Death Benefits: No Fear

Yes, I have thought about death today; however, it has not been due to depression, defeat, or morbid feelings. I simply walked past the church cemetery in my neighborhood this morning with my puppies. We have not gone that route for some time, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it.
Why? When I was younger, I used to think that death was to be diligently, intelligently, fearfully avoided. It was an unpleasant thought, one that was best ignored until necessitated by funerals.
I’ve changed. I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but I think death, even though it causes sorrow, really serves as a dark background on the canvas of life that highlights and dramatizes our light, no matter how dull or bright that light may be. Somewhere in every one of us a light glows. Death has a way of allowing that light to be seen by those who remember us.
This morning I thought of the light that all of those souls represented by those tombstones must have emitted when they were here in physical bodies. I looked out over the field where the bodies of those spirits lay, an amazing collection of energy symbolized there. What did they do in their jobs and careers, with their families and friends, in society, their neighborhoods — actions and words and gifts and love? How many of them had their own children, who in turn will shine in this world?
No matter what opinion or reputation someone has, there is always some bit of light that at some point in their lives shone from them. If it’s someone who currently is rotten, maybe if someone, anyone, had noticed and encouraged them when they were shining — well, who knows? And that’s a whole other story. But why not believe and act as if it matters; why not look for that light, that goodness in others? Our lives, our world would be a lot brighter, wouldn’t it?
To really shine or to observe others shining, it really helps to come to know ourselves, discover that bright, burning light deep within us: our own hearts. We need to discover core Self, and then we see through a lens that looks for goodness. Also, it helps us to see those things that are dark; however, when we live our own truths and are focused on shining our own light we expose darkness. And beyond that, we don’t feel a need to eradicate it or change others. We simply love through living and expressing and shining core Self to all.
Just shine, look for the light in others, and see how bright life gets. Death — well, value it for what it is, an usher into new adventures that only serves to show the brightness of those whose spirit and life energies move on. How many times have you gone to a funeral and not heard at least someone say something good about the deceased? At death, people always look to find something positive from life. Let’s just get a head start and do it now.
John Donne wrote about death in the early 17th century in his sonnet “Death Be Not Proud.”
“Death be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. / For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow, / Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.”
Donne says that death has no power over us, that death should not be feared because we have a life energy that cannot be destroyed.
Yes, the light of lives, the positive energies of people live on after their physical death, and the life energy moves on to new discoveries. Sorrow?
Yes, but we should move past that to celebration, too. We are amazing beings.