“Author David Deida writes, “Almost everything you do, you
do because you are afraid to die. And yet dying is exactly what you are doing
from the moment you are born.” I had encountered this sentiment before during
my time in India. According to the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, all fear
roots back to abhinivesh, the fear of death. For example, we fear shame because
it is a death to the ego. We fear aging because it is a death to our youth. In
Buddhist teaching, all moments are born and die into each other. Leaving the
womb is a death of one state of existence and a birth into another realm.
Childhood dies into puberty and the elderly have experienced the death of their
young adult years.
While I appreciated Deida’s insights about our fear of
death, his reflections on suffering moved me to tears. He writes, “You were born
as a sacrifice. And either you can participate in this sacrifice, dissolving in
the giving of your gift, or you can resist it, which is your suffering.” So
much of my own suffering resulted from resistance to the reality of life’s
impermanence.” ~Amy Wright Glenn, Birth,
Breath, & Death: Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula
Painting by Elisabeth Slettnes
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