JA: Isn’t this a little too morbid a subject to talk about? Yes I am not young anymore but reckon I have still got more than a couple of good years left in my precious life left on earth.
MrOWO: Notwithstanding that, death is still something quite natural and you have to face it sooner or later. You may not die yet but there will be others you know who will meet death sooner than later. So it is better to come terms with it now then later. Especially now while you still have all your faculties of inquiry and clear thinking to form the right view about it.
JA: Yes, you did mention about using my ‘In Memoriam’ on what I did like to see written about my life to establish how I should live my life.
MrOWO: That is about using death to determine how to find clarity on your life purpose but here we are discussing about how you are going to leave earth when you die. When the life spirit is gone, what is left is just a body. You are after all a spirit with a body. Not just a body with a spirit. There is a difference between the two, you know?
JA: Seems the same to me.
MrOWO: Let me give you an example to enable you to see the distinction more clearly. Try answering this question. Are you the clothes you wear on your body or are you the body wearing the clothes?
JA: Hem, I never thought about it that way. I did say I am the body wearing the clothes. Now, I know why you are called the Old Wise One!
MrOWO: Thanks but we are not talking about me here. Anyway like what you have gathered, the point I am trying to make is that you can now see that your body like your clothes is not important once you are dead and gone. So don’t spend too much money for your last farewell and since you are going, go without too much fuss. Just return your body back to nature. Give it a little help by turning it into ashes and if you like, an elegant farewell by having the ashes strewn into the river or ocean during an evening sunset. That will be your final gift to your loved ones, the memory of the peace and beauty of nature which you have returned to…
JA: What about last words? What could I say?
MrOWO: Other than your personal messages of love to each special one, you could tell your loved ones that you are not totally gone. That when they see a sunset, you are there with them everyday. Isn’t that better than a tombstone in some faraway cemetery? If you were to do that, you are not really leaving. Leaving a tombstone behind to be remembered - that is attachment for you when you are already gone and for your loved ones who are still clinging on. You owe it to your loved ones to not leave behind what could turn out to be a burden to tend to when you are gone. Here is how you should be remembered. I have taken it out of the leaf of a book I read titled “Fragrant Palm Leaves’ by the famous spiritual teacher,Thich Nhat Hanh:
Language of Wildflowers and Grasses
Tomorrow, if we are burned to ashes,
those ashes will be love and will nestle in the heart of earth to nourish the flowers.
Flowers don’t know how to hate.
We will return to the circle of life as flowers, grasses, birds,or clouds to bring people the message of eternal love.
JA: That is so beautiful. How about some more of that stuff?
MrOWO: OK. Here is another one but it is not composed by me:
No Sad Songs
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cyprss tree;
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet:
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
MrOWO: See, there is beauty in dying! Not so morbid after all, huh? I am no poet but I have got a collection of other writings of how people remember their loved ones which I thought was quite beautifully done.
JA: Can you share those with me? I am already having ideas of the songs I think I would like to be played at my farewell on the boat. The words ‘I can see clearly now that the rain is gone…that it is going to be a bright bright sun shinny day…” from the lyrics of an old song is already playing in my mind.
MrOWO: Of course, that is what I am here for. To share with you all that you did like to know about life and… death. Ponder on this because dying is as natural as living:
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not fear the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
The doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget
- Christina Rossetti
