submersed

 

If you are a health care provider or a caretaker you may have attended a patient who was dying. I sat with my mother for fourteen hours the day she died, hoping my voice...my simple presence...would bring her some comfort that day. Perhaps it allayed her fear, eased her sorrow, or brought her some sense of peace. I do not recall her suffering. She did not appear to be short of breath. She never cried out in pain. And then...with her last breath...she was gone.

"Tomorrow I will be gone.

I will be a flower or a leaf...

I will be very happy."

~Thich Nhat Hanh~

Thich Nhat Hanh taught us we fear death because we believe that in the end, our life amounts to nothing. We are filled with fear of annihilation. I disagree. I believe we fear death because we fear the suffering we will endure...and cause our loved ones...during the process. Regardless of what we believe comes afterward.

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I spent last week with a couple of my grandchildren. I never tuned in to the news or commentary I usually follow so I was not aware of the unfolding drama aboard the Submersible Titan until it became clear that the men on board were running out of oxygen, helplessly facing suffocation even as massive rescue efforts were underway

Imagine what that must be like.

If you hold your breath long enough, your body will crave oxygen. Thankfully, your nervous system is wired to override your efforts. You will eventually take that needed breath. Gasp! But what if there were no oxygen in the air you inhaled? You would suffer, desperate for relief until you passed out. Until you died. 

I couldn't shake off the horror of the fate of the five men on board the Titan. The slow suffocation. The certainty they would die. Watching as the others succumbed one by one.

"All beings tremble before violence.

All love life.

All fear death.

See yourself in others. 

Then, whom can you hurt?"

~Buddha~

Hanh taught that the most important task we face in life is to make peace with death. To accept the fact that everything is impermanent. To fully embrace what we believe follows. This is something we must all reconcile for ourselves. It has to be something that makes sense to each of us personally, because no one knows what comes after death. Some believe it is never ending peace and joy in Heaven. Hopefully, not an eternity spent in Hell. Others believe in rebirth, giving us time to learn the lessons and embrace the sacred practices we missed or rejected the first time around. I prefer the idea of a green burial, and the re-animation of my DNA in an apple tree, a flower, or a ladybug. Embracing the possibility of a meaningful and joyful afterlife is a great help. 

I also take comfort from accounts of the near-death experiences of people who have, for example, survived cardiac arrest. The white light. The visions of angels and glimpses of heaven. The utter absence of pain and suffering that make some who survive wish they hadn't. Suggesting that the moment of death is both painless and transcendent.

Yesterday we learned of the violent implosion that destroyed the Titan and took its five passengers to their deaths. Now I'm trying to process that...

"In the depths of your hopes and desires

lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow

your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden

the gate to eternity."

~Kahlil Gibran~

jan