Choice

by Gary Wright

Created on: April 25, 2009   Last Updated: July 05, 2009

Life and Death

While reading some of the articles on this very diverse subject, I realized almost everything was based on some sort of belief system, all of which are taught to us from infancy to adulthood. We are told we must believe in this or that ideology because if we don't there are dyer consequences in the future for us.

What if what happened to the child who died after being hit by a drunk driver, was just the result of a man who was too inebriated to drive properly and when it came to negotiating the corner on which the child stood, the driver was unable to judge the distance between the car and the child and the end was the life of an innocent.

What if in war all the people that were killed were supposed to be killed. If that is the case, then by what edict or divine pronouncement would be set forth that all these die? Could it not have to be the fact that the war machine itself randomly took the lives of others with no thought about it?

After all, it is war. Power mongers send other people to war to show how powerful they are. Killing breaks down the psyche so a war may be wonthose who kill the most usually win the war. The warlords prove that the faint hearted (being afraid of the powerful), might live, defiled though their life may be, based on the principles of obedience to the greater power.

What if an individual dies of a heart attack? Is it not just the physical reality that the heart in this person's body was defective in some way? Whether it was by their own doing (bad diet, lack of proper exercise, etc.) or being born with a congenital birth defect, the death is just a real.

Now, what if all these people simply slipped out of their physical bodies here and walked across the veil of death and walked into another body and life that was waiting so that they might fulfill their goal over on the other side?

It is possible that we simply are eternal in our spirit and when the goal is accomplished in one life it follows the silver chord to another. A way of staying on course while you walk, blind to the next set or event, thus having to hold onto the silver chord to show you the way, rather like a line of visually impaired people would do while taking an excursion together.

Speaking, somewhat in metaphor, it seems easier to understand the language of spirituality that might be used to explain a concept that is far beyond our daily experiences.

What if people who are dead to this world find useful jobs to do in the next? Let's try this on for size: a guy, who was a construction worker in this world, dies and becomes a gifted teacher in the next. He holds classes and teaches as though he were a tenured Professor in an Ivy League School.
Obviously nothing related to his former existence, but that does not seem to matter, for when he arrived in his new position he was thoroughly prepared.

What if there was no reward or punishment system as espoused by most religious organizations? Just the simple fact that another place exists, maybe many other places, so we might have a choice of which place we preferred to go? What a coup that would be!

It's nothing based on our actions in a previous life. It would be a sustained eternity with a permanent position at each junction. Ready, set, go; and off you were to yet another adventure. No one's fault that you left this existence, no blame necessary; neither fate nor providence, nor destiny seem to be major players in this scenario.

The other side of this debate is choice. The assumption here would be dismissing the act of suicide. That is definitely a choice. So do we choose our time and place of death?

I only have one real personal example to share with you, my Sister. She has been gone for twenty-seven years and the day and hour of her death seemed to be very well orchestrated. She was seriously ill with complication from Type 1 Diabetes and at age 39, she was prepared to die. The Doctors had all told her she would not live to see her 40th birthday. (Now, here in, lies a bit of self fulfilling prophecy).

After being hooked up to the dialysis machine one afternoon, she sweetly thanked all the people in the room and lay back and gave up her spirit. She died quickly and in complete peace, say the witnesses that were in the room with her.

Does that prove that there are times when we just know it is time to leave this life and go on, and thus we do? At this point, I realize we are back to square one. I might ask one last question. Why do we care about this?

Fear mostly. I see many of the great questions of our lives are based on fear of the unknown. We want answers before we have to face the reality of what we fear. I know some of the answers to daily fears; fear of dying, fear of not being worthy, fear of being alone. Maybe once we start to heal from the basic fears, the rest of the inconsequential fears attached to them will just fall away and we would have no need to pursue the unanswerable questions and focus on who and what we are and how we might facilitate growth and a more loving life within the confines of this existence.

The result, hypothetically speaking, would be a more balanced world for all of us in which to live.

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