Amidst our fighting with the neighbours, striving for success and climbing the business or social ladder there is one thing that can stop us in our tracks, make us miss the favourite parts of our show in deep thought and seriously sit and think. Mortality – what exactly is that?
We all know the dictionary definition but what does it really mean in our lives? Mortality is having the ability to die. Now none of us want to really do that. We may think we do in our darkest moments or when we scream at someone in anger we ‘want to kill them’ but seriously, we don’t mean that. No-one wants to die – to have everything that they have ever dreamed of, strive for, loved, drop away and disappear as if it never was.
What we want
In fact we want the reverse. We want to be beautiful, rich, powerful, famous…immortal! Now wouldn’t that be something? To be immortal! Just think of it how it would be. To be able to live on, to not age even, to be beautiful always, to have love, to have wealth, to be healthy, to fulfill your goals and all your dreams. Wouldn’t that be something?
Of course it would – to everyone. So no-one really wants to die. Not the person sitting on the corner destitute and penniless, not the person in the sick bed, not the aged, not the person about to take the overdose, not the disillusioned, not the anxious, not the depressed, not the old – no-one.
What happens when we are mortal?
So how do we beat our own mortality? My spiritual teacher used to say there are three things we want in life – infinite wealth, infinite health and immortality. Now wouldn’t that make your life easier? Yet…we are all mortal. We all know someday it will all end, or will it? We all have different beliefs as to what happens in that moment – do we see a white light, do we go to the light or do we turn away from it? Or is there nothing else – like some others say? Or do we go to heaven, meet our creator and be judged? Or do we simply close our eyes and disappear?
Forever is an immortal word
Whatever you think wouldn’t it be great if it was peaceful? Wouldn’t it be great if you could live on and overcome your mortality? There is one slim way how to beat this, aside from the philosophical and spiritual explanations on mortality which I will not go into here. What if you lived every moment for what it is? As if it was your only moment? What if the people you are with right now are all there is?
=Q=What if the moment of being with them and enjoying their company could go on forever? Imagine that…for one moment imagine that your bliss of the dinner with a friend, the smile of your child, the hug of your partner could be forever. Imagine that this is your forever. Look at that moment from that perspective and it will change. It will be as if forever. Look at the moment you admire the flower as if it was forever. Hang your heart and ears for a moment on the hello and goodbye of the person you are speaking to on the phone and savour the beauty of that exchange…as if it was forever.
Recipe for immortality
There is a joy in that for-ever-ness which makes it live as if you were immortal. It seems to give that mortality a smack in the face. Stop….and savour with gratitude the beauty of that Christmas card, the gift, the tree, the dinner, the phone call from a friend, the smile of the girl at the checkout as she says ‘Merry Christmas’. Even those of you that think you are alone. You are never alone. Somewhere you add value to someone’s life. It might be a joke you tell. It might be a passing moment you remind someone of a lost love by your looks. It might be an instant of exchange in how you picked up your groceries that reminds that man in the corner of grandma or Uncle Joe.
So as we end another year and go into Christmas…celebrate! Celebrate your uniqueness that no-one else can have to add to this puzzle of the world. Celebrate that you are alive. Celebrate your gratefulness for the things you do have instead of lamenting the ‘have-nots’. Celebrate your friends, your puppy, the fish, your garden, the trees, the yummy dinner, the chocolate…everything…as if it is forever. And with that you become…and it becomes…immortal.
