When someone is near death or diagnosed with a terminal disease, what does one say to them without being overly sympathetic and sad? This person needs something more than “I’m sorry to hear” or “Gee, are you alright?” or simply”Hello, get well soon.” For most of my life I have dreaded death and funerals and terminal diseases or anything relating to someone’s death or demise. I’ve lost so many relatives and friends that for many years I could no longer stand to lose more, and I shunned all thoughts of death including my own.
I was a fool to try to escape the inevitable. That aching grief that separates the mind and soul from reality can drive a person insane. It creates an emptiness so vast, that it can not be filled by anything. Death is a fearful enemy, until you understand what it really is. I have come to realize what it is, and understand there really is no way to explain it. Everyone has their own concept of death. Some believe they will resurrect, others believe there is no life after death, others believe death is a passageway to paradise or to eternal suffering. I have come to believe Death is a gateway to another dimension. It is a spiritual transition, where we reunite with all who have passed on before us to a place without pain, suffering, or sadness.
Death is a doorway that is opened for us, and light or darkness await us depending on what we believe. Our reality either living or in death is what and who we are, and are destined to become. Hatred for any religion or system of morality or afterlife administration is considered a great offense to both God and Man, but pure faith in the words and myths of men and their institutions are obeyed and worshiped by the faithful without question or evidence of their truth.
I believe we create our own reality. I believe we are what we believe. I believe death is what we believe it is. I believe that when I die my soul will be free of pain and worry, stress and sadness. I believe that I will rise to a greater understanding and enlightenment of the universe. I believe that if an acorn can grow into a oak tree, then I can grow into a mighty spirit. Death is not to be feared, and saying goodbye to someone who is facing death is more of a comfort to the one who is saying goodbye, than to the one who is being said goodbye to. Perhaps silence is the better statement to someone who is facing death. Ignorant,careless and hypocritical statements of hope and empathy for the dying may be more painful to them than silence.
L.A. Steel
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