Live like you were dead … (12/10/13)
“Live as if you were already dead.” ~ Japanese Samurai saying
In actuality, this seemingly dark wisdom is anything but morbid …This wisdom is raw genius; potentially the most important thing I could ever share with you.
For when we wake up to the TRUTH that life — everyone’s life — is fragile and precious and fleeting, then we have no choice but to become fully alive once more — alive like we were in our infancy — alive like we were in our beginning.
When we wake up to the TRUTH that we are not here to merely “have fun” or “be successful” or “live a good life” — the TRUTH that these pursuits are actually an avoidance of life, not a living of it, then our options become deliciously limited …
*In such moments of awakening, we have no choice but to go beyond being merely nice to our loved ones, and we choose to openly honor them instead.
*In such moments of enlightenment, we have no choice but to go beyond being merely respectful to strangers, and we choose to be courageously Kind to them instead.
*In such moments of clarity, we have no choice but to go beyond being merely “fair” to our enemies, and we choose to be selflessly compassionate with them instead.
*And in such moments of epiphany, we have no choice but to go beyond being merely “good to ourselves”, and we choose to be Good to our Selves — by being Good to all others, instead.
The fact of the matter is: you don’t have much time left, my Friend … The fact of the matter is: none of us do.
Indeed, today is the very first and the very last today you will ever have, and if you are truly Loving of Self, you will ponder this TRUTH — you will ask yourself this morning: what worthiness am I going to DO today? Right now, what soft Kindness am I going to set in motion?
Once we choose to make the Leap into LOVE — once we choose to cherish the tender pricelessness of each & every moment we have been given, then and only then do we begin to enjoy the Good Life — then & only then do we begin to truly Live.
In-deed, how precious our loved ones become when we realize that today is our last day with them … How sacred every stranger becomes when we remember that that each small, chance meeting with them is the only chance we will ever have to make their lives a bit happier … How perfectly priceless our enemies become when we realize that they are the ones who provide us with our purest Power — for they & only they are the ones who give us the opportunity to Love anyway.
No matter what you have done or neglected to do with you life, today is a new day, my Friends. No matter how selfishly or superficially you have lived to this point, today you may begin anew …
Today you may make your life one filled with Joy & Peace.
Today you may mold you life into one of Meaning & Purpose.
Today you may make your life a stroll through Heaven.
Today you may choose to live for LOVE.
When you live your life as though you’re already dead, life takes on new meaning. Each moment becomes a lifetime — a universe unto itself, and each & every encounter within that slice of forever becomes a jewel of the greatest value — every chance meeting becomes its own pearl of greatest sheen.
If our only spiritual practice were to live as though we were already dead, relating to all we meet and engaging all we do as though it were our final moment in this world, what time would there be for old games or petty falsehoods or proud posturing? What time would there be for negative criticism or arrogance judgment or cold condemnation ?
If we lived our life as though we were already dead, as though our loved ones and our friends and our associates and even our enemies were all already dead, how much time would we waste on “self help” or “self defense” or “self salvation”?
None at all, of course …
Once we understand what is actually the case — once we wake up to the TRUTH that we are all already teetering on the verge of death & disappearance, only LOVE becomes appropriate; only the Harmony of Oneness remains.
Amen … Let it be so.
(inspired by Stephen Levine)
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