I use tarot and oracle cards as tools for reflection and contemplation. Rather than divining the future, they are a way for me to look more deeply at the "now."
"The goal isn't to arrive, but to meander, to saunter, to make your life a holy wandering." ~ Rami Shapiro

Saturday, May 5, 2018

The Demanding Teacher

From the Albano-Waite Tarot, Death; from the Rumi Cards, 'Don't despair:'
From the wise words of Buddhist teacher Judy Lief:

Death is the great interrupter, unreasonable and non-negotiable. No amount of cleverness will make it otherwise.

Death is a strong message, a demanding teacher. In response to death’s message, we could shut down and become more hardened. Or we could open up, and become more free and loving. We could try to avoid its message altogether, but that would take a lot of effort, because death is a persistent teacher.

Death turns out to be the teacher who releases us from fear. It’s the teacher that opens our hearts to a more free-flowing love and appreciation for life and one another. When we get stuck in self-importance and earnestness, death steps in. When we get caught in self-pity, death steps in. When we become complacent and take things for granted, death steps in.

Death spurs us forward with a sense of urgency and puts our preoccupations in perspective. Death lightens our clinging and mocks our pretensions. Death wakes us up. It is our most reliable teacher and most constant companion.

We have all kinds of thoughts about what happens when we die and how we and others should relate with death, but through meditation we learn to recognize thoughts as thoughts. We learn not to mistake these thoughts and ideas about death for direct knowledge or experience. We learn not to believe everything we think or everything we have been told. (Don't despair!)

7 comments:

  1. When I attended my first funeral as an adult I was sadden. The passing of another reminded me that there is a time out for all of us. I no longer fear death. I left the Planet for a little bit back in 2012 and I can tell you, there is nothing to fear. I really like the above quote.

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    1. Death is one of the most personal experiences there is. I really like Lief's words of wisdom, and I'm glad you did too. :)

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  2. Death teaches us to live and to enjoy each given day. Life would become so boring without death.. and crowded too

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    1. It's a teacher that many prefer to ignore as much as possible, but it does have its gifts.

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  3. I take great comfort in the knowledge when I'd dead I'm done.

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    1. Reminds me of a quote by Mary Roach:
      I don't fear death so much as I fear its prologues: loneliness, decrepitude, pain, debilitation, depression, senility. After a few years of those, I imagine death presents like a holiday at the beach.

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    2. I really like that quote as well.

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