Death as a Journey

It is no secret that our world is built upon the foundation of impermanence. All things come to an end; every living being must meet with fate. This is the cycle of energy flow in the universe, because energy can not hold form for long. However, man is sentient, and places much value upon his inevitable fate. He lives his life according to this impermanence, always fearing his ultimate reality. Man is regarded as sentient, separate, and even special. What we often fail to realize is that we are made of no different an energy than that which is the underlying force of all things. Death is a return to the source, the great sacrifice that is the consequence of living. Much fear and anxiety exists in the world today because man is always running from his fate. Death is a primal fear, the one that drives the carriage, and man seeks to reverse this relationship through the study of science and technology. He becomes ever more desperate as he realizes that death is beyond his control, and there can be no escaping it.

The concept of immortality perhaps spurred from the myths of the ancient world, and from the old religions. However, the passage of time tends to corrupt their meaning, and as these tales are passed through the generations, their original meanings and intentions become obscured or irrevocably lost. It is my belief that the ancients meant something very different when they wrote of immortality, and that their understanding of this world, though quite simple, was far more genuine than that of the modern sciences. It seems that they saw the nature of life and the reality of perception, and their fundamental beliefs back this up. The various tribes of the ancient world often harbored at their core a belief in the unity of things, evident in their understanding what is often called "the circle of life." They knew that our earth is one of interdependency, that every stage of life relies on all of the others, and our world in turn needs us just as much as we need it. In this view, death is only another step in the process.

Traditionally, when a living being dies, it begins to decompose, which the main source of sustenance for lower life forms. The decomposed being then returns to the soil, where plants may grow and feed off of its nutrients. Then, of course, insects, birds, and other herbivores feed off of the plants, and so on so forth. From a cosmic perspective, this is the flow of energy through the life force that is earth. If one contemplates the soul as the energy or fabric that we are composed of, we see that the soul is immortal indeed. Confusion arises only when we think of ourselves as separate individuals, as this kind of thinking causes us to hold tight to our identities. All that is required to live freely as nature intended is to release this notion, and to accept our fate. When there is an acceptance of death, all fear and anxiety begins to fade, and we can see it for the illusion that it really is. This is perhaps what ancient man meant when he wrote of immortality, because in a time separate from science and belief systems, these natural laws were plainly apparent. We must realize that man is not intended to live forever. This life is just another stage in the broader cycle - if it stopped here, then the balance would certainly be broken and our earth would  return to chaos. Without death, there could be no life.

There can be no thing more liberating than living your own death. A man who is killed is not allowed the privilege of choosing when, where, and how his death comes about, but a man who knows death while he is still living is eternally at peace. Cast aside ego, self identity, individuality, prejudice, and the deeply ingrained notion that all things are separate, and you shall find the infinitely sacred harmony that nature intended from the start. This is true divinity, and there can be nothing more honorable than giving the self away for a higher purpose. There is nothing more to be gained, though man will strive for that nothing anyway. Know that in loss there is purpose, in sacrifice there is dignity. Only then can you be free.

Traveling without a Destination

There is no beginning
There will never be an end
It is as it always has been
 and always will be

Those who follow a path will never attain liberation. How can you be free if you walk the path that has been traveled? One needs only to step off the path, to look out unto the wilderness and see that is where the eternal lies. Following is mindless - going out alone is divinity. Carve the path until your skin dries and your bones become weak. Only then shall you find a comfortable place to rest your head. Travel without an end in mind, seek no destination. The paths drawn out before you will end. If you follow a path to its end, you will find it leads only to your predecessors' remains. Then what shall you do? You will be lost and confused, without further guidance. You will stand before the open wilderness, and you will find that there was never anything to achieve.

There is no enlightenment to be found.
There can be no final liberation.
The only end is the end that you chose.

Give up. Start anew. Step off the path and see the horizon. Though you may follow it, it will never come. Walk freely and find the answers on your own. Belief is limitation. Knowing can never be known. To be human is to be infinite and limitless. If everything could be summed up in one answer, what would be the point of living? Give in to the infinite that is within you. Then you shall be all that you can be. You are limited only by the end that you seek. One who has attained some measure of liberation knows that there was nothing to find after all. There is great bliss in losing your way. Do not follow the paths that lead to confusion, for they only end where you must start. What you are meant to find is what you will find. Who you are meant to be is who you will become. There is no point in doing as another has done. The one way is that which leads to the all.

Be infinite, be pure. There is nothing to be found out, so do not seek it. Impermanence is perfection. Loss is godliness. Everything comes to an end, and so everything is divine. Live freely and you will find that you lived well. The mysterious cannot be known, only witnessed. In witnessing you shall find abundance.

The Cosmos and Interconnectedness

All parts are of the same whole. This is the basic concept of our universe. Science tells us that energy constitutes atoms, atoms constitute particles and cells, and particles and cells constitute the visible world. Further, the visible world is relative to our spherical earth, which is relative to the sun around which it revolves, the sun is relative to a super-mass present at the center of the galaxy, and our galaxy is relative to some unknown force proposed to be the center of our universe. By this law, every star, planet, and cosmic mass all rely on the same base force that is the center of the universe, and thus are always in perfect alignment. When one aspect of this universe is changed, all other parts therefore must accommodate to this change. This is noted popularly as the butterfly effect, or cause and effect. In truth, cause and effect are one of the same, and every cause began as an effect. There is no lack of union because all things rely on everything else. In this way we can observe what ancient cultures referred to as fate.

So how can it be that humans, who are ruled by the principle of free will, are governed by this cosmic law? It is simple. We are not the sum of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, nor are we responsible for these modes. What we often miss is that without the external world, the internal would not exist. We are reflective beings, like a vast ocean reflecting the sky. Our thoughts, actions, and our very nature are all products of reflection. In this way, even the movement of a distant star is in some way relevant to our daily lives, even if we cannot perceive the change that it brings. This could be the source of the ancient art of astrology, which many ancient civilizations relied upon. So, human free will, though it can be said to exist, is very much an illusion. It is given structure by the external world of perception, and all that we have witnessed. Originality lies only within external reality, because all that composes the human mind is rooted in the external. By this we see that we are not separate from the universe outside of us, for nothing can be separated when there is interdependence.

In short, cosmic law and interconnectedness are facets of the larger concept of unity. Nothing can escape or transcend this unity, because it is all encompassing. Once we reestablish our connection to the eternal, we can truly be at peace. This is the ultimate sacrifice, giving oneself to universality is unconditional and thus there can be nothing more virtuous. When we see ourselves as one of the whole, we are free. Perfection lies in everything.

The Path of Unity

One who seeks liberation must know the one ultimate truth
Though this truth can be explained to infinite levels of detail,
     it is not enough just to know
One must experience it for themselves.

  All who walk the path must eventually cross the barrier most high. That is the ultimate test, the final tribulation. It is a leap of faith, a discarding of beliefs and past notions. It is freedom through freeing, purity through cleansing. It is death of the ego, a funeral prepared for the self. The nature of death is to end suffering by transcending all that is suffering. It is the greatest pain one can endure, but it ends all pain. This is the sole concept one must learn. It is liberation through simplicity, the end that is most obvious but also most pervasive. Now you must release yourself.

  Know that the way is easy, but there can be nothing more difficult. If you wish to be free, you must free yourself. Once you learn to put the ego in the past, the end that you seek will uplift you, for you will never have to strive to attain it. When you arrive at times of doubt, as you will, the path will bring you back to the source like a mother guiding a lost child. You will never stray far from it, because you will know it as the source of all nourishment. Free yourself and you will never be left behind.

  If you are ready, if you are willing, then the path will show you the way. What you will find is completeness, perfection in fault. You will see that you were never separate, that you are the very nature of unity. You will never see yourself as separate from the all, because when ego is allowed to fall, the barriers will peel away. The witness who remains will be stricken, shocked, and at long last revived. You will experience utter bliss because you will not exist. You will feel ever expansive because your limitations will fade away. You will find that the inner and the outer blend together seamlessly, that your perception is the ultimate reality, it is the gateway of the mind, and it has been opened. There is no separation; you must lose yourself in this fact.

  Liberation is there for those who seek it.

End of Ego

Ego is the source of all that is separate, and all that is suffering. One can never learn the true nature of self as long as ego remains. We see ourselves separate from others because we identify that which we perceive as being separate. When there is identity, there can not be unity. In order to cast off the chains of ego, we must first define ego. So what is ego?

Ego is
 personality
 judgement
 desire
 pride
 morality

One can not say that ego is good or evil because it is both good and evil. Ego is identifying good as good and evil as bad. In nature, there is no separation, no distance between what is good and what is evil. In truth, the ego is nothing more than a grand illusion. It gives us the notion that there is a self, and causes us to divide reality indefinitely through identity. This is how we describe our world, by segmenting the whole into many parts, then dividing these into ever more specific pieces. This is the real corruption of our nature. What we see as advancement is really advancing away from the eternal source. All things learned are as a burden to the soul.

To understand ego, and to learn how it may be dissolved, one must look introspectively at its origin. When we are born, we are like a seed that has just been planted, a blank slate, a crisp sheaf of white parchment. We exist in a state of purity, in that we are innocent and new. So why should we ever move away from this purest state of existence? Why do we sacrifice the eternal self for ego? Simply put, humanity has been conditioned as so. If you do not believe me, then take a look at your life. Society is built around this false ego - we have rulers who feel that they are better qualified to lead than the lay man. Businesses and corporations are built around these governments, based on greed and a reluctance to give what is in excess and take only what is needed. Greed is the origin of currency. The many yield to the few, and the few own the many. When there is currency, the elite few thrive while a great many suffer. There is lack only because there is greed.

Further, we see ego as evident in the fact that lines are drawn between nations, people are divided between belief systems, and children are directed down a path of mandatory education - not that all education is harmful, but it is certainly a means of conditioning youth. So we see that society is one massive construct of building up and defending ego. Without ego, society would cease to exist, or rather, would blossom into something new. Society breeds ego, because ego is its very foundation. So we are born unto this world, and from that moment we are bombarded with conditions in which only ego can flourish. It is not the individual's fault, it is simply how humanity has come to be. Therefore, we must accept the nature of ego without fighting it. In fact, it is not something that can be suppressed. To be free of ego, it must be released all at once.

So now we have reflected on what ego is, but that alone is not enough to dissolve it. To release the ego, one must understand where it lies. If we further examine ego, we see that it is composed of the ideas we have collected about ourselves over time. Here, time is the keyword. By that I mean that all of the pieces of ego lie in the past, culminated by experiences that we have had which have given us ideas about ourselves. But that is not the only resting place of ego, it also sits in our future aspirations. This is because the ego has a survival instinct and it will do anything it can in order to persist. This can be seen in the form of hopes, aspirations, and desires. So how can one use this to throw out ego? By allowing it to remain in the past and future, without going back to fetch it. All culminations of self identity, learned knowledge, perspective, desires, future aspirations, moral codes, and beliefs must be dropped at once, left in the buried past and the unborn future. It is a matter of realizing that both the past and future are illusions, and that because ego resides therein, it too is just as flimsy of a construct. To be free of ego, one must hold fast to the eternal moment that is now, which is without a beginning or an end.

Pathway

a realized soul makes its pilgrimage to the pillars of ascension
it offers its sacrifice, releasing ego
when ego dissolves, the soul is free
the mind travels inward to solitary peace
as the soul blossoms with inner light

when ego is set aside on loses identity
as the gates of perception close
the soul flies freely, never seeking