Die Before You Die

Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is
death.

So beautiful appeared my death – knowing who then I would kiss,
I died a thousand times before I died.

“Die before you die,” says the Prophet Muhammad.

Have wings that feared ever
touched the Sun?

I was born when all I once
feared – I could
love.

— Rabia Basri the female Muslim Sufi saint.

Hi LEE
this is nomadicmaiden.nice to have you as a friend,only been hear a week.

Hi nomadicmaiden, welcome to bmindful!

Take a look around, be sure to introduce yourself and if you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to post them in this thread

In response to Lee Nutter’s post:
Great thread, Lee!

My drift of this thread had to do with connecting with what’s important by being aware of how fleeting everything is. It seems loss or the awareness of possible loss creates an intimacy of connection to what’s important. Once you’ve had a taste of those experiences, gratitude for life on lifes terms emerges everywhere.Some people look for intensity in their lives creating “living on the edge” experiences. To me, life already has those aspects; we don’t have to create the Evil Knevil high risk choices. Life is not boring.

Examples for me that are death or near death related:
1. experiencing a parent live in their last 6 mos of life, 2. to suddenly lose another vital family member with whom I was deeply tied 3. knowing others along the way that had trouble making healthy choices

To lose family members to death, estrangement or “simply” the fear of death intensifies our awareness of all of our significant relationships alive,passed, and or past.

In re:to health related examples: losing the aspects of yourself due to a health condition; health taken for granted, until a particular function isn’t there or becomes a struggle.

In re:to financial examples, to once have had a little “extra” and then to struggle for a little something for a little something important.

It is true we can’t really know how we’d feel until it happens. And it’s true we shouldn’t start to prepare for loss in while living in the now before it happens. Though, to truly appreciate and be intimate with life, we have to be intimate with the concept that it is a miracle for everything.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —A. Einstein

In response to Lee Nutter’s post:

Interesting audio clip about dying of the self entitled Know the Whole Meaning of Love by Guy Finley

It’s short.

http://www.guyfinley.com/Wisdom_Tree/Audio_Clips/Listen/3400/

I have recently read a book titled – The Ultimate Journey which talks about your thoughts Laurie on preparing for death.

The book is based on this one professors experiments with treating critically ill patients with LSD as a way to prepare them for death and, hopefully, treat their illness or atleast their mindset towards it. It was an amazing book and the professor took some of his patients on an amazing spiritual journey. The results of which often extended their perceived lifespan by over 12 months. Once they had ‘died’/engaged in rebirth through the catalyst of LSD – what happened in most cases – the people were less fearful of death if at all and their attitude towards life improved greatly.

In response to melt86’s post:
Interesting, Mel. I looked at the summary of the Ultimate Journey and would love to hear the revelations that emerged from literally the far reaches of their minds. Sounds like a truly intense experiment.

One point I was trying to relay, in regard to awareness of loss resulting in gratitude for what exists, is in “this” reality-> we get use to, comfortable, and long to hang on to “what works”.

It really isn’t as much about fear,Mel, as it is- awareness of what is here that you love, that you know won’t be here forever.

Yes, change is inevitable; though, we usually only desire to change things when we don’t like them. And as far as what we feel we like, we only like what we’ve liked that we’ve already experienced. So in re:to loss, we don’t want to lose what we love.

Maybe.. that’s why in some way the experiment in the book Mel mentioned worked. They experienced an emotional realm of possibilities that wouldn’t have been as available without the induced drug.

I would imagine that’s a major reason for liking the affirmation process.We want to enjoy greater fufullment and evolve in the process. We do this by negating (in a present tense, positive way) what we feel doesn’t work today or haven’t experienced well. I have to tell you to date re: feeling any sense of change or projection about change, I haven’t seen any process work as well or quickly as the blue mirror exercise (which I believe came from Jose Silva). I’ll post the process in a moment.Hope this is somewhat clear, I literally just woke up (smiles).

In response to laurie’s post:

I cut and pasted this from a very old post of mine in re:to “The Blue Mirror Exercise”
Years ago—a friend taught me something from I believe (not sure) a Silva Mind course…I really don’t know the source.. I only know it has worked for me. It was entitled the blue mirror.

Best time to do this is when you are in a relaxed state—maybe not fully awake from your sleep in morning.
You envision a mirror with a blue frame around it. In this mirror see or merely feel the honesty of something you just are not liking. Example—I don’t want to get out of bed. My bed is cozy and warm..etc. I don’t want to go to work today-those people aren’t friendly. I like it here in my bed…

Next..important! step..See another mirror—with a white frame around it—and see and or note that you are full of enthusiasm—and you note that you love how organized you are about getting ready for work—and you love getting ready quickly—bringing your favorite healthy foods for lunch—note that you full of love and will see loving experiences in all persons you are in contact with. !Most important step—crash the blue mirror and open eyes immediately! You’ve just turned the corner and crashed the ideas that will get in your way of having a great day. Always make sure the ideas you want are logical. And always make sure you crash the blue negativity mirror.

This can be done with or for just about ANYTHING. It works quickly.

The way I see it is…on the grand scheme of things…including the infinite number of planets in space and how long everything has been around…If you really look at how insignificant YOU and ME are in the big picture…Then you see that we may as well be gone before we are here.

It was after this realization that I felt lucky to be alive and lost all attachment to the insignificant things in life.

If all fear funnals down to a fear of death and you have accepted the fact that you will die when you die…then that frees you up to focus on what it is you are doing.

Good thread

In response to illusion555’s post:
Yes, I would agree most things are insignificant. There are few areas that get the title of significant on a personal level; significant people, relationship to Higher Power, and last but not least your miraculous capsule;your health.

I definitely agree on the big scale we are so so so so small.