Yes, that's right... Buzzkill Baba just can't go very long without bringing up something totally depressing - in this case TWO OF THEM: Death & Collapse of Civilization.
So, doing a little writing today, and being somewhat obsessed with ideas of death, I wrote, "Death comes to everyone with virtually NO EXCEPTIONS. So why is it so 'unexpected', ignored or demonized? It is a totally natural and inevitable part of life!"
Or, as I've mentioned before, in the Mahabharata, King Yudhisthira is asked 100 questions by Yaksha/Dharma in the forest, one of which is:
"Yaksha:What is the most wonderful thing?
Yudhisthira: The most amazing thing is that even though every day one sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever."
The bottom line is that people would rather just ignore it, and our culture certainly doesn't make that too hard. Most people die in hospitals now, NOT in their homes, so people are greatly insulated from reality. Just as Siddhartha Gautama was insulated from the realities of birth, death, old age and disease by his father, until he snuck away, so our culture wants us to pretend it doesn't exist. But it was also the harsh realities of these realities that prompted the future Buddha to leave everything and seek a solution!
So, now lets hop and skip happily into a similar vein - our current civilization. Just it has a tendency to hide from us the realities of birth, death, etc. it also hides from us the inevitability of it's own death. Come on! Look! EVERY culture or civilization has had a beginning, middle AND an end. Greece, ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, Angor Wat, the Anasazi, the Mayans, ancient Egyptian culture, the Third Reich (and presumably the first two - what were they anyway????) This one will be no different. I certainly can't tell you when (today, tomorrow, next year, 100 years), but all the experts, in ALL areas, who are the ones actually willing to look closely at what is going on in the world, tend to say it's going to be sooner than later.
Yes, I know, people have been talking about it for literally centuries, but one thing IS substantially different. For thousands and thousands of years we lived in exactly the same way. Then starting about 10,000 years ago, we changed a little. Then around 250 years ago, we changed a lot, and then starting around 1950, we REALLY started changing and FAST!!!! Huge exponential changes in EVERYTHING from population to pollution to technology, etc. But one thing that hasn't changed, the relative size and resources of the earth. (We are currently said to be using 125% of the Earth's resources and to get everyone enjoying at the same level as the average Westerner would take 5 Earths!) As we've already seen, our complete fractional banking system is just a big pyramid scheme, based on totally imaginary money (that's right...there's nothing there, folks! It's pretend! Think about it, or better yet, research it.)
Our oceans are filled with giant islands of semi-disintegrated plastic; there is said to be virtually NO water anywhere in the world that is uncontaminated by pollutants; BP oil spill and another recent one in China! Dispersants to clean up the oil mess that are four times more toxic than the oil itself; Chem-trails (yes, they have admitted that they are real, as if they had to for those of us that remember that 30 years ago there WERE no chemtrails, only contrails).
Just as when you're looking at somebody in the hospital (or at home) and he has tubes going into and out of every orafice, and his kidneys are failing, his liver is failing, he can barely see you or hear you, he slips in and out of consciousness and you ask him how he is, inevitably he'll say, "Oh, I'm fine!" He's lying. Nor will any honest person say, "Hey! He'll be up and at 'em any day now." If they do, they're lying, or TOTALLY deluded!
Now, I'm certainly not asking you to be fully absorbed in either death or the upcoming collapse, but I'm also saying, if you don't look at it, you are totally deluding yourself, and when either DOES come, which they both will, are you going to be caught a little off-guard, like my friend in youth, whose last words when he neglected to tie a certain knot while rock-climbing, were, "WHAT THE FU**!!!!!"
Okay, back to whatever you were doing. You know, just one of those little wake up calls.
So, doing a little writing today, and being somewhat obsessed with ideas of death, I wrote, "Death comes to everyone with virtually NO EXCEPTIONS. So why is it so 'unexpected', ignored or demonized? It is a totally natural and inevitable part of life!"
Or, as I've mentioned before, in the Mahabharata, King Yudhisthira is asked 100 questions by Yaksha/Dharma in the forest, one of which is:
"Yaksha:What is the most wonderful thing?
Yudhisthira: The most amazing thing is that even though every day one sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever."
The bottom line is that people would rather just ignore it, and our culture certainly doesn't make that too hard. Most people die in hospitals now, NOT in their homes, so people are greatly insulated from reality. Just as Siddhartha Gautama was insulated from the realities of birth, death, old age and disease by his father, until he snuck away, so our culture wants us to pretend it doesn't exist. But it was also the harsh realities of these realities that prompted the future Buddha to leave everything and seek a solution!
So, now lets hop and skip happily into a similar vein - our current civilization. Just it has a tendency to hide from us the realities of birth, death, etc. it also hides from us the inevitability of it's own death. Come on! Look! EVERY culture or civilization has had a beginning, middle AND an end. Greece, ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, Angor Wat, the Anasazi, the Mayans, ancient Egyptian culture, the Third Reich (and presumably the first two - what were they anyway????) This one will be no different. I certainly can't tell you when (today, tomorrow, next year, 100 years), but all the experts, in ALL areas, who are the ones actually willing to look closely at what is going on in the world, tend to say it's going to be sooner than later.
Yes, I know, people have been talking about it for literally centuries, but one thing IS substantially different. For thousands and thousands of years we lived in exactly the same way. Then starting about 10,000 years ago, we changed a little. Then around 250 years ago, we changed a lot, and then starting around 1950, we REALLY started changing and FAST!!!! Huge exponential changes in EVERYTHING from population to pollution to technology, etc. But one thing that hasn't changed, the relative size and resources of the earth. (We are currently said to be using 125% of the Earth's resources and to get everyone enjoying at the same level as the average Westerner would take 5 Earths!) As we've already seen, our complete fractional banking system is just a big pyramid scheme, based on totally imaginary money (that's right...there's nothing there, folks! It's pretend! Think about it, or better yet, research it.)
Our oceans are filled with giant islands of semi-disintegrated plastic; there is said to be virtually NO water anywhere in the world that is uncontaminated by pollutants; BP oil spill and another recent one in China! Dispersants to clean up the oil mess that are four times more toxic than the oil itself; Chem-trails (yes, they have admitted that they are real, as if they had to for those of us that remember that 30 years ago there WERE no chemtrails, only contrails).
Just as when you're looking at somebody in the hospital (or at home) and he has tubes going into and out of every orafice, and his kidneys are failing, his liver is failing, he can barely see you or hear you, he slips in and out of consciousness and you ask him how he is, inevitably he'll say, "Oh, I'm fine!" He's lying. Nor will any honest person say, "Hey! He'll be up and at 'em any day now." If they do, they're lying, or TOTALLY deluded!
Now, I'm certainly not asking you to be fully absorbed in either death or the upcoming collapse, but I'm also saying, if you don't look at it, you are totally deluding yourself, and when either DOES come, which they both will, are you going to be caught a little off-guard, like my friend in youth, whose last words when he neglected to tie a certain knot while rock-climbing, were, "WHAT THE FU**!!!!!"
Okay, back to whatever you were doing. You know, just one of those little wake up calls.
having grown up very close to death, its a presence i am very aware of. if nothing else i try to use death as a vehicle for appreciating life because it is a reminder that things will change. but this is really all thought. just me knowing that death is inevitable doesn't make me less attached to my family or even the life that i am living. i agree that death shouldn't be a taboo subject (ken wilber says that sex is not the greatest repression of this country, death is) but i'm not currently sure how to shift gears back to the point when i felt groovy about death . i'll accept it and cope because there is no other choice, but its understandably the most repressed issue because its uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteYes we are probably one of the only cultures that say "if I die ... ". So often people, friends and families are not prepared. They prepare more for a trip than for their death. We physically come into the world we physically go out of the world. It will happen and sometimes it can happen unexpectedly. To prepare makes it easier on yourself and others, and maybe helps lead to acceptance. Peace
ReplyDeleteI like, I like,,,, I've been noticing this stuff more and more,, strange ,,, only strange cause everyone seems to still be supporting some old paradigm, that feels totally outdated or something......ahhh, I hope to see you soon in person! Kelley
ReplyDelete