The Art of Dying

I cry. I write and cry. After so long without it happening, I write and cry. The mother of one of my dearest friends is dying, and all I can do is cry and cuddle her little rabbit, who is staying here with me. I don't have a car, or the money for a taxi to reach her. And then there's work tomorrow, my contract is at risk, how could I miss it. I wish I could be with her. Offer her my support, my presence, my silence. And listen with her. Listen to the life of death. [...] Especially in the East, death is respected more than life, and the East has lived a long time to reach this conclusion. In the West, life is respected more than death, which is why there is so much tension, so much worry, so much anguish and so much madness. Why? If all your respect is directed toward life, you will be afraid of death and, in that case, it will be something antagonistic, an enemy, and if it is the enemy, you will remain tense all your life, because death can happen at any moment. You do not accept it, you reject it, but you cannot destroy it. It is impossible to destroy death.You can reject it, you can deny it, you can be afraid of it,  be terrified of it; it will be there nonetheless. [...] Whenever you are gripped by fear, something has given you a sign of death. [...]Whatever you fear, if you look deeply, you will always find the shadow of death somewhere. [...] In the West, youth is respected, a transient phenomenon: it is already slipping through your fingers. In the East, old people are respected, because death is respected here. Life is only a part, death is the culmination. Life is only the process, death is the crescendo. Life is only the movement, death is the fulfillment. And the two are one! So which will you respect more: the path or the destination? The process or the flowering? Death is the flower, life is nothing but the tree. [...] That is why in the East death is accepted; not only that, it is welcomed; it is a divine guest. When it knocks at the door, it means that the universe is ready to welcome you back into its womb. [...] Death is such a beautiful phenomenon, and one of the most mysterious! One should not flee from it! [...] One must be silent. If you can remain silent when death is present, you will suddenly see many things, because death is not just a person ceasing to breathe: many things happen: when a person dies, their aura begins to fade. If you are silent, you can feel it: an energetic force, a field of vital energy that begins to fade and returns to the center. [...]If you are sitting  beside a dead person, you will sense a subtle breeze blowing toward the corpse, and you will be drawn to it. The dead person is drawing in their whole life, the entire energy field that was alive. [...] you gave them part of your life, and that part will return to you. That is why, when the person you love dies, you feel that something has left you too: something dies in you as well. Now there will be a deep fracture, a deep wound. When the beloved dies, something also dies in the person who was loved, because the two were deeply involved. And if you have loved a great many people, for example, if a being like the Buddha dies, energy from throughout the universe will flow back toward the center. It will be a universal phenomenon, because a great many existences are involved, millions of lives, and from every direction the energy will return to the center. The vibrations that have been bestowed upon many beings will leave them and move toward the original center: they will once again become a concentration near the navel. [...] When a man dies, that is, when he stops breathing, you think he is already dead; he is not: that process takes time. [...] energy needs time. [...] because life is not limited to the body, it is an energetic phenomenon. [...] Death is a threshold, not a halt. Awareness moves on, while your body stops at that threshold, just as you have come as far as this Auditorium , but left your shoes at the threshold. The body is left outside the temple, while your awareness enters it. [...] Life is not the end, it is only a discipline for learning the art of dying. But you are afraid, you are terrified: at the mere word "death" you begin to tremble. This means that you have not yet known life, because life never dies: it cannot die! Somewhere in your being you have identified with the body, with the mechanism. The mechanism will have to die, it cannot be eternal, because it depends on many things: it is a conditioned phenomenon. [...] If you want to know death, die! This is the only way to know it. And if you want to know life, live! You are alive, but you are not living. And you will die, yet without dying. This is because everything in you is lukewarm. Are you alive? Not exactly. You are merely dragging yourself along. Somehow, for better or worse, you keep dragging yourself along! Live as intensely as possible! Burn your candle of life at both ends! Burn it so intensely... even if it burned out in a second, that would still be fine! At least you will know what it consists of, because only intensity penetrates deeply. [...] Make your life as intense as possible. Put everything on the line. [...] What is the secret of life? Its secret is death; if you love, what is the secret of love? Death. If you meditate, what is the secret of meditation? Death. Whatever wonderful and intense thing happens always happens through death. You die!You simply immerse yourself totally in something and die to everything else. [...] In the face of death, in the face of life, in the face of love, silence is necessary. Osho - The Art of Change