Ripping Off a Band-Aid

When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kind-hearted as a grand- mother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
(Tao Te Ching)

Su- Zhen and I are about to write a book together so I thought I could put together a little collection of quotes from the Tao. As I put different verses on paper I observed that I consciously left out all the ones that talk about death. I convinced myself that this is just because I have little to say about death given that I obviously haven't experienced it, but I also observed a feeling of fear. Death is something many of us just want to avoid.

I see a problem with spiritual writing. We always tell you the good stuff, the things you will see and experience when you are "there", but we tell you much less about how the transition to that state may feel like it. Some transitions are beautiful. You walk in a winter forest, you see the stars shining through and you suddenly have a vision of a Christmas tree. The sky opens up and it really seems like angels are singing. This is a Satori moment, a revelation of Heaven on earth  pretty much out of the blue. But then there is the other way, a realization of the beyond after an intense period of struggle. Eckhart Tolle described it in The Power of Now when he said that after a deep depression period he suddenly felt as if a veil had been lifted.

The spiritual community will tell you that struggle is always yours, while Heaven on earth is always of God. This is true but may not be so helpful. When you feel intense pain, reposition yourself because you must be overlooking something. God doesn't want you to struggle. There is another way out there; yet, also accept the fact that you are experiencing intense pain at the moment. Please don't sweep it under the carpet - it is there. Perhaps the analogy could be if we say - just as a nurse would tell a little boy - "Now that will hurt a little, but if you bear with me, you will see that everything is just fine", and takes off the band-aid in one go.

Going back to my earlier observation of death, of course we know what it feels like. If you truly open up to life you can experience the "I"dying so often. I will not tell you that it is a pleasant experience, but I can tell you that you have a choice in getting it done with without prolonging the pain. Spirituality is the art of seeing yourself outside of the "I" perspective and from that dimension death has a very different feel to it.