Thinking About Immortality

Death and dying are subjects that are so taboo in our society, that we often refuse even to think privately about them. The Google dictionary defines "morbid" as "Characterized by or appealing to an abnormal and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, esp. death and disease." I suppose that interest in death and disease can be carried to such an extreme that it can be characterized as abnormal and unhealthy. The same is true of any other subject; the pathology then is related to obsession, rather than to the topics themselves. But we often behave as if any consideration of death and dying were a sign of mental illness, and as if any reference to the subject were extremely bad manners.

The very aversion that we demonstrate to the topic of death is an indication of the great importance we attach to it. I have alluded to the subject before. Physical death is inevitable. It seems very likely that ego, which is attached to the physical body, must die with it. It is ego that finds any discussion of the topic unbearable. It is insane to fear the inevitable, but ego is insane and does fear its own extinction. When we live from the ego, we are possessed, often paralyzed by that same fear. What is true for us is also, naturally, true for those to whom we are attached. The passing of a loved one is often even more painful to contemplate than our own. This reflects ego's conception of death as extinction, as well as egoic attachment.

New Age and New Thought adherents often refer to physical death as "transition." This implies a process of moving from one state of existence to another. It is comforting to speak of transition rather than termination, but we should not delude ourselves that "life after death" is just a continuation of our present existence, with no more effect than changing clothes. How much of your personality did you bring with you into this world, and how much did you acquire after your conception? That which was born with the body or acquired by it afterward will likely pass away with it. 

Nevertheless, the core of our being - whether considered as Awareness, Spirit, God, or the Higher Self - is immortal. The I am which observes and - in the spiritually aware person - governs the thoughts and behavior of the small self is a manifestation of the Presence that is the fundamental energy of the Universe. All of the experiences that constitute human existence occur within that matrix and, in that sense, are also immortal. But to cling to the notion that a particular set of experiences that we call "ours" must remain identified with a particular wrinkle in the fabric of the Universe simply represents an attempt to narrow the scope of the Infinite to fit within the limits of our present awareness.

The thread in that fabric that represents a single consciousness may pass through one or many transition events. But when time falls away and all is seen through the lens of Oneness, there are no individuals; there is neither life nor death; there is no past nor future. There is only Awareness, undifferentiated and immeasurable. Therein lies our immortality.

More thoughts on immortality can be found here:

Thoughts On the Passing Of a Friend