Saturday, March 24, 2007

   Remembrance


It seems such a difficult thing, to let someone go. When someone or something is dying, and you know, perhaps we cling to that because it is so much a part of our lives, that we've grown used to it. So much so that we cannot imagine our lives without that person, or that relationship, or that pet, or place, or institution, or idea. It is important to realize that when all you have at your disposal is exhausted, and nothing more can be done to save your beloved, it is perhaps best to let it go gracefully, with all the dignity and respect it should thus have.
Of course, letting someone die, is never easy. After all, it is often said that "our lives do not belong to us, rather, they belong to all those who love and care for us." Thus we, as custodians of that life, are forced to let go of that which belongs to us, to let go of the tethers which hold that life, whether it be a person, idea, relationship, place, memory, or anything else, and return that life to its owner. Of course, as former "owners" it's hard to let go, and sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that once something or someone is gone, it is gone forever. Science, religion, morality, culture, history, memory, they all say otherwise. A person, whether you believe in souls or not, cannot simply cease to exist. To view it from Hamlet's perspective, we are all eating fish, which have been fed on worms, which have eaten mostly anything that is beneath the soil. Of course you might think that you might be free from this, but some fish products are used on plants as fertilizer, and earthworms tend to be beneficial for crop production, so really, even a staunch vegetarian cannot help but be a part of this. Physical remains are taken back to whence they came, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the Lenten mantra. Of course whatever energies we possess are likewise distributed. There is a scientific law which says, essentially, neither matter nor energy can EVER be destroyed. The only thing that can happen to matter or energy, is to transform into the other form. This is the principle behind the atomic bomb, and E=mc^2.
A short deviation here will explain. Energy = mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Essentially, this means that if you can convert matter into energy, the smallest amount of matter will become massive amounts of energy, which is what happens in atomic explosions. Also, when massive amounts of energy are expended, such as when a person tries to, say, drive their car at the speed of light, that energy is converted into matter. Essentially, the faster you go, the heavier you are, and upon reaching the speed of light, or close to it, you would be so incredibly massive, that there would be no way for you to get enough energy to go any faster, and in fact, the harder you would try to speed up, the harder it would become to even maintain your speed.
Getting back to the point at hand, every person gives off energy, which is dissipated into the universe. Upon death, we may live on, in a way, through this energy, as it meanders, pushing things, pulling things, heating things, existing.
All this leads back to the persons left behind. We remember those who died, as well as those chapters in our lives that have passed. It is best, as in the video, titled Voyager, to take some time, perhaps a day or two, to focus yourself in remembrance of the deceased. To, give a proper send off to our departed, and to allow the sorrow, the loss to filter through, so that, at the end of our remembrance, we may walk away, feeling that indeed though we let go, our lives have been altered both by the time spent holding on, and that letting go. Every experience touches each person in some way, and that experience is refined and used to pass on to our descendants, in this way we have received the sum of all the experiences of every single person that has come before us, and also in this way we pass these on with our contributions, so that every person is living on somehow, every moment, though we do not know all the details, is preserved, and every part lives on, thus is the mass consciousness of humanity.
Live a day, in remembrance of what you have lost. Remember all the times you've had, remember the lessons you've learned, and perhaps, if it is right, let go of it. Perhaps, on special dates, such as anniversaries, whether of the beginning or the ending, it is also important to be mindful of such things, and have another day of remembering the loss, free of the distractions of the present day. After all, if we live 100 years, we have 36525 days to live. surely one or two can be spared for this purpose.
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