Dying while Still Alive

4 minute read

To die while still alive, or while still in the body... this is the meaning of the saying that until you die and are born again you cannot see the divine light. It is actually quite easy to understand how this can happen.

We are born, live and die believing that life in the body is all that exists in this Universe. We also hear various stories, events and accounts, usually from people who have taken a religious path, saying that life in the body is in fact a path of evolution. The soul does not belong to the body. It does not die with the body; in fact, it never dies.

Over time, we acquire a personality based upon experience gathered through the years, upon what we like and upon the environment in which we live. Yet this is not our uniqueness. We have always heard that we are unique, but rarely understood in what way. At first glance, if we analyse our thinking and existence, nothing seems unique, still less worthy of admiration. Most of us are ordinary people, perhaps too ordinary. Nothing appears to confirm the words of enlightened people. That is because everything refers to what limits us: our body. When we begin to search within rather than outside, we discover a new world that is no longer limited. Love is no longer an obstacle, but an intoxication for the soul. The inner world becomes an inner master, a void you must cross alone, and here lies your uniqueness. Within yourself you will be with no one; you will be alone. Yet solitude is not what we ordinarily understand, because you will exist in three forms:

the one who lives;

the one who observes what is lived;

and, at a still higher level, the one who is conscious of both.

Through different means and practices, religion has tried to help or guide people along this inward road, which can sometimes be very dangerous without faith. At other times, religion has done more harm because not everyone is made to follow one path alone. This is why there are several religions. Yet most enlightened people within the principal religions described the bond with divinity in the same way, though in different forms shaped by their symbols, ethics and practices. One thing alone was described in the same way and regarded as possessing the highest value: Love. Love of other people, love of existence, love of God, love in the form of compassion.

A burning question is how to defeat, eliminate or master thought even for a moment, so that we can see what lies behind it and what is reflected within it to a greater or lesser degree. Here the prayer of the heart, or meditation practices more commonly associated with the East, intervene. Yet the prayer of the heart is enough to make you realise that you are not merely a name with a certain personality and destiny. You are more than this. You are a soul enclosed in this body, which will not be freed until it is conscious of its existence and of what gave it life: Love = God.

When you struggle to overcome your destiny, when you feel that you do not truly want to spend your whole life running madly after one material thing or achievement and then another because you have understood their futility, something clicks within. With faith and prayer, you feel that you are no longer the same as before. Your life changes. You begin to see and feel things and visions that others treat as dreams or illusions. Few people treat love as a reality even while living it. It seems so banal to them that they can only laugh when they hear about the divinity of love. If you continue the struggle, the so-called death will finally happen. It is not physical death, but the death of your personality and thinking. Yet this is only the beginning of the long path of living and freeing the soul, because true liberation will not happen until the body also dies. The gain for the rest of your life is that nothing will affect you or change the way you see life without living love and praying continually. You will no longer waste life upon things without value. The prayer of the heart will be the ever-burning lamp within your heart, protecting both your soul and the experience of love within it.

If you wish to be truly free and to accomplish something in this life that is worthwhile for your soul, begin with the prayer of the heart and dedication to love... and with great patience... patience... patience...

This article is dedicated to the memory of Father Cleopa of Sihăstria Monastery.

First published in Romanian on 27 May 2010. This English translation preserves the perspective of that period.

Original Romanian article: A muri fiind în viață.