Portals

It is almost impossible for us to comprehend death, our own death and that of our beloveds. We cling to the many things of this world in an effort to stave off death, things like our beauty, our relationships, our money, our children.  We try to secure a kind of immortality through the things we own and accomplish.  This gives us a sense of power and control over what is mostly out of our control, the illness, vulnerability, aging, and death.For a long while, satisfying the egoic self with these material things can be enough and moreso is what we need to thrive and come into our adult lives.  But as we transition into midlife and the losses, failures, betrayals and illnesses accumulate, the veneer of immortality will grow thin. 

When the whole of our purpose and meaning in life comes from the accumulation of things or power or money, we become stingy, competitive, ungracious and even violent to protect what gives us our sense of self, our status, our power.   In this way, many of the ways humans are cruel to each other stems from the fear of death.

All spiritual traditions give us ways to comprehend life with death so that we might avoid unleashing violence into the world.  Whether there is a rebirth or reunion with the divine, death is shown to be the portal into great love and belonging rather than an empty meaningless nothingness. In the yogic and Christian mystic traditions I am exploring, death opens up a portal to perfect union with the divine, a great homecoming to the mother.   And we need not wait until our ultimate bodily death to experience this great union and belonging.  With practice, surrender, patience, and presence, we can get glimmers of this experience during our lives.  These experiences of integration and union come upon us unbidden, gifts of divine grace.  But they become more perceptible to us through our meditative and prayerful practices.  These experiences have a profound impact on how we experience life helping us to live in the world with more fullness, generosity, faith, and compassion.  Because we experience a sense of fulfillment, meaning, purpose, and great love beyond the material and status levels.

Often times it is through the great loves or losses in our lives that this portal to the divine opens up, where we fall into God even as God reaches out to fall into us. The passage way is through the tender heart.