

• Will there be a judgement that will determine our fate after death?

• How should we live until we die?

These are very weighty questions. Unfortunately, many who believe in an afterlife are confronted with many confusing and contradictory answers. Besides, the average person today, even believers, feels overwhelmed with work obligations, family issues, survival challenges, and a myriad of other earthly concerns. Added to that are the numerous distractions and stresses brought on by the constant onslaught of news and social media feeds. As a result, who has the time to delve into weighty matters as what happens after death? But, in truth, all these consumers of our time pale in importance to the “spiritual” questions raised above. As with everything in life, one must be diligently focused on making time to consider these matters if they are to advance spiritually and prepare themselves for their inevitable transition.

There are some who occasionally nourish this thought but are simply afraid to discover the truth, as it might mean that they would have to change their preconceptions or their behavior. Some are too attached to their material possessions to bear the thought of leaving them behind. Others nurse a hidden underlying fear that they may indeed be held accountable, after all, for their actions and must make recompense for them. Therefore, it appears much easier to remain complacent and believe that if they just dutifully attend their chosen religion’s services regularly and adhere to its associated dogma they will be “saved” and welcomed into pleasant afterlife, paradise.

One could arguably say that “out of frustration, many have just stopped seeking for answers about death”. But, the common and popular ways in which this search is being conducted could also be questioned.

As it were, most seekers are too happy to accept what they have been told, without taking the time to reflect deeply upon them for themselves. As a result they .seldom develop their own convictions, and their “knowledge” only remains something that they have learned and which can, and is easily forgotten.

This type of seeking and learning occurs only at the brain level and is associated with our intellect (our thinking faculty). But since our intellect is occupied primarily with facilitating living on earth, it follows that any information processed by it will be given an earthly slant in its interpretation and implementation. It should also be noted that the intellectual approach has nothing to do with education or sophistication. Thus, the most primitive man who processes answers to such questions with his brain will, in using his intellect, also interpret and implement his conclusions to reflect his level of material intellectual development.

Therefore, the only difference in manifestation, when the intellectual approach is used, is the level of sophistry evident. Thus the superstitious practices so clearly evident in the primitive man is transformed into the sophisticated rituals performed by an equally superstitious congregation gathered in their fine arraignments within their ornate places of worship and temples. Neither is the finest philosophical intellectual discourse immune from this. All of these groups into which the majority of mankind today fit, always unconsciously direct focus towards the material when aspiring for progress and development, even in their purely nonmaterial endeavors.

Perhaps, if the answers to these weighty questions were assessed not with the brain/intellect but through that aspect of man that some can occasionally sense within as linking them to a greater world, they may discover the pathway to resolving these issues. Let us, for the sake of nomenclature, call this part our essence Spirit, which we occasionally sense and “suspect” survives after earthly death.

But this reference to Spirit raises other questions such as:

1. What is Spirit?

2. How is it that Spirit can answer this age old question that philosophers, religion and science have not been able to answer to the complete satisfaction of all seekers?

3. Is Spirit something new? If not, why hasn’t it given us the answers to this age old question?

4. How does one connect with or recognize Spirit?

These are honest questions that demand honest answers. However, since this piece is only meant to stimulate reflection on the subject of Death, any attempt to address them in the depth that they require would make this muse too long. It suffices to remind any serious seeker that answers to these questions are embedded in some of the sacred teachings with which many are already familiar. Unfortunately, our ignorance of the Spiritual Laws of Creation, or the nonconformity of popular beliefs with these Spiritual Laws make it difficult for us to see the answers embedded in these teachings.

Fortunately for modern man, the erroneous interpretations given to much of scriptural teachings, philosophical discourses, and even scientific observations have been corrected in the book “In the Light of Truth”, (The Grail Message) written by Abdrushin in the 1930’s. Hopefully, the following excerpt from this work may re-echo in the Spirit of those who are sincere in their seeking. It clearly portrays the condition of the average person today, and what awaits many of us when we enter the Afterlife, i.e., when we die.

“Although many a human soul will be gripped by an unfamiliar, blissful sense of the Power of the Light from the proximity of God. However, all this is quickly obliterated again by the intrusion of trivial everyday worries, everyday joys and pleasures.

It is only when a human soul enters the Ethereal Realm, that it does then, gradually come to a new understanding of all that it was permitted personally to experience, here on earth.

Although this too, is but a shadow of the mightiness of the real happening, it is nevertheless enough to shake every human soul to its very depths! So great is the Grace of God that is revealed to it in these happenings, that it can hardly believe that it has been permitted to experience all this. So filled, it would like to shake and jolt the human beings on earth, to make them break through their superficiality and exert themselves here and now to perceive these blessings more fully than in the past.

But a quite useless effort! It is through his own doing that man on earth has become far too obtuse. He has rendered himself incapable of it, through the most zealous efforts on his wrong paths. Therefore, every soul that has awakened in the Ethereal Realm will turn away with bleeding heart, realizing with deep remorse that while here on earth it was no different itself, and that it can hardly expect anything better from those who are still on earth.”

[1] Excerpted from “The Comfort Crisis”, by Michael Easter, Copyright 2021