It is said that the final words of the Buddha to his followers, who were distressed at the prospect of his impending death were: “All manifest things will vanish. Strive diligently for liberation.” The fear of death comes from the belief that we are an individual entity limited to a body and mind, which are subject to disappearing. When we are liberated from this mistaken belief, we are free from this fundamental fear. I once heard a spiritual teacher say that the first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is to remember that he is going to die. He said that it reminds him of the invaluable gift of life and lends a sense of urgency to make the best use of each day he is given.
Some spiritual traditions use the knowledge of our mortality as a way of waking up to the truth that we are unlimited. There are yogis in India who are known to spend time at cremation sites and burial grounds to break their denial of death, to realize the temporary nature of the body, to awaken to the deeper reality that is eternal. Many of us in the West would consider this morbid, but these yogis are so dedicated to their spiritual awakening above all else that they will do whatever it takes. We don’t necessarily need to go to burial grounds to realize where we’re all headed, and to wake up to who we are at the deepest level of our being—life is always presenting us with clues and reminders. Loss is an intrinsic part of all of our lives.
I didn’t consciously seek out a job at hospice that would plunge me headlong into encountering death; it came to me. But I did embrace it as an opportunity to grow, to ask questions and search for answers to the mystery of life and death. And that is certainly what it turned out to be. As I engaged in the poignant work of journeying with those confronting their mortality, there was no denying that we are all going to face death—of those we love and our own. Every day working with life and death was an opportunity to expand my capacity to be present and to learn the profound lessons of death and loss.
In the book, Simply Sacred, I invite the reader to see death in a new light, to confront mortality as a way of awakening to greater wholeness in the lives we are living here and now.
