Radical Honesty

Death is a great teacher…. life is its student ….. living aware in the moment; in all its glory of pain & pleasure, happiness & sadness; is its lesson.  

I attended too many funerals this past week, heard too many endearing eulogies, shed too many tears at our temporal physical state of being passing through time and space. 

One of the great paradoxes of all of life turns out to be death. 

The insignificance of the things we cling to, death takes away in an instant. 

While we know women and men are equal, and there’s no difference between races, color, age, rich and the poor; death instantly makes us all equal.

Having witnessed family members grieve the death of their loved ones, I ask myself what are we doing with life?…or better yet, what is death asking us to do with life?

It’s asking us to live. Truly live. Live happy even in pain. Live in the moment. Realize the events that occur in the moment, wether happy or grievous, belong to the moment. They don’t belong to us. We come here to visit for a handful decade of years and then leave. 

Yes, we will go through disappointments and pain. It will feel as though our hearts are being torn out of our chests. 

But live the pain then leave it. 

Why do we need to wait for the last moment for death to be our teacher?

Let’s make our years filled with happiness, peace and have waves of love rush into our beings… simply by living the moment. 

I’ve tried to capture the above sentiment in the following free verse. 

Enjoy!

Tell me of pain…..of that lingering ceaseless pain

Tell me of that open wound, that nameless emptiness breaking you

Tell me of your sacred tears….the ones you never shed, the ones you swallowed in silence and tranquility

Tell me of the ones you shed in the darkness of your pain

Tell me how you seek to kill that bitter thief called Death

Tell me how your soul unfolds its tar-tethered wings to fly

Tell me oh Homer, where does Acheron run pain away 

Where does one go down in Hades, to refresh the Titans with drink

Take me to the dark crevice of your heart……

Take me to where your heart got broken over and over again 

Take me to where the perpetual silence intensifies as the all-consuming pain swallows you

Do you hear it?

Do you hear the deafening silence?

You’re  falling into the abyss

No anchor in sight

No oxygen left in your lungs

Burning for more air

Slowly losing

Weightless

Disoriented

Up

Down

Arms and legs pushing but finding no leverage……

The disappointment

The suffering

The Pain

The fear

The Doubts….

Oh darling, Let me be the little flickering voice that quietly says, “hey you, stop holding your breath… take your exquisite pain in bite-size pieces….”

Don’t quit.  You’re already in pain.  You’re already hurting.  Get a reward from it

And hey you, yes you- “don’t forget the side dish memory of Joy and back up your tears with a dose of backbone and be your own hero….everyone else is busy saving themselves….”

Pause

A faint Breath

Rise

Now show me how you chose to give love back over and over again

Absolute truth accepted

Underneath the abyss

A new chapter

A new life

A new you

Freedom….salvation….enlightenment

You begin to see your soul, your character, your awareness, your consciousness, your pure aura, your Love.

That’s all you see.

LOVE

Do you see it?

Right at the seat of Pain is Love and growth

Pure unadulterated Love and solace

You embrace it…..

It wraps you in its warmth like an infant’s security blanket

Secure

In the moment

And you feel the tender hands of Universal Love raising you 

Watch

Enlightenment 

Embers of love 

Lightness

You witness it:

All-consuming wounding Pain giving birth to an all-encompassing immeasurable Love.