There are so many great lessons to be learned from death. One of the most profound things that it has taught me is that death is not the opposite of life, but that it is birth that is death’s opponent.
Birth, life, death
It is a common thought: death as the great opposer of life. Yet I believe it is life or existence that actually includes the totality of it all: the great movement of existence in the cycle of birth, life, death (or transformation) and re-birth. Death therefore opposes birth and not life. And for this reason, death can be a powerful teacher that awakens us to life.
Honoring life and death
Today it is the 2d of November—the day of the dead—so fiercely celebrated in Mexico—but also known in other cultures, like my own, as All Soul’s Day, the day of the the year where we remember our passed loved ones. For the Mexicans this day is all about the celebrating and contacting the afterlife, about meeting them again, only for a day, back on earth and supporting them on their way.
For others, like me, it is about honoring the lives of the loved ones we’ve lost—a life, either short or long, in hardship or happiness—for me it is about remembering the cycles they went through, and the lessons we have learned together on our way. “Celebrating” this day, I am also reminded by the fact that it can have great healing power to remember the deceased in whatever way, and that perhaps in our Western society we could give a little bit more life to this special day. Either colorful and festive, like they do in Mexico, or more sober and simple—we can already give life to it by lighting a candle and sending a thoughts to all those that have passed. By remembering the fact that we are so much more than just our physical bodies, and that both life as well as death can be filled with magic if we are only willing to stop, to look, and see.
by Fenja, founder deyja embracing death
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