Dying into Life
by Sam Oliver
In the dying experience, people come face to face with their
mortality. Dying people begin to reflect over their life and
feel the effects of the life they have lived. As each experience
is pondered, an accumulation of experiences creates a
perspective. Each perspective builds upon another. An
accumulation of perspectives in a lifetime is called wisdom.
This collective wisdom is a series of choices that creates
patterns and themes in a person's life. These patterns are
endless streams of conscious awareness that connects a person to
his or her past.
Once these memories are retrieved into the
present through stories and silent reflections of the
imagination and heart, a person's soul is retrieved and focused
in the present. The possibility for a person to project,
imagine, and feel intuitively the grace that lies behind such
reflection enables a person to surrender his or her soul to
grace. It is here that a person's capacity to die into grace
moves into his or her soul, deeper into what has infused one's
life with love. In this movement from sound to silence lies
eternity. The movement into silence releases our imagination to
soar toward the heavens and experience the presence of our loved
one again, and our heart goes within to feel the impulse of life
generated by our loved one who has died. Through tears of
sadness and peace beyond human understanding, an inner
connection fills a loved one's body with the inner life of the
deceased. Many of us wander through this world seeking something
just beyond our grasp. Then, we find that the real treasures we
have been seeking are within us. Someone once said that there is
no way to happiness, rather happiness itself is the way. As we
age material wealth and prestige are not what we tend to value
the most. Instead, we look for something far more than material
illusions to bring us peace and joy. We look for courage, hope,
faith, and love. The human quest is a journey into the sacred.
Eternal values are revealed that sustain us through life and
through death. Often, we come to know with time that we receive
far more from life than we give to it.
When we come to the end
of life, we gain an inner strength of heart and of soul. We find
the greatest treasure of all. We find eternal peace. Loss
manifests intrinsic values shared. They prepare us for an
eternal relationship death cannot seperate us from. Our loved
ones who have gone before us and those behind us are our family.
We belong to a family whose roots reach into infinity itself. As
such, our journey of living leads to what has no beginning nor
an end. Insodoing, we find ourselves entering into a much
grander vision of ourselves living inside the human race. Here,
there is no black or white, yellow or red, male or female, or
any other appearances of separation. This is the place where no
place can be found. It is eternity itself. It is our soul. We
are on a journey into knowing who we are. We are on a journey to
the source of creation and the Creator who brought our lives
into being. May our Creator give us strength, grace, and hope
for our journey.
About Author
Sam Oliver worked with the dying for over 15 years. During that
time, he wrote 4 books on grief. Website URL; http://www.soulandspirit.org
article re-published 3 August 2006
| 
