The Prowling Reaper

 


“The more you live in the present moment, the more the fear of death disappears.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

Once upon a time, a young man went to his master and asked, “Master, how can I get rid of the fear of death?”

The master said, “When you borrow some money from someone, are you afraid to give them back?”

“Of course not,” replied the young man. “But what does that have to do with my fear of death?”

The master picked up some soil from the ground and said, “You are made from dust, you have received your body in debt and will be required to repay. You increase that debt with every bite of bread and every sip of water you drink.

He threw the soil in the air and after it had settled back down he said, “No matter how high you rise, how long your flight, you will still need to come back down. In the end, the ground will swallow you whole, without any remains.”

“Stop thinking about yourself as master of your body and accept that you are just a tenant. You do not know the length of your lease, it can be terminated at any time. Your debt will certainly be recovered, regardless of whether you are afraid.”

This month has been fraught with news of natural disasters, massive destruction, and death on an unprecedented scale. Turkey and Syria lost over 40,000 people in a quake that lasted seconds. New Zealand is also grappling with a quake and a cyclone. Flash floods in Australia, forest fires in Chile, and snow avalanches in Tajikistan.

My Facebook profile this week has been full of news of people losing loved ones to sudden illness, suicide, and chronic conditions finally ending in death.

The grim reaper is overworking lately and we are living in perilous times. As the master told his student, none of us has a fixed lease with an end date specified. We are all tenants that could be evicted at any time. So rather than live in fear, how should we live?

I’m choosing to live in the moment. I am aware of what is happening around and in me at any given moment. When I find a reason to laugh, I do not postpone the laugh; I laugh now. If something sad comes to my attention, then I cry now. When a thought about a person crosses my mind, I stop and send them a ‘hello’. There is no “later” in this current life. Later I may be gone or they may be gone. Be a good steward of your “now”, and begin to live in the present. It is all you have.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

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