Essay: Death as Surprise

Death

Six centuries ago, the essayist Montaigne wrote: “Anyone who teaches people to die teaches them to live.” That is the intent of this essay. So let’s start off with a big deep breath. We are really good at that. We do it over 23,000 times a day. While you were taking that breath a couple of fellow American breathed for the last time. Modern humans existed in Africa for at least 100,000 years. No one knows for certain, but from then until now probably 80 billion humans have lived on this planet. They have all died. There are now 7 billion of us on the planet and we will all be dead within 90 years. That’s plenty of evidence to convince us that death is a sure thing and the constancy of death over millions of years clearly indicates that it is a part of an overall plan.

13.7 billion years ago a closed system called the Universe was inaugurated from nothingness. The energy that evolved into the Universe was all generated by the Big Bang. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be changed from one form to another but it cannot be created or destroyed. That energy has changed and recycled a jillion times and eventually some of it became you, and as you read this you are continuing to be recycled. The matter, the substance that you were at your birth, what you were ten years ago, has all moved on and the three hundred trillion cells that now make up your body are going to be renewed again and again.

When your body finally disintegrates from sickness, age or an accident it all will be recycled and your unique bodily form will come to an end. Your psyche, however, which contains the Self will live on. Remember who the Self is—the infinite, eternal Deity that is progressively incarnating in the universe. David Bohm, a highly respected quantum physicist tells us that everything in the Universe is mutually enfolded –“ every part contains all the information of all the other parts. Even a single cell contains all the information of the Universe.” What he seems to be saying is that every particle in the universe is super-brilliant – every particle knows all there is to know. All those trillions of cells that have recycled and been a living part of your body remember you well and will always know you. You can know them now if you want to make the effort and you will know them after your body disintegrates. You can’t possibly be forgotten. Also, by the first law of thermodynamics the energy that has been a part of you cannot be destroyed. So you aren’t going anywhere. You are in a closed system.

Two thousand years ago Jesus said: “eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has it entered into the human heart what has been prepared for those who love.” He was simply saying that death is going to be a big surprise. Quantum physics has really enlarged the surprise. It’s beyond mind-boggling. So why was death invented?

In his book The Universe Is A Green Dragon Brian Swimme lists a whole series of reasons: “Embrace your death. It will serve you by enabling you to show yourself, to deepen the adventure of life and to underscore the drama of each instant. We should cherish our awareness of death as a gift from the Universe. It is fuel, a lamp, a secret guide who will lead us into the mysterious caverns of our selves so that we can bring forth what we truly are. Our creativity needs the awareness of death for its energy to get us out there to live our life as alluring and remembering activity, as shimmering sensitivity and surprising adventurous play. That’s what life reveals; that’s what life is. Surprise the world with your life and the world will surprise you at death.”

Let’s take a look at death from another direction. What would happen if we could eliminate natural death? The first thing that would happen would be the elimination of reproduction. We are already trying to do that. There are now seven billion people on the planet and within sixty years there will be fourteen. The Earth cannot support that many people. If we would only die through an accident or starvation people would build walls around their homes and never leave to travel or play. Life would become an overwhelming bore. Think of living in such a situation. Risking encounters with the rabble outside would be ever threatening. Death anxiety would become greater than it is today. Suicide rates would escalate astronomically.

Anguish about death is very pervasive today – so pervasive that we don’t like to talk about it and try to disguise it with evasive language and empty rituals. The source of our anguish comes from our failure to recognize who we are as a species and what is our habitat. We are a neotenic species which means that we are a mature form of childhood, a form of life, that upon reaching maturity, can continue to devote itself to a lifetime of ad-venturous play. A habitat is the place where a species can flourish and expand. Our habitat is adventurous play—exploring, probing, experimenting, laughing. If a species cannot find its habitat it quickly fades and perishes.

Too many people today see themselves as full time consumers, and appendages or extensions of their machines. With full-speed-ahead consumerism they are trashing the planet and experiencing apathy and boredom in the midst of foul pollution. As Swimme states, “We will move into our destiny when we understand that we are to live in and as adventurous play”.

The Nazarene knew a lot about death and adventurous play. “I say to you don’t worry about living. Surely life is more important than food and the body more important than clothes. Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap, nor store away in barns. And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They neither work nor weave. So don’t worry. Set your heart on the kingdom within
(The Self) and all things will come to you as a matter of course”. Matt.

1. How can you express gratitude for the miracle of breathing?
2. What does Bohm’s mutual enfoldment say to you?
3. Why don’t you re-read Swimme’s embracing death statement three times?
4. What are your reasons for not wanting to die?
5. What is a habitat and what is yours?

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