Sogyal Rinpoche tells the story of great meditation master Dudjom Rinpoche who was driving through France with his wife.  They passed a cemetery and she was amazed how clean and orderly everything was.  She exclaimed, “Look how everything in the West is so neat and clean.  Even the places where they keep corpses are spotless.”

Dudjom Rinpoche replied, “But haven’t you noticed?  They have such wonderful houses for the living corpses too.”  Fascinating isn’t it how many people have already died, but forgot to lie down.

Now if you believe in reincarnation or eternal life, it certainly colors your view of death.  Even if you don’t, death can give you a catalyst for living.  For many people, the longer they live, the anxiety to avoid unavoidable death becomes more acute.  Their craving for survival in the future makes them incapable of living in the present.

The present.  The moment.  The now.

I hope you will focus on that.  Living in the present, and really living your life.  Don’t be so afraid to die, that you forget to live.

My close experiences with death put me on the path to awakening, causing a transformation to my entire approach to living.  My experience is not uncommon…

Researchers who have studied people who have gone through near death experiences noticed many commonalities in the subjects.  Most of them value love more, have a deeper longing for the spiritual dimension of life, less fear of death, and a deeper acceptance of it.  It should also be noted that most of them have less interest in materialistic pursuits.

Now that’s an interesting aspect indeed…

Because I started down that path as well.  But made an abrupt U-turn when I delved deeper into the study of prosperity.  And I began to see the materialistic pursuits as an integral part of my spiritual self.  I don’t live for money and things, but I celebrate how money and things can allow expression to my life.  But that’s for another lesson.…