The simple answer is that I can’t comprehend it. But I don’t want a short post so excuse me if I ramble while I put some thoughts together on what seems to be a final transition for our human bodies.
I believe that we all have a spirit, our consciousness of sorts; that spirit I think moves on to a different place. Heaven, reincarnation, whatever have you. I was told by a friend of mine that death often times bring families closer together. I have experienced this first hand and realize the truth in this statement. But lets go back to what death entails. The dictionary defines it as the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. Pretty simplistic. In Romans it says that the wages of sin is death. Traditionally this has been interpreted that the human condition sinning causes us not to have eternal life. You can dive further into this but I will not at this point.
We literally return to dust from the “dust” that we were created from. But my question remains about our spirits, our state of consciousness. Where does that go? What becomes of it? How can one moment a person be having a conscious thought about his or her surroundings and suddenly be no more?
I know that I am not the only one with these thoughts and questions. Anyone that has ever experienced a death of a loved one certainly has grappled with them.
I can tell you what I believe, certainly not what I know because of the implausibility of knowing. I believe there is a God, an afterlife full of knowledge, the details of which I don’t have a clue about at this point in my life. I believe that our state of consciousness or our spirit inhabits this afterlife. I DO NOT believe that God decides who lives or dies. This delves into difficult as well as hurtful theological implications. A person who has suffered a death of a loved one can easily turn against God if they believe that God took their loved one away from them.
I believe God is love, a deep rich love that our human form cannot emulate and that this love does not want to see death but embraces life… may be human death leads to new life. Whatever death is… the bottom line is that it sucks, for lack of a better word, to have someone you know and love pass away.
My rambling is finished. Please consider this an open forum to discuss your thoughts or to remember a loved one.
Aaron,
Thanks for this thoughtful post. I remember a sermon where the minister was talking about death and said we all can’t get past one invevitable fact: “You Die.” That reverberated around my head quite a bit, and still does to this day.
But there is great wonder and hope in death. My grandfather’s death convinced me that i needed to follow his example and go back to church. There, I found a different Jesus than the unapproachable Son of God from my youth. The preacher spoke of healing personal wounds, ending poverty, fighting homophobia….it was an awakening to the true message of Jesus. Although I miss him dearly some seven years later, I know that his death opened up a new world for me leading me down a very different and much more promising path.
Thanks for this post Aaron.
Stephen, thanks for your comments. It was my grandfather who just recently died as well. Quite sad to see a leading figure in the family pass away.
Aaron,
Thank you for taking the time to reflect publicly on the mystery of death and the hope of the resurrection. Death is full of complex emotions and feelings. Death has its finality, but in faith we hope that there is more. In any case, death leaves a void that is difficult to fill, except in the company of family and friends.
Having shared pastorally in two memorial services over the past 3 weeks, I’m so aware of these realities.
My thoughts and prayers go with you.
Aaron, thanks so much for this. In a few months, it will be two years since my grandfather’s death and I remember, looking at the huge crowds at his wake and funeral, how blessed I was to have known him and seen his wonderful example of faith and love that deeply touched the lives of so many people. It also makes me think again about the Romans quote. Seems to me, the wages of sin is “death” even in this life. Selfishness and greed are what prevent us from connecting with other people and from growing in love in a community…in my opinion, what really makes a life.
i’m not confident in the existence of a literal afterlife, at least not in the traditional sense of the term. my sense is that god works by spreading love from person to person through an endless chain to which we are all connected. when a link in that chain disappears — that is, when someone dies — the love that has passed through it endures. of course, the hate does, too. so each of us has a role in building up god’s kingdom on earth, and in tearing it down. we each do both, because i don’t think anyone’s either wholly good or evil. and the effects of our actions ripple through those we’ve touched and those they’ve touched and those they’ve touched. i’d guess that that’s the closest we come to having an afterlife.
perhaps that’s less than inspiring, especially when someone loses a loved one. on the other hand, i hope that kind of approach can help us to seize the moment we have.
Death does suck, at least for those of us that are still here. One thing that is really hard for me is to know what to do with all of the love, care and other feelings towards one you love after they die. Where does the good go (as the song of one of my favorite songs is called)?
I think if we can find an outlet for that good, a place to put our positive and loving energy towards a loved one after they die, then maybe we can have a sense of closure and feel like we are continuing on the positive parts of the person, while finding a way to grieve their loss at the same time. This worked for me after my grandfather died and while I still miss him a lot, I am glad to have done something positive in his name.
In some Jewish traditions they believe that as long as a loved one is remembered by those who knew him/her, that person’s life continues.
While in my own faith tradition, I believe in afterlife – I still find the tradition of telling the stories of our loved ones who have died an incredibly important tradition.
I deal with death every day in the work I do as a hospital chaplain-death is not the frightening enemy that we often make it out to be. There are times when death can even be a beautiful experience – this sounds morbid and bizarre to some people, but it is a privilege to be with a dying person – to hear the story of a person’s life. My biggest struggle is not with death, but rather during the in-between places – like when a person’s body is still alive but the person is brain dead. Is that person’s soul still present, has the soul already “moved on,” or is the soul in a state of limbo or in-between-place until physical death finally occurs? Perhaps some people may believe that this doesn’t really matter – but believe me, I find it matters a great deal to the families whom I serve in their loved one’s final moments – or when they “pull the plug.”
Anyway, I think that’s enough rambling for one “comment”…
Thank you for the posting it gives everyone a lot to think about.The death of a loved one is very difficult but the comfort & love of family around you is the best thing to help anyone through the loss. Thank you for being there for me.