We are conceived, we are born, we grow up, we get careers, we have a family, we die. Each is a continuous process of substance and change. Our substance is that which we are; our change is that which we will be.
This process can no more be avoided than aging; indeed, aging is but one example of this process at work. What can be avoided is the pain that often accompanies this process. Too often, we grow attached to that which is, and fight the change. Those too attached to their youth and beauty will find them disappearing, until they are old and haggard. Those who grow too attached to their wealth will find everyone is out to get it from them. Those who grow to attached to their life, whatever that life is, will find it slipping away.
Watching Jacob's Ladder, I encountered this quote which is an excellent representation of my meaning:
"If you're frightened of dying, and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth."
This applies not only to death, but to all things. When you fear the change, the becoming, that which causes to be, then the change will be painful. If that change is part of your life, and not its death, then you will live Hell on earth.
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you. They're freeing your soul."
What is death, anyway, but a radical change? Are our lives really mortal? Can we live in this world forever? Why not? Is it possible? I submit that yes, it is possible. Is it something anyone can do? I submit that yes, it is. Is it something everyone should do? Consider this, from The Fountain:
"He said that if they dug his father's body up, it would be gone. They planted a seed over his grave. The seed became a tree. Moses said his father became a part of that tree. He grew into the wood, into the bloom. And when a sparrow ate the tree's fruit, his father flew with the birds. He said... death was his father's road to awe. That's what he called it. The road to awe."
Why do we die? Not because we must, but because we should. Death is the road to awe. To reject death is to reject radical change. Death is nothing more than radical change, departure from the world we know into one we do not. People fear change within our world, they fear change of jobs, change of friends, change of love interests, change of routine. These are all familiar things, even when we make major changes within our life, they are changes from things we know well to things we know less well. Death is a change from what we know something about to that which we know nothing about. Change is the road to awe. And at the end of the road? Well, watch The Fountain and decide for yourself. I submit that it is eternal life.
