thank you steve.
what i think i understood from you is to eliminate desires, as a way to prepare for death. this is an interesting concept. should we succeed in doing so, what would it mean to experience a desire-less life- would we be any more prepared for the departure. when i think of what it means to be alive, i think we are here to experience desires- the cause of our suffering. yet it is a beautiful suffering. it is only the mother in disguise. there are desires we no doubt fulfill that are not harmful but bring about great joy and peace, which seems to be an evolved form of expression- one that carries the brunt experience of life.
a great sufi poet has called death the most intimate act with god. maybe this is because the spirit we are so drawn to in others and in ourselves is freed from the physical shell it has bound itself to.
to live with great peace and to have the conviction that this inevitable death is a return to an ever pervading infinite intelligence takes an exercise of faith. it takes self examination and a developing trust in the unseen beloved who has walked with you along your journey since birth. at least i know my way towards this peace, i just hope i have it in me on my death bed.
here are some interesting comments on the inevitable taken from
The Hundred Verses of Advice
of Padampa Sangye
Homage to the teacher!
Fortunate practitioners gathered here in Tingri, listen!
Just as worn-out clothes can never again be made as new,
It's no use seeing a doctor once you're terminally ill;
You'll have to go. We humans living on this earth
Are like streams and rivers flowing toward the ocean -
All living beings are heading for that single destination.
Now, like a small bird flying off from a treetop,
I, too, will not be here much longer; soon I must move on.
35
Even if resembling, while alive, the children of the gods,
Once dead they are more frightful than a demon horde;
People of Tingri, you've been deceived by these illusory bodies.
57
The unborn absolute body is like the very heart of the sun -
People of Tingri, there is no waxing or waning of its radiant clarity.
76
The delusions of samsara and nirvana are like coming face to face with an enemy;
People of Tingri, as your ally practice virtue.
all 100 verses here,
https://wahiduddin.net/budh/hundred_verses.htm
