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Can Death Be a Transition as Magnificent as Birth?
Becoming Familiar with the Transition of Dying…
I was asked recently by a friend to start writing about being a ’midwife’ for the life transition of death. That almost sounds impossible to imagine… ”The life transition of death.” How is death a part of life?
Really, it is a completely natural progression of thought…we live, therefore we die.
Death is possible as the completion of the harmonious cycle, which is life. Life and death exist because of one another. Each fulfills the experience of the other.
As we are so conscious of our waking existence, of our lives, death starts to appear to be a tragic and unfair end to something that we generally appreciate and want to continue with. It makes us feel that someone or something is making a choice for us that we don’t really want to accept. This is more grave and uncomfortable with illness, tragic sudden accidental death, and the death of the young.
But what would it be like if we didn’t feel as if we needed to hang on to life with such tenacity? What would the anticipation of death feel like if we knew and believed that death was a beautiful transition meant to bring us an understanding of the truth of the universe and life? That was a long-winded way to say that I believe that death, no matter how it changes our physical existence, really gives us an opportunity to see truth as we have never seen it before from within our human and “live” forms.
Death is an opportunity to give up our dense and sometimes ill bodies.
Death is an opportunity to transition away from our controlling egos and minds.
The experience of death can add an awareness of the unfathomable perfection of existence.
Death is inevitable, death is a friend, death is a graduation into the world of telepathic communication with all that is. Death is literally a mind-blowing event. It exposes the frivolity of our thoughts and of our conscious minds. And it does this through bliss and wonder.
So why are we so afraid of death?
Why do we fear it for ourselves and for others?
I think that we primarily fear it because it is so unknown. Even though people may share experiences with us of their own near-death experiences, we can’t open a manual that will tell us exactly what will happen and what it will feel like.
We hold on with great tenacity to these lives that we ‘have’ under our control.
But what or ‘who’ is really in control?
It is nice to believe that we can control life and death, but both are really only things that we can participate in when and as it happens. When we surrender to both life and death, we are stepping into the ‘mystery’. This allows us to be, have, and do exactly what we have come here for. This life of yours is a transient experience. It will end, and another will start…
We can help each other as midwives to the mystery through the dying process, as we already help each other in midwifing the birth process.
It is easy to fear change. Death presents itself as one of the biggest changes we can imagine. As we learn how to accept this change, rather than fearing it, the process of death can remain unknown, but we can become open to sliding easily through the transition.
I don’t welcome death as something that I want to experience today. I’m enjoying this life. At the same time I know that I am ready to accept the transition whenever it occurs.
In my practice I frequently offer insight and guidance to the dying and to their families.
In this role as midwife, I tune into the fears and the joys of everyone touched by the transition. Once an individual has moved across the membrane between ‘life’ and ’death’, I also receive information from them in their new form.
We support as natural the fear of death and the sadness of loss, which accompanies the ‘loss’ of a friend or loved one.
How about shifting this belief instead by supporting the magnificence of the transition which is death?
Consider the possibility that death is a transition as magnificent as birth.
With Love and Blessings,
Anatara
[tags]midwife, life transition of death, Life and death, anticipation of death, experience of death, Death is inevitable, why are we afraid of death[/tags]