Blog entry for:

Sat, Aug 20, 2005 08:38:14 AM


α understanding and dealing with mortality Ω
posted: Sat, Aug 20, 2005 08:38:14 AM

 

this morning i had a dream about sharing on this exact reading, long before i read it. somehow my sub-conscious must have remembered that this reading was next in the rotation. it would be nice to remember what i shared so i could write it verbatim right now and be the lazy sort of person that i like to make others think i am. be that it as it may, i have been thinking about the issues of life and death, and they have been a recurring theme over the past eleven months of my recovery. i have found it more than a little disconcerting that my feelings of loss since my friend Jim has passed have not consumed me with paralyzing grief. although i have never been one to be consumed for days on end with any particular feeling, i still have yet to really break loose with what is going on around his death over a month ago. it was Jim that opened my eyes to my own mortality, even at forty-nine i have yet to grasp that i am not immortal and indestructible. and the process of putting myself up for evaluation as a live liver donor as well as watching Jim fade away has started the process of self-examination and renewal of my current relationships within me.
Jim has shown me a way to die with dignity and respect and i got to ease his passing by just being there every day at the end. perhaps having and exercising the choice to say goodbye to my friend is minimizing the effect of grief on my life today, i do not know and really i am not as concerned about it as i make out.
my concern today is how am i going to fix the relationships with those who i love and share my life with today? how am i going to maximize my experience with each and every one of those people? how am i going to allow them to be part from of my life without hurting them when acting-out? and most of how am i going to let each and every one of them know that i love them unconditionally right now?
my path is clearly laid out, if i choose to remember those four questions i just asked. if i choose to be present, do the work in front of me and live each day moment by moment, i can accomplish that which i desire -- loving and being loved by all those with whom i share my life.
∞ DT ∞

 

djtConsulting Brand
The views expressed on this page are solely the opinion of the author.
While the author is a member of a 12 Step recovery fellowship, these writings are not intended to endorse or express the published wisdom of any fellowship.
These writings are not meant to be socially or politically correct, and if you take issue with any opinions expressed, please seek the guidance of someone wiser than me.

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☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

THE TAO TEH KING, OR THE TAO AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm; he who stretches
his legs does not walk (easily). (So), he who displays himself does
not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who
vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self-
conceited has no superiority allowed to him. Such conditions, viewed
from the standpoint of the Tao, are like remnants of food, or a tumour
on the body, which all dislike. Hence those who pursue (the course)
of the Tao do not adopt and allow them.