“President William McKinley, the third American president to be assassinated, lived for several days after he was shot, and towards the end, his wife started crying and screaming, “I want to go too! I want to go too!” … And with his last measure of strength, McKinley turned, smiled gently up at her, and spoke his last words: ‘Ah, my Love, but we are all going.’” ~ inspired by John Green

Our minds are like prisms — Pass any ray of pure Reality through them and it is immediately divided into more than seven hues; broken down by all our beliefs & dogmas; carved up by all our convictions & certainties; dismantled by all that we hold dear; eviscerated by all that we long for, and fragmented by all that we fear. Indeed, pass anything at all through the spontaneous mind and it becomes dual — divided — separate from the Whole. Light or dark … right or wrong … friend or enemy … life or death … even Alive or Dead.

And yet the TRUTH of the matter — the Truth of any matter; indeed, the Truth of matter itself — is that there is no separation. For without the tempering darkness, Light would be but a blaring glare … Without the humility of error, Right would be but a bland & feeble knowing … Without the pain inflicted by enemies, Love would be but an inaudible whisper of affection … And without the finality of death, Life would be but a droning adventure without Worth or Meaning.

For in reality, there is no life OR death; no being born OR dying … Rather, there is one almost-eternal continuum stretching forever between the two — one miraculous loop of “BirthLIFEDeath” — one phenomenal phenomenon of Existence — one brilliant Awakening to the conscious awareness of not only ourselves as separate from the All, but ourSelves as fully & completely immersed therein — one sometimes jagged Journey from the ONE and back again.

In the dry, intellectual, logical sense Kipling was right when he said that “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.” And when we take this ray of Light and remove it from the prism of our minds — when we chose to SE it as what it IS; when we SEE it complete and whole and without disunity, then we realize that this postulation is actually utter nonsense. For in reality there is no single East or West; there is no Up or Down — that whenever we look towards the setting sun, our line of Sight does not end until it circumnavigates the globe and returns to where we already are. We are not looking West — we are merely approaching HERE stealthily from behind. So too when we look “up” into the night sky, we forget that we are actually hanging by gravity’s thread — that when we point our fingers “up” to the Heavens we are actually dangling our hands downward into the great, cool, galactic star-speckled vastness that dives forever beneath us for as far as we could ever see. Essentially, “Never the twain shall meet” is ridiculous, for the sole reason that the “twain” are meeting each other everywhere — indeed, that the “twain” are together in one sky; together in one galaxy; together in one Universe; together with God — and together within you as well.

And so it is with life … and so it is with death. Yes, being born is an entering of life and dying is a departing from it. AND YET so much more is connected with these Truths when we take them from the prism of our minds. For there were endless events that led to your birth — endless choices made & risks taken; endless mistakes made & endless triumphs celebrated; endless tragedies & endless transcendences thereof. And all of them led to your being born — to you entering this majestic life at precisely the moment you chose to enter. And the same will be true of your death — for no matter when it comes or how it comes to be, the echoes of your passing with become one with the over-arching Hum of the Universe, and contribute to the Beautiful Birthing of every being that enters life thereafter.

And because the magnitude of your life — the courage you display and the virtues you champion and the injustices you fight and the freedoms you celebrate — directly affects & molds & influences every single being that will ever be born thereafter, it is extremely important that you go forth today and LIVE ACCORDINGLY — with great Courage, and with great Humility, and with great Compassion, and with great LOVE.

No one knows what happens after we die, my Friends, and yet no one can deny that what we choose to DO (and what we avoid Doing) in this lifetime travel onward through eternity after we depart … As such, let your life overflow with Goodness & Kindness & Joy today, my Friends. Let your life be lived in such a magnificently radiant way that death will never catch you unprepared — indeed, when death does finally come to take you, let it tremble to take you at all.

Amen … let it be so.

Peace … S

(inspired by Turiya, Osho, Bukowski, Tecumseh & a Kempis)