Shadow of Death *Death Dao*

“Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.”
Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching

I guess I have always been odd about death, for the longest time I sought out death and never found him. However now I do not seek death, but I do not fear it either. I still see it as a joyous time not a sad time. Course if you look at a coin people will immediately look at it from one side or the other, but not as a whole coin. They split it into sides.

I know it hurts when one dies, but many times people focus on the loss of the person not the deeds or the way they lived life. I suppose I look at the positive side of death instead of the negative. Hurt, pain, lose are all the negative feelings of a person passing. Love, reflection of deed, the joy they gave you are aspects of the positive. Although physically gone the memory and reflection of such times are still present inside the person.

Life is the beginning and Death the end. Everything in between is the shadows of life and death. It is this part that should be focused on during the passing of a person. The dancing of shadows of ones existence on this world during the time they had. The joy they spread, the help they offered, and the love they had. Why focus on them no longer being around, when there is so much more to remember about them while they did perform the dancing of shadows.

Irish people perform a Wake for those that pass. Americans are somber and down and sad. Why be sad, look into the life of those that passed. My father lived life, experienced a wide arrange of jobs, lived according to his own drum, and really loved his children. Why focus he is gone when he lives within my brothers, and myself.

Death and life is the same thread , but it is what lies between the thread that counts. The line of a person is measured in life and death, but not in what they brought to the world, why then do we feel sad at the time of death? Should not one focus on the things that life brought to the world, the joys, sadness, the humor and seriousness, the positive and the negative, all being the same person, the same being. Should not one focus on the being not the loss of the person.

When I pass on to the next adventure I would say that I want to fade away silently. I would rather pass with no one realizing it, there fore no sadness and no forgetting memory can be done by those that see the passing as a sad time. When I came into the world it was just my mother and father, and maybe my brothers, when I leave I would like to die as I was born. I was born as part of all things and I want to die as a part of all things. I am strong enough to die in serenity, solitude, and peaceful quietness.

The ones that know me know I see death as a darkness or a necessary evil, but as a new adventure or a part of a cycle. Those that don't know I pass can not be sad of the passing. Those that will know or find out should have happiness knowing I will die with a smile on my face, knowing that all I could give I did give, and all I could do I did do. Why should any of them be sad if I lived a full life regardless of the length of life. I danced in the shadows and eventually saw it time to sit and rest.

The point is this do not look at life and death as separate ideas, they are one and the same, they exist together, and without one the other does not have a chance to start. Mourn, but celebrate what the person has done for the world they touched. So often people forget the memories of a person, or they only surface when they are reminded of them, why not sift through the memories on a daily basis and keep the memories fresh, dust free, and alive within you.