Don’t you feel like there is a lot of fear out there?
Fear. Oh my goodness, I do not remember of fearing as much as I did as this last 2 years. I will not make a list of all my fears. I will talk about the rituals of contemplating on death.
Accumulated fear in my body which makes me feel exhausted sometimes.
Can we categorize the fear as little fear or big fear?
Fear of dying when having like a normal illness just in case if it is a coronavirus. Fear of losing a loved one because of the fear that he has a heart attack.
Then little fears that I am beginning to realize besides the veils that are all the time there. When I receive an email from whoever, the fear of doing something wrong. In business the fear of going to bankruptcy.
While sharing something in social media, fear of not being liked. Even fear of being punished because of what you think.
Fear, fear, and fear.
Each time I am being more aware that there are just 2 main things: fear and love. Which one I choose in each moment does not look like depending on me every time. Sometimes I even do not realize there is a fear behind the veils which makes me react instead of respond.
Fear coming from attachment to whatever or love that let me free.
Oh boy, the art of living is a tough thing, let me say.
Learned fears during my life are sometimes leaving me paralyzed. When I look deep inside I see myself fearful of doing something wrong.
It is sad to witness that I am passing some of these fears to my kids as well, even without recognizing them. Almost as a family heritage. Fear of ages passed through ancestors.
I do not know you but I need a prayer for easier choices for all of us around the world. I hope we all live and feel love much more than fear each and every moment. Consciously we choose love which leads us to freedom.
So here we go. I want to talk to you about 2 rituals of meditating on death.
Some time ago, I went to a Buddhist retreat in a temple about meditating on death without any idea at all. In Sufi tradition, there is a concept of dying before dying, so I thought that the meditating on death would be something similar which I found out that was not the case.
We literally meditated on death during the retreat of 3 days.
Till that retreat, I did know that this ritual is one of the most important rituals for Buddhist lamas and they continuously get prepared for their time of death. It is believed that the moment you die, your way of greeting this moment is crucial for your after-death journey.
Actually, when I thought about it afterward somehow it made sense. In a word where thinking about death makes us so terrified, even not being able to talk about it, the existence of death, and remembering it occasionally can bring balance to our lives and serve as reminders of what really is important. Dead is part of life, we accept or not, it is there, so why escaping from it instead of inviting to our life as our guide.
During the retreat, there were many meditations and talks with the Lama about death, fear, and love. In the specific meditation about death which was guided by the lama, we were invited to imagine about our death starting from 1 year ago, then 6 months ago than 3 months, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour and done.
First of all, I thought it was all ok but once the meditation became closer in time, the things I value most in life became much more clear to me.
It was beautiful to experience and what I found at home coming back was even more magical. I came back home and then we went to the beach and somehow there was a concert there and we began to dance with my kids enjoying each moment. I was living what I meditated in the morning while imagining my death.
Contemplating on death as a morning ritual
The other day I saw a post of a friend saying about thinking in death as a morning ritual. While you are having your morning coffee, thinking about your death or the death of your loved ones. Feel this moment as much as you can. Be aware that we are now, here and we do not have any idea about tomorrow.
These days I was watching The Protector series on Netflix. A fictional world where there are immortals and mortals. The series makes you think about the design of this creation, the importance of the existence of death.
If there is death, there is fear and there is an option. Maybe the key to practice the choice between fear and love that consciously or unconsciously we make every moment is contemplating death. What do you think?
Do you have any rituals that support your choices of love? Do you feel fear and how you cope with it? Share with us in the comments.
